New Hampshire Wildcats men's ice hockey


The New Hampshire Wildcats men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college ice hockey program that represents the University of New Hampshire. The Wildcats are a member of Hockey East. They play at the Whittemore Center Arena in Durham, New Hampshire.

History

Early years

The first New Hampshire ice hockey team played in January 1925, winning its first two games in a contest held in Lewiston, Maine. A year later, now under the stewardship of Ernest Christensen, UNH played its first home game at the UNH ice rink, an outdoor facility that was completely dependent on cold weather for its surface. The Wildcats would play a small number of games for their first 15 seasons, fluctuating between an undefeated season in 1927 and a winless campaign in 1932. Christensen retired in 1938 and the team eventually came under the tutelage of Anthony Dougal but his tenure was suspended in 1943 due to the outbreak of World War II. The team finally returned to the ice in January 1947 with Dougal remaining for one year before handing the program over to Joseph Petroski. Horace "Pepper" Martin took over after four rather poor seasons and New Hampshire's fortunes began to change. By the mid-1950s the Wildcats started to play more and win more games than they ever had before and in 1955 an artificial ice rink was constructed on campus to help the team play more than a handful of home games.

ECAC

In 1961 New Hampshire was one of 28 schools that were founding members of ECAC Hockey. Martin turned the team over to A. Barr Snively and plans were underway to replace the Harry C. Batchelder Rink with an indoor ice rink. In the offseason of 1964, two events happened that hampered the ice hockey program. First, in April, head coach Snively suffered a heart attack and tragically died. With the school searching for a replacement the ECAC announced that it was dividing itself into two separate tiers. 'Major' program would continue on with ECAC Hockey but 'minor' schools would be forced to join the newly-formed ECAC 2. Because their indoor facility had not yet been completed New Hampshire was forced out of the top tier. Rube Bjorkman was eventually named as head coach and he led the team for four years. During his tenure, the indoor arena was completed and christened as the Snively Arena after his late predecessor and a year later the program was readmitted into the top echelon of college hockey.
It was Bjorkman's successor, Charlie Holt, who put New Hampshire on the college hockey map. In Holt's first season UNH played its first postseason game, earning Holt his first of three Spencer Penrose Awards. In his first five seasons, the Wildcats finished with a winning record and then won the ECAC regular season championship in his sixth year. The Wildcats made their first NCAA appearance in 1977 and captured their first Conference championship two years later, but no matter how good Holt's teams were national success continued to elude him. under Holt the Wildcats went 0–6 in the frozen four and 2–8 in the tournament overall. While the wins started to come few and far between in the mid-1980s Holt continued to helm the program as it left ECAC Hockey to form Hockey East with six other northeastern schools.

Bob Kullen

Holt stepped down in 1986 and was replaced by long-time assistant Bob Kullen. In his first year the team saw marginal improvement but that summer Kullen was diagnosed with a rare form of heart disease that necessitated a transplant and his missing an entire season to recuperate. Dave O'Connor served as the interim head coach for 1987–88 allowing Kullen to return in the fall of '88. In two years New Hampshire saw its wins total improve to 12 and then 17 but by 1990 Kullen started rejecting his new heart and was forced to resign. Another UNH assistant, Dick Umile, was named as his replacement and unfortunately, Kullen died in November 1990 at the age of 41. Hockey East swiftly renamed its coach of the year award in his honor while the team continued the upward swing he began, allowing Umile to be the first recipient of the rechristened award.

Umile years

In Umile second season New Hampshire made the NCAA tournament for the first time in almost a decade and retroactively finished first in the conference after Maine was forced to forfeit 13 games. The team continued to play well for several seasons but after a disappointing season in 1996, the team won its first Hockey East Championship and set a new program record with 28 wins. The following year the Wildcats made the Frozen Four for the first time in 16 years and then reached even higher in 1999. in the penultimate year of the millennium the Wildcats won 30 games for the first time, establishing a still-record of 31 victories, winning their second conference title and were led by sophomore goaltender Ty Conklin and senior center Jason Krog, the latter won the NCAA scoring title by 16 points and captured the Hobey Baker Award. Despite losing in the Hockey East tournament finale The team received the #2 overall seed and a bye into the second round. The Wildcats defeated two Michigan schools to reach their first National Championship game where they would ultimately fall in overtime to conference rival Maine.
UNH would continue to be a power in Hockey East, winning back to back conference championships in 2002 and 2003 and reached their second NCAA title game in '03 where they lost to Minnesota, 5-1. UNH would make the NCAA tournament every year from 2002 through 2011 but the team could not make it out of the Regionals after 2003. Starting in 2012 the program began a slow decline, ending up dead-last in the conference in 2017–18. After that season Umile decided to retire, leaving the school as the all-time leader in just about every coaching category and recording the third most wins all-time for one school at the Division I level.
Umile's final act for the program was to name his successor, allowing 1999 alumnus Michael Souza to become the 14th head coach in program history.

Season-by-season results

Head Coaches

As of the completion of 2019–20 season

Statistical Leaders

Career points leaders

PlayerYearsGPGAPtsPIM
1975–1979128127116243
1995–199915194144238
1998–2002158102117219
1972–197611977132209
1994–199814485112197
1967–1971899895193
1975–197913591101192
1972–19761088788175
1974–197810772102174
1975–197913171103174
1988–19921408589174

Career goaltending leaders

GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
minimum 30 games played
PlayerYearsGPMinWLTGASOSV%GAA
1998–20019355805723122021.9152.18
2004–200811265997029102509.9282.27
2011–2014975637483682189.9232.32
2002–2006552904271361192.9172.46
2000–2004102575558251223912.9142.49

Statistics current through the start of the 2019–20 season.

Current roster

As of June 28, 2019.

Awards and honors

[Hockey Hall of Fame]

Individual awards

Hobey Baker Award
Spencer Penrose Award
NCAA Scoring Champion
AHCA First Team All-Americans
AHCA Second Team All-Americans

Individual awards

Player of the Year
Rookie of the Year
Most Outstanding Player in Tournament
First Team All-ECAC Hockey
Second Team All-ECAC Hockey

Individual awards

Player of the Year
Rookie of the Year
Best Defensive Forward
Len Ceglarski Award
Best Defensive Defenseman
Three-Stars Award
Coach of the Year
Tournament Most Valuable Player
First Team All-Hockey East
Second Team All-Hockey East
Third Team All-Hockey East
Hockey East All-Rookie Team

Hockey East

Individual

The following is a list of people associated with the New Hampshire men's ice hockey program who were elected into the New Hampshire Wildcats Hall of Fame.
PlayerPositionTeamYearsStanley Cup|
Derek BekarCenterSTL, LAK, NYI1999–20040
Eric BogunieckiCenterFLA, STL, PIT, NYI1999–20070
Andy BrickleyLeft WingPHI, PIT, NJD, BOS, WPG1982–19940
Gary BurnsForwardNYR1980–19820
Bobby ButlerRight WingOTT, NJD, NSH, FLA2009–20140
Matt CampanaleDefensemanNYI2010–20110
Gordie ClarkRight WingBOS1974–19760
Ty ConklinGoaltenderEDM, CBJ, BUF, PIT, DET, STL2001–20120
Bruce CrowderForwardBOS, PIT1981–19850
Kevin DeanDefenseman', ATL, DAL, CHI1994–20011
Casey DeSmithGoaltenderPIT2017–Present0
Peter DourisRight WingWPG, BOS, ANA, DAL1985–19980
Warren FoegeleLeft WingCAR2017–Present0
Jon FontasCenterMNS1979–19810
Brian FosterGoaltenderFLA2011–20120
Bobby FrancisCenterDET1982–19830
Jamie FritschDefensemanPHI2008–20090
Bobby GouldLeft WingATF, CGY, WSH, BOS1979–19900
Darren HaydarRight WingNSH, ATL, COL2002–20100
Colin HemingwayForwardSTL2005–20060
Jamie HislopForwardQUE, CGY1979–19840
Jason KrogLeft WingNYI, ANA, ATL, NYR, VAN1999–20100
Normand LacombeRight WingBUF, ', PHI1984–19911

PlayerPositionTeamYearsStanley Cup|
Rod LangwayDefenseman', WSH1978–19931
Jeff LazaroRight WingBOS, OTT1990–19930
Steve LeachRight WingWSH, BOS, STL, CAR, OTT, PHO, PIT1985–20000
Peter LeBlancLeft WingWSH2013–20140
Dave LumleyForwardMTL, ', HFD1978–19872
Bob MillerWingBOS, COR, LAK1977–19850
Jay MillerLeft WingBOS, LAK1985–19920
Scott MorrowLeft WingCGY1994–19950
Mark MowersCenterNSH, DET, BOS, ANA1998–20080
Bryan MuirDefensemanEDM, NJD, CHI, TBL, ', LAK, WSH1995–20071
Eric NickulasRight WingBOS, STL, CHI1998–20060
Brett PesceDefensemanCAR2015–Present0
Adrien PlavsicDefensemanSTL, VAN, TBL, ANA1989–19970
Andrew PoturalskiForwardCAR2016–20170
Chris PryorDefensemanMNS, NYI1984–19900
Mike SisloRight WingNJD2013–20160
Trevor SmithCenterNYI, TBL, PIT, TOR, NSH2008–20170
Garrett StaffordDefensemanDET, DAL, PHO2007–20110
Paul ThompsonRight WingNJD, FLA2015–20170
James van RiemsdykLeft WingPHI, TOR2009–Present0
Trevor van RiemsdykDefenseman', CAR2014–Present1
Chris WinnesRight WingBOS, PHI1990–19940
Daniel WinnikLeft WingPHO, COL, SJS, ANA, TOR, PIT, WSH, MIN2007–20180

WHA

Several players also were members of WHA teams.
PlayerPositionTeamYearsAvco World Trophy|
Gordie ClarkRight WingCIN1978–19790
John GrayCenterPHX, HOU, '1974–19791
Jamie HislopForwardCIN1976–19790
Gary JacquithDefensemanSDM1975–19760
Rod LangwayDefensemanBIR1977–19780
Cap RaederGoaltenderNEW1975–19770
Guy SmithLeft Wing'1972–19741