'Cats slated to visit Providence

Following a tough weekend series against the University of Maine Black Bears, the UNH men’s hockey team finds itself in a difficult position. After losing 4-3 on Friday night and playing to a 4-4 tie on Saturday afternoon, UNH earned just one point and the Wildcats are tied for third place with three teams and will not get home ice advantage in the Hockey East tournament.

“We’re very disappointed,” UNH head coach Dick Umile said. “We had the cards laid out for us (to earn home-ice advantage) and we couldn’t capitalize. This was a missed opportunity.”

UMass-Lowell holds the top seed with 34 points and has proven to be one of the best teams in the country. After starting 4-7-1, the RiverHawks have gone 18-3-1 in their last 22 games. Boston College sits in second place with 33 points, finishing the season with an emphatic 7-2 win over Vermont on Saturday after tying the Catamounts on Friday night.

In third, UNH is tied with Boston University and Providence College, all with 32 points. BU holds the tiebreaker for the top spot with 15 wins in conference, while UNH and Providence have 13 wins. Providence holds the tiebreaker over UNH in head-to-head play, going 2-0-1 against the Wildcats. Had UNH and Providence tied the season series at 1-1-1, UNH would have held the tiebreaker over the Friars due to having a better record against the No. 1 seed, UMass-Lowell (3-0 against the RiverHawks this season).

UNH (No. 5 seed) will take on Providence (No. 4) this weekend in a best two out of three series. Lowell (No. 1) faces Maine (No. 8), BC (No. 2) will play Vermont (No. 7) and BU (No. 3) plays Merrimack (No. 6). The winners of each series will head to the TD Garden in Boston to play on March 22-23. The semifinals will be played on Friday night at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., and the championship will be played on Saturday at 7p.m.