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One and done again for men's hockey team
Huskies suffer sixth NCAA Tourney first round exit with 5-2 loss to New Hampshire
By Bobby Hart
Published:
Monday, March 31, 2003
The Huskies sixth trip to the postseason told two different stories.
Friday they were wiped off the NCAA Tournament bracket with a 5-2 loss to No. 1 seeded New Hampshire. Looking at the numbers, it was the same old story told all over again. The Huskies remained winless in the NCAA's for the sixth time and still have never carried a lead (outscored 28-15 in tourney history) in the postseason.
The story that was told between the numbers was one of underlining success. Being that many thought they shouldn't have even been in the tournament because of their 17-15-5 record, the Huskies weren't as disappointed with their performance this time around.
"We played hard for the whole 60 minutes," senior Ryan Malone said. "They scored some nice goals and they're probably the quickest team we've played all year. I don't think we had anything left to give in the end. I know I didn't."
UNH's Colin Hemingway and Preston Callandar each scored two goals for the Wildcats as the Huskies had trouble cracking goaltender Mike Ayers. Ayers stymied SCSU with 35 saves.
Assistant captains Malone and Jeff Finger would each score goals for the Huskies to keep things close, but the Wildcats continued to find ways to answer on the power play where they were three-for-nine on the night.
Things looked shady for SCSU only 10 seconds into the game when Colin Hemingway scored the fastest goal in NCAA Regional history. Lanny Gare backhanded a centering pass while he was sandwiched in the right boards to a wide open Hemingway who finished through Jake Moreland's five-hole.
The Huskies then found themselves on a five-on-three power play at 8:11 in the first period. Joe Motzko fired a shot from between the circles and Malone finally found the back of the net after several putback attempts to tie the game.
Although SCSU held UNH to zero shots on their first power play of the night, Hemingway finally answered on their third-man-advantage. With 18:47 left in the first he rifled a shot over Moreland's shoulder just under the crossbar. UNH regained the lead at 2-1.
It took only 1:20 into the second period for the Wildcats to score again when Callandar beat SCSU freshman Tim Conboy out of the corner. Callandar put the puck inside the left post past Moreland to give UNH a 3-1 lead.
Next, Finger, who hadn't seen action since Feb. 1 thanks to a torn knee ligament, scored on a rebound from a Matt Hendricks wrap-around attempt to get the Huskies within one again. With Joe Jensen in the box for hooking, Sean Collins wristed a shot over Moreland's glove to make it 4-2 at the 7:08 mark.
At 12:08 into the third, UNH would get another power play goal to seal the game when Callandar tipped in a shot under Moreland to secure the 5-2 win.
SCSU gave up only 30 shots on goal, but five goals were the ultimate result of giving UNH's deadly offense nine power plays.
"They scored some nice goals," Malone said. "They had a lot of little guys flying around out there."
"It's obviously hard to win when you give the other team nine power plays," captain Jon Cullen said. "But we played really hard the whole way through and had our chances. It just wasn't meant to be."
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