As it goes, there were not many things the UNH Wildcats could have done much better than they did last weekend.
There was that one goal that got past Kevin Regan on Saturday night. Or those four or five shots that rang clearly off of the crossbar, just inches away from going into the net.
Or, perhaps, someone could have told the 'Cats how to do a proper victory lap after being handed a championship trophy.
Facing their last, and perhaps greatest, test of the 2007-08 regular season in the form no. 7 Boston College Eagles, the no. 3 Wildcats put forth two nights of fantastic hockey, sweeping their Hockey East opponents in a home-and-home series, and winning the outright regular season Hockey East Championship.
"It's nice," said UNH captain Matt Fornataro, "but it's not the one that we want. We said before the game that we want to win three championships this year, and this was the only opportunity to get one at home. That's what we wanted to do, and we got it done."
"I'm just really excited, I'm real happy for the team," said UNH coach Dick Umile. "I'm just trying to stay out of the way. They're playing real good hockey. I'm proud of them."
After being awarded the championship trophy by Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna, the Wildcats passed it around, each raising the cup in victory. It was only after five or six handoffs that the 'Cats ventured down towards faithful student section, thanking the diehards that remained after the final horn.
The championship is the sixth regular season title in UNH's history and the second in as many seasons. In Hockey East's 24 years of existence only BC (10) and Boston University (7) have won more regular season titles. The Wildcats also earned one ECAC hockey title in the 1970's.
Coming into the weekend the Wildcats needed four points to clinch the outright title.
On Friday night, the 'Cats traveled to Chestnut Hill's Conte Forum, which was half empty due to the wintry weather outside.
While NESN's talking heads predicted a high-scoring affair, the game that followed was a defensive gem. Sophomore Bobby Butler scored the game-winning goal early in the second period and goalie Kevin Regan stopped all 28 shots he saw to lead the 'Cats to the win. It was Regan's eighth career shutout and his first against the Eagles. His fantastic play, which had already earned him two consecutive Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week awards, would continue on into Saturday night.
Returning to a sold-out Whittemore Center, Saturday's game picked up where Friday's left off, with stunningly fast play and brutal hits.
The first real scoring opportunity of the game came in the ninth minute of the first period. After a wrister by BC's Ben Smith bounced off of Regan's pads, Eagle forward Joe Whitney blasted a shot towards the open right side of the net. Thinking that he had potted a goal for his team, Whitney raised his hands in celebration. What he failed to notice was that Regan had flashed out his right pad and made the save. The block and the momentary confusion led to a Jerry Pollastrone scoring opportunity that was turned away by BC goalie John Muse.
Late in the first period, freshman Danny Dries scored the game's first real goal, blasting a shot over Muse's right shoulder while falling down. Dries' power-play goal was the first of four the Wildcats would score in the night.
Phil DeSimone scored the eventual game winner at 3:28 in the second period, and was followed closely by Dries' second goal of the night, which he again scored while falling down on the power play.
"[Dries] is a goal-scorer," said Umile. "He's a tough kid. He's going to score a lot of goals here at UNH."
After BC goal late in the second period, James vanReimsdyk and Matt Fornataro scored the fourth and fifth goals, both on the power play, just 18 seconds apart in the third period to finish the game for good.
Kevin Regan stopped 26 shots on Saturday, giving him 54 saves for the weekend. With two wins over the weekend, Regan earned his 49th career Hockey East victory, which moves him to second all-time on that list.
Regan's play of late has been a major factor in the 'Cats recent success. He has been in net for every game during the 'Cats 12 game Hockey East unbeaten streak and made a case for himself for Hockey East Player of the Year. In those twelve games, Regan has posted a 1.45 goals against average and a .956 save percentage.
"Their goaltender has really come into his own," said BC head coach Jerry York. "He's been a good goalie during his career at New Hampshire, but this year, Regan has moved to a whole other level. He's clearly one of the players we have to think about when we think about Player of the Year in Hockey East."
With the sweep, the 'Cats complete the unheard of trifecta of going unbeaten against Boston College, Boston University and the University of Maine in the regular season. It was a feat that not even Dick Umile was sure has ever happened in conference history.
"I told the guys that it's never happened before and it probably won't happen again," said Umile. "Then Phil DeSimone said to me, 'Yes, it will, coach.' I liked his answer."
The Wildcats also swept their season series against Providence and UMass, and still have the opportunity to go undefeated against Vermont and Merrimack.
Against BC this year, the Wildcats were particularly dominant. Though they lead the Hockey East with 112 goals scored, the Eagles only mustered three goals in three games against Kevin Regan. Additionally, the Wildcats D prevented BC points leader, and former Hobey Baker front runner, Nathan Gerbe from scoring a single point in the three games.
"The specialty situations were tremendous," said Umile, "[The] penalty kill has been great, and our power play has been getting better."
"Clearly at this juncture of the season they're a better team than we are," said York. "We're just not at the level New Hampshire is right now. Right now, our team is not as sharp and as crisp as we need to be to play at this level. They're a notch above us. We'll lick our wounds, go back to square one, and start building back up again."
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