Weekly Preview Big Showdown in New Hampshire

This weekend the Maine Black Bears will look for revenge against their inter-state rival the New Hampshire Wildcats.

UNH is coming in as the number one team in the country. Last month the Wildcats only had one loss (against Massachusetts). How dominant have the Wildcats been. Since the month of November began UNH is 17-2-1 with their only losses coming against UMASS and Cornell. With players like Trevor Smith and Matt Fornataro who came out of nowhere, the Wildcats have had a lethal one two punch.

But if you had to tell me one Wildcat player who had the best month, it would be goaltender Kevin Regan. In the month of January, Regan allowed just six goals in five games, with UNH winning in all five games that he started in net. Also worth mentioning that he stopped a total of 113 shots out of the 119 shots that he faced giving him a .950 save percentage for the month.

On the other side, the Maine Black Bears will look to avenge an 8-2 loss against New Hampshire which was Maine's first loss of the year. Ever since their 8-0-1 start the Black Bears have been inconsistent going 8-7-1 in their lasd 16 games. In the month of January the Black Bears barely got a .500 after their last game which they defeated Northeastern in overtime.

The top three scorers for Maine (Teddy Purcell, Josh Soares, and Michel Leveille) have a combined 40 goals and 56 assists accounting for 96 points. The goal totals are just 10 less than the rest of the team's goals combined (50). If Maine is to win at least one game against New Hampshire this weekend, then the team has to find another playmaker.

This is not going to be an easy next six games for Maine. After this series against New Hampshire, the Black Bears will face Vermont for two games (at Maine), then they go right back on the road for a showdown with Boston College. Will Maine survive this stretch? Or will UNH start Maine off on the wrong note?

In other college hockey games this weekend:

Cornell will face two of the top teams in the ECACHL, Clarkson and St. Lawrence at Lynah Rink.

Boston College will face Massachusetts before their first round Beanpot game against Harvard (Beanpot preview coming soon).

Wisconsin will travel to Colorado College for two.

And in the other first round Beanpot game, Boston University will take on Northeastern.

Like I said the Beanpot preview is coming up witbin the next few days, so keep it here on hockeynuts for all your college hockey needs.