UNH and Stony Brook will be playing for fourth place in the America East tournament when they meet on Sunday at 1 in Lundholm Gymnasium. UNH improved to 12-15 overall and 7-8 in the league with Thursday night’s 64-56 win over Albany. Stony Brook is 16-12 and 8-7. . . . Fourth place would be UNH’s best finish in the league since the 2000-01 season. The Wildcats will finish either fifth or sixth if they lose on Sunday, dpeending on what happens in other games.
A weekend sweep of Boston College moved the UNH men’s hockey team up in the PairWise rankings, the ratings that mimic the system used by the NCAA to pick the 16 teams for its Division I tournament. . . . UNH, 16-9-5, is in a three-way tie at No. 8 with Cornell and Miami. The Wildcats are the fourth Hockey East team in the top eight and one of seven in the top 25. . . . Boston University is No. 1 at 23-5-4. Vermont, 17-8-5, is tied with Denver at No. 4 and Northeastern, 20-8-4, is No. 7. . . . UMass-Lowell is No. 21, Boston College No. 22 and Massachusetts No. 24. . . . UNH plays at Merrimack on Friday night and meets the Warriors again on Saturday night at the Whittemore Center at 7:30 in a game that will be televised on NESN. The Wildcats close out the regular season the next weekend with a pair of games at Vermont.
The UNH men’s hockey team closed within two points of third-place Vermont with last night’s 3-2 win over Boston College. The Wildcats will come out of tonight’s rematch at BC no worse than tied for fourth in the league. UMass-Lowell tied at Vermont, 3-3, last night and can pull even with UNH with a win at Vermont, if the Wildcats lose at BC. If UNH wins and Vermont loses, UNH will be tied for third. . . . Boston College slipped to five points behind UNH with Friday night’s loss. . . . After tonight, UNH has four regular season games left. The Wildcats play a home-and-home series with last-place Merrimack next weekend and finish with a pair at Vermont.
The men’s basketball team went on an 18-0 run in the second half to upend Maine 63-54 on Thursday night in front of 2,214 in a rocking Lundholm Gymnasium. “We were just kind of stuck in the mud offensively,” said UNH coach Bill Herrion of a drought that preceded UNH’s rally. “We couldn’t score. When you go on a run like that, the key is defensive intensity. We finally got some defensive stops. Alvin Abreu did a great job.” . . . . Read more about the game in today’s print edition. . . . UNH, 11-14 overall and 6-7 in America East, moved into fifth place in the league. The Wildcats are at Binghamton on Sunday afternoon at 2.
UNH and Maine go at it in men’s basketball at Lundholm Gymnasium tomorrow night at 7 in a key America East game. The game will be televised on NESN and will be broadcast on the UNH Sports Network. It’s key for the Wildcats in part because they can take another step toward staying out of the play-in game for the league tournament. UNH is 5-7 in the league and in sixth place and chasing UMBC, 6-8, and Stony Brook, 7-7. Maine is 4-8 and with a win would create a three-way tie for sixth with UNH and Albany. . . . “It’s in our hands,” said UNH coach Bill Herrion. “We can do what we want with it and if we don’t, we’ve only got ourselves to blame. I’m encouraged. I really like how we’re practicing. The spirit and attitude for this late in the season are really high.” . . . UNH is coming off a 78-59 win at Albany on Sunday and has won three of its last four road games. The Wildcats will try to avenge a 78-75 double overtime loss at Maine on Jan. 19. UNH coughed up a lead late in regulation that night.
Sean McCann, a defensive lineman out of Avon Lake High School in Ohio, has added his name to the list of recruits headed to Durham in the summer. McCann, a little over 6-3 and 245 pounds, has verbally committed to accepting a UNH scholarship and plans to sign a national letter of intent soon. . . . “He’s deceivingly strong and very, very explosive,” said Avon Lake coach Dave Duglosz. “Very quick and agile.” . . . The coach said McCann runs the 40 in 4.78 seconds. He is ranked in the state in the shot put where he has a personal best throw of 59 feet, seven inches. . . . Duglosz said he thinks McCann, who was a captain and most valuable player on Avon Lake’s 8-3 team last fall, is more defensive end than an inside guy. “He is pretty quick.” . . . McCann was also heavily recruited by Army.
UNH is at No. 11 today in the PairWise rankings that mimic the system used to pick the 16 teams for NCAA tournament. Dartmouth, which beat Cornell 5-4 in overtime and lost to Colgate 1-0 over the weekend, is No. 24 at 13-9-3. . . . UNH’s opponent this weekend, Boston College, is tied at No. 16 with Ohio State. Three Hockey East teams are rated ahead of UNH. Boston University is No. 1 at 23-5-2. Northeastern at 20-8-2 is tied for second with Michigan. And Vermont at 17-7-4 is tied for fourth with Notre Dame. . . . The Wildcats are sandwiched between No. 10 Cornell and No. 12 North Dakota.
Ryan Simpson, a junior from Bow, is backing up freshman Alex Beaudry for Providence. Simpson has battled injuries since arriving at Providence and is dressed for the first time this season. He played in four games both last season and the season before. . . . Simpson played at Bow High School and then played two years for the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs. He was the EJHL goalie of the year as the Monarchs won the league title in 2005-06. He had a 20-2-1 record, 2.17 goals against average and save percentage of .930 that year.
Sophomore James van Riemsdyk returns to the UNH lineup for tonight’s game against Providence at the Whittemore Center. The team’s leading scorer injured his shoulder last Friday against Maine and sat out Saturday’s return engagement. He was considered questionable at midweek but is in the line sheets handed out for tonight’s game. . . . Van Riemsdyk is centering for senior Jerry Pollastrone on the left wing and sophomore Mike Sislo on the right. Pollastrone is also returning to the lineup. He missed both of the Maine games with a shoulder injury. . . . Van Riemsdyk leds the team wth 10 goals and 19 asissts for 29 points in 24 games. Pollastrone has four goals and seven assists.
The Hockey East quarterfinals start March 13. The question is, where will UNH play and against whom? The Wildcats go into this weekend’s home-and-home series with Providence in fourth place in the standings. If they can hold onto a top four spot, they will be at home, perhaps against Boston College or UMass-Lowell, who are tied for fifth at the moment. If not . . . “Home ice is going to be huge,” said coach Dick Umile. “You could either be going to Boston College or going to Lowell. Or you could be staying up in Vermont for a month.” . . . UNH plays its last two games of the regular season at Vermont on March 6 and 7. One playoff scenario: If Vermont finishes third and UNH sixth, the Wildcats would play in Burlington on back-to-back weekends.
