The UNH men were tied for fourth place with Vermont in the Hockey East preseason poll released today. . . . Boston University was picked first, UMass-Lowell second and Boston College third. . . . Northeastern was sixth, just two points behind New Hampshire and Vermont. . . . Massachusetts, Maine, Providence and Merrimack were next. . . . UNH has finished as one of the top four teams in the league and thus earned home ice for the playoffs each of the last 13 seasons.
Senior running back Chad Kackert quickly got back into the swing of things with the UNH football team in Saturday’s 44-14 win over Dartmouth. He sat out the team’s first two games with a hamstring problem. Kackert scored on two of his first four carries _ on runs of 4 and 15 yards _ and finished with 71 yards on a dozen carries. . . . “He just brings another element to our offense,” said UNH coach Sean McDonnell. “He’s a fast kid. When he has the ball in his hands, good things usually happen. We have an opportunity to hit a home run from all over the field.” . . . Kackert has 1,712 rushing yards for his career. He needs 93 yards to catch Dan Curran, who gained 1,805 yards from 1996-99 and is No. 10 on UNH’s career rushing list.
Richmond and Villanova, the top two teams in the Sports Network poll last week, both won on Saturday. . . . No. 1 Richmond beat Virginia Military, 38-28, and Villanova routed Northeastern, 56-7. . . . Villanova, which plays No. 6 UNH in Durham in two weeks, first faces a showdown at home against No. 5 William & Mary on Saturday. . . . There should be little movement near the top of the Sports Network poll this week. No. 8 McNeese State was the only team in the top 15 to lose on Saturday. McNeese fell to Tulane, a Football Bowl Subdivision team, 42-32. . . . No. 7 James Madison, the fifth Colonial Athletic Association in the top seven, beat Liberty, 24-10. . . . No. 15 Massachusetts beat Stony Brook, 44-17, on Saturday. UNH is at UMass on Oct. 17.
Ryan Glasgow, a junior out of Bedford and Manchester West, is averaging 39.2 yards a punt for UNH. . . . Four or five of his 16 punts have been downed inside the 10-yard line, said UNH coach Sean McDonnell. . . . “He’s worked very hard at getting better and it’s important to him,” McDonnell said. . . . The coach said Glasgow did a nice job over the summer at improving several aspects of his game, including getting the ball off quickly, relaxing and understanding what to do with a bad snap. . . . Glasgow had been competing with senior wide receiver/punter J.T. Wright for the chance to kick and took over the top spot when Wright was slowed by a hamstring injury.
UNH coach Sean McDonnell said today in his weekly press conference that starting senior running back Chad Kackert is likely to see his first action of the season on Saturday against Dartmouth. A hamstring pull late in fall camp has kept Kackert on the sidelines for wins over St. Francis and Ball State. . . . “I don’t think we’ll see him in a gazillion reps out there, but I think we’ll see him in some,” McDonnell said. “I think he’s got a chance to play Saturday and it will be good for all of us.” . . . In Kackert’s absence, Sean Jellison, a junior from Amherst and Souhegan Regional, has been the team’s No. 1 rusher. Jellison has carried 45 times for 180 yards and three touchdowns and also leads UNH receivers with seven catches for 67 yards and another score. . . . Defensive end Bryan McNally, who hurt his shoulder in the opener, and offensive lineman Chris Zarkoskie, who left the Ball State game with a high ankle sprain, have been limited in practice and McDonnell indicated that they are unlikely to play.
Former UNH quarterback Ricky Santos is excited about a Canadian Football League trade that has sent him from the Montreal Alouettes to the Winnipeg Bombers. Santos has been on the Montreal roster the last two years, but has not played in a regular season game and was fourth on the depth chart behind Anthony Calvillo, Adrian McPherson and Chris Leak. . . . “Every athlete’s a confident guy, but you can’t go wrong playing any of those other guys,” Santos told the Montreal Gazette. “I was the odd man out, although they kept me around for a year and a half. But it was extremely frustrating not playing or dressing. I’m extremely happy to be getting this opportunity.” . . . Winnipeg released quarterback Bryan Randall to make room for Santos, who will be third on the depth chart. The Blue Bombers played both starter Michael Bishop and backup Casey Bramlet in a 33-14 loss to Montreal over the weekend. . . . Montreal is first at 9-2 in the CFL’s East Division and Winnipeg is fourth and last at 3-8.
Ready for some football talk? The UNH Coach’s Show with head coach Sean McDonnell and radio analyst Mike Murphy airs each Monday night during the season from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Stations on the network are WGIR 610 AM (Manchester), WQSO 96.7 FM (Portsmouth), WGIN 930 AM (Rochester), WNTK 99.7 FM (New London), WUVR 1490 AM (Lebanon), WCNL 1010 AM (Newport). The shows rotate between four locations and tonight’s is being broadcast from The Sports Page in Portsmouth. Here is the link for the podcast.
A peek at what’s coming for the UNH football team: The No. 6-ranked Wildcats, who had Saturday off, return to action against Dartmouth on Saturday at Cowell Stadium. Dartmouth lost its opener, 34-15, to Colgate on Saturday. . . . UNH then moves on to its Colonial Athletic Association opener at Towson on Oct. 3. Towson is 1-1 after a 17-14 win over Coastal Carolina this weekend. . . . Villanova is due in Durham on Oct. 10 for a major showdown. Ranked No. 2 last week, Villanova is 3-0 with home games against Northeastern and William & Mary before it plays UNH. . . . After Villanova, UNH travels to Massachusetts, which is 2-1 and No. 17 at the moment.
Chris Chandler, the junior wide receiver who injured his knee and leg early in his redshirt freshman season and has been sidelined the last two years, was back on the practice field on Tuesday. Coach Sean McDonnell said Chandler did a decent job last spring, but has been out again with a concussion during fall camp. “He gives us some good depth and competition at that position,” McDonnell said. “He has a great motor. He runs fast. He catches it pretty well and he’s a strong kid physically. . . . Yesterday at practice he was flying around out there because he’s got fresh legs. Hopefully he can add depth and get back to where he was as a redshirt freshman two years ago.”
The UNH football team jumped three spots in this week’s Sports Network poll, thanks to its 23-16 win over Ball State on Saturday night. . . . The Wildcats are No. 6 in the poll. They are 2-0 and are off this Saturday. Their next game is at home against Dartmouth on Sept. 26. . . . Colonial Atheltic Association teams dominate the top of the poll. UNH is one of five CAA teams jammed into the top seven. . . . Richmond is No. 1 and Villanova No. 2. William & Mary, UNH and James Madison hold down the No. 5, 6 and 7 spots. . . . Northern Iowa at No. 3 and Montana at No. 4 are the interlopers. . . . Massachusetts is No. 17 and Maine No. 20.
