Upset City: Red Hawks baffle 'Cats in first round

By Mark Daniels

Published: Monday, March 26, 2007

Updated: Sunday, September 6, 2009

Associated Press

The Red Hawks were living the dream Saturday night as they upset the number one seeded Wildcats.

With under a minute to play and goaltender Kevin Regan pulled, the University of New Hampshire Wildcats had a six-on-four man advantage. They needed one goal to tie.

It wouldn't be enough though as the Miami Red Hawks would hang on for a 2-1 upset win Saturday at the first round of the NCAA tournament at Manchester's Verizon Wireless Arena.

Bad Luck? Tough breaks? Words that were echoing from members of the UNH squad as Miami's winning goal in the third period bounced off defenseman Chris Murray's skate.

"It was disappointing losing the game, but I was very proud of the way the team competed today," said UNH Coach Dick Umile. As I told them in the locker room, sometimes the puck just doesn't bounce your way."

Both goals Regan said were similar in that they had "fluky bounces."

"The first one -- I think I hit it off the side of the net," said Regan. "I thought the puck was still behind the net. The next thing you know it's in the back. The second one was the same deal. It was a wrap around, I'm playing the player, and he throws it out front and it hurts one of our guy's skates and I couldn't close my pads quick enough. It's just tough luck."

The ending result was hard to swallow for UNH captain Josh Ciocco.

"I think they stole one," said Ciocco. "They should know we were the better team. They sat back and we took it to them but their goalie stole it for them. They played well but I think if you're watching this game we're the better team."

Ciocco also credited the Red Hawks goaltender sophomore Jeff Zatkoff.

"They had a hot goalie," he added. "That's what you need to win this time of year. We outmatched them tonight. It [came] down to a hot goalie and bounces. Upsets happen and that's what happened here."

The Wildcats didn't start the game on a strong note. Miami would find the back of the net in just 1:47 of the first period on the team's first shot as Nathan Davis gave the Red Hawks a 1-0 lead.

UNH came out firing to start the second and the trend would continue as they out shot the Red Hawks 44-25. Miami's defense combined with strong goaltending put a hold on the Wildcats offensive attack. Zatkoff, a third round pick of LA Kings, had 30 saves entering the third and 43 overall.

"We played well, we had chances," said Mike Radja. "Their goalie made a lot of big saves. He stood for them when they needed to and that can be the big difference of the game right there."

The start of the third period was unfortunately similar to the start of the first for the Wildcats. In just 29 seconds Ryan Jones, from behind the net, banked a shot off of Murray's skate and into the net for an icing 2-0 lead in the third.

"We came out and played our hearts out tonight," said Murray, who had 10 stitches in the tip of his nose from a Miami player's skate. "We just didn't get any bounces. We out shot them. They got two good bounces and they're up two. They got the two bounces and we didn't get much. We felt momentum was going our way and it's frustrating."

Mike Radja gave the UNH faithful some hope with a diving short handed goal with just under five minutes left in the game to bring the score 2-1.

"Coach told us if we had a chance to be offensive [on the penalty kill], to do it," said Radja. "[Craig] Switzer made a great play, he just threw it up the middle and I just tired to get the puck behind the defenseman and go get it and the puck was just laying there. I tried to swipe at it and end up getting a good bounce on the stick and in."

The goal gave UNH a bit of life but a two-minute penalty on Radja at 3:03 left in the game would back UNH into the proverbial corner. A Miami penalty however at 18:39 would keep the Wildcats in the hunt in the last 1:21 of the game with Regan pulled.

The 'Cats would finish the game with a six on four for the final minute bringing the crowd to its feet. It was too little too late for UNH though as time expired.

It put an end to a once promising season for UNH. A season that saw Dick Umile named Hockey East Coach of the Year, a regular season Hockey East title, a number one ranking and 26 wins.

After the game the team was emotion and didn't want to take their jerseys off their backs.

"A lot of the guys didn't want to take off their jerseys in the locker room after the game," said Murray. "They felt like we should be going on but if you don't get it done today then your not going to."

"This is one of the greatest teams I've ever played on and it's unfortunate it has to come to an end," said Radja."

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Scavengers steal Scan TV sign Saturday

If you read on their facebook page for the stolen sign they accuse them of taking it. I just think that the blame game has gone too far on this campus and people see fraternities as a good scape goat. Yes some do some shady stuff, but at the same time one cannot instantly blame them. "They think it was maybe a fraternity stunt or scavenger hunt of some kind." - taken directly from their facebook page. I do hope that your sign does get returned because I understand how iconic it is for the university and the MUB.

posted by: UNHAlum
Faculty members need a wake-up call

It is time the faculity sucked it up like the rest of us on campus. This year staff over $40,000 received no raise, faculity received 5.5%. Take the 1.5% and be happy.
Do You remember why you became a professor? I hope, to pass your knowledge on to the next generation.
Some of you look like greedy individuals who can only think of the God almighty dollar and not the students you teach and mentor. If we keep increasing out tuition to pay for salaries students will look at other schools and then where will you be, on the street.

posted by: Robert Pettigrew
Faculty members need a wake-up call

I don't think it's fair to compare UNH to UMass (Amherst, I assume) and UConn. Both those schools are considerably larger than UNH — 26,000 and 20,000 undergrads, respectively — while the other schools mentioned are closer to UNH's size, give or take 3,000 students. Massachusetts and Connecticut are also feeling the effects of the recession slightly more than NH is. I realize that UNH commonly uses those schools as comparators, but those two are just on a different level than our school.
There are two other things I'm going to look up before I decide how I feel about this.
First, how does the average UNH professor's salary compare to to other universities? It's probably in line with other schools, but if it's significantly lower, shouldn't UNH profs get that too?
As some have said, if the pay is lower here, professors can quit and go to other schools — if they can find an open position somewhere else. But, if a professor leaves, the school will be left in the position of trying to attract a new teacher with lower-than-average salaries. Enact the raises and UNH remains competitive in keeping and hiring the best professors.
Second, what percentage of UNH's budget goes toward paying the professors? Again, this could be that the professors are asking the university to dedicate an equal amount to paying educators at UNH as they are paid at other schools. If UNH only dedicates 15% of the budget to prof pay and the other schools all dedicate 20%, why shouldn't that be changed? Not to sound Beck-ian, but I don't know and that's something that should be looked at.
Neither of those questions deal with the larger problem of education funding from the state, which I think was something like 2 percent (and that's for all schools, not just colleges). California students staged huge protests yesterday because fee hikes raised they amount they pay per year for school to around $11,000. Meanwhile, that's close to what UNH students have been paying for tuition alone for years, and it continues to rise. If Governor Lynch and our state reps don't start working to increase education funding in the state, all the groups involved, students, professors and administration, need to start showing the kind of outrage that California showed yesterday.

posted by: Clark Kent
Faculty members need a wake-up call

The whiny, lazy, faculty all need to get fired. I haven't seen a more wanna-be-entitled bunch anywhere I have worked. They don't deserve any raises, but instead a pay cut. The rest of the staff had a mandatory salary freeze that will last probably 2 years at least. Faculty also get the bonus of cheaper benefits than the rest of the staff. To top it off they are whiners and complainers about anything not in their contract or if they feel the least bit slighted by the administration. They got out of taking mandatory sexual-harrassment training that everyone else on staff had to take, since somehow their union filed a grievance with the administration that it wasn't required in their contract. The entire training was online and took less than an hour but that's too much for those slackers.
Tenure indeed is the only thing that keeps many of them employed, and it's a concept that needs to get thrown out. Many of them are dead wood, not bringing new ideas to the table and too 'busy' to try anything new, despite having many grad assistants and others to do all their real work, and the most over the top support structure of any organization I have seen.
Yet their greed continues unchecked! Ugh!
Good riddance!

posted by: Your name
Faculty members need a wake-up call

How quickly things change.
Just last week, when editorializing about a group of campus perverts, the attitude of the editors was: "we also don’t think it’s any of our business to judge an organization just because their activities are a shock to our system." Seven days ago we were advised to "shackle our judgment" and told that the campus S&M crowd "deserves respect." Now, a mere week later, when the same editorial board concludes that the UNH faculty union's collective bargaining position is "shocking," what do the editors do? Take their own advice and "shackle their judgment?" Offer respect to the faculty? Conclude that the negotiations are none of their business?
No, none of these. Instead, the hypocritical editors tell "whining" and "greedy" faculty they are lucky to have a job, and should be satisfied with whatever the administration considers to be a fair offer -- because, presumably, the administration ALWAYS tells the truth about university finances, and ALWAYS treats the employees of the university fairly.
Why not spend some effort actually learning the facts regarding the financial situation of the university -- revenues from the state, tuition increases, higher enrollments, grant money? Why not report on the value of the faculty and the university as an economic engine for the state? Why not investigate both the enormous increase in administrative salaries and the bloated growth in new administrative positions over the last two decades? Why not write about the relative compensation of your faculty compared to those with similar education, training, and experience in other fields? I guess these tasks were too challenging. It's just easier to call faculty names.
Everybody loves free-market capitalism as long as the managers and administrators get to call the shots and the workers remain docile and content with whatever the bosses decide they deserve. But, when workers assert their rights and engage in labor negotiations as equals -- well, that is just unacceptable to our enlightened editorial masters. You're all doing a great job of learning how to be corporate lap dog journalists.
Oh, and you spelled "principal" incorrectly.

posted by: Prof. "Greedy," Ph.D.

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Upset City: Red Hawks baffle 'Cats in first round

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