Brian McConnell accounted for the Terriers' only goal in their 6-1 loss to UNH.

Game Statistics

The University of New Hampshire hockey team, the nation's top-scoring Division 1 team, erupted for three first-period goals and never looked back en route to a 6-1 win over the visiting Terriers in Hockey East action on Friday night (January 25th).

The loss dropped B.U.'s overall record to 14-6-2, while the team slipped to 8-4-2 in Hockey East action. Even so, the Terriers held on to a tie for second place in the league standings with the University of Maine. The Black Bears, who defeated UMass/Lowell on Friday night, also have 18 points. However, Maine, which is now 8-3-2 in the league, does have a game in hand over the Terriers.

The Wildcats, who entered Friday night's game averaging 4.91 goals a game, took advantage of eight Terrier turnovers in the first period, as they scored three times.

Colin Hemingway scored the first two them. The first came at 7:57 as he intercepted a pass midway between the two faceoff circles in front on Terrier sophomore goalie Sean Fields (Edmonton, ALTA). Hemingway took a couple of strides toward Fields before he let go a blistering shot that beat Fields high to the glove side.

Hemingway scored his second goal at 9:46 as he took a pretty rink wide pass in stride from Joshua Prudden. Hemingway went skating in alone and again beat Fields high to the glove side, and the Wildcats were off and running.

"We wilted when they made it 2-0," said Terrier head coach Jack Parker.

Before the first period was over, UNH had a 3-0 lead on a goal by Tyson Teplitsky. Another Terrier turnover led to the tally as New Hampshire got the puck deep along the right wing boards. Again it was Prudden who fed the puck over to Teplitsky who was camped down low. His shot beat Fields for the three-goal lead.

One of the few bright spots of the evening for the Terriers came at 7:21 of the second period when freshman Brian McConnell (Norfolk) scored his seventh goal of the year. The Terriers were in the midst of a 5-on-3 advantage, when junior Freddy Meyer (Sanbornville, NH) got the puck at the left point. He passed the puck down low to freshman Bryan Miller (Wayne, NJ), who was just to the right of UNH goalie Michael Ayers. Miller then slipped the puck across the crease to McConnell, who tapped it home.

The goal cut the Terrier deficit to 3-1, and, if they had been able to score again, it might have led to a different outcome.

Instead, the Wildcats got the goal back at 11:49 of the second period when David Busch's shot from the right point beat Fields, who was screened in front. New Hampshire tallied once more in the second period when Steve Saviano picked up a loose puck in front of Fields and tapped it home with just 42 seconds to play in the period.

With the Terriers trailing 5-1 entering the third period, Parker opted to replace Fields, who had 19 saves, in favor of senior Jason Tapp (Kelowna, BC). Tapp played the final 20 minutes of the game, had five saves and allowed one goal. The final goal came at 6:35, and it was the result of another Terrier turnover. Darren Haydar, who entered the game as the nation's leading scorer with 53 points and is the Wildcats' Hobey Baker candidate, intercepted a Terrier pass deep in the B.U. zone and fired it past Tapp.

"This was an old-fashioned whipping," Parker said after the game. "We made about 10 fabulous passes tonight. The problem was they went to the players in white (UNH's uniform color as the home team).

"This was a combination tonight of our inability to cover anyone and their ability to make the passes," the coach continued. "This was more than a 6-1 game. It could have been 12-1.

"Take a look at the shot chart, and you will see most of their shots were Grade A. It was embarrassing," said Parker. "I thought both our goalies played well tonight considering how pathetic we were covering anyone."

The Terriers will try to regroup by Sunday evening when they will host the Wildcats in their final regular-season meeting of the year. Faceoff at Walter Brown Arena will be at 7:00 p.m.