Sports Insider by Frank Coppola: Regan saves day as UNH settles for tie

February 15, 2008

Regan saves day as UNH settles for tie

By Roger Brown
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Lots of shots, and very little scoring — that’s what those in attendance witnessed during Friday night’s Hockey East contest between the University of New Hampshire and Providence College.

UNH goaltender Kevin Regan made a career-high 52 saves and the Wildcats earned a point by tying the Friars, 1-1, at Schneider Arena.

Regan stopped 20 shots in the opening 20 minutes — the most saves he’s ever made in a period — 19 in the second, 10 in the third and four in overtime. Regan’s previous high was a 46-save effort in a 2-1 triumph against Maine last season.

“He played terrific,” Providence coach Tim Army said. “When you get over 50 shots (the goalie) has to do some good things. I thought he made some real difficult stops. He looked good around his net. We had some rebound opportunities, but he wasn’t floundering. He was nice and square.

“I thought he played extremely well. He seems to do that more often that not, that’s for sure.”

Providence entered the weekend averaging 37.7 shots on goal per game — the most of any Hockey East team. Providence goalie Tyler Sims made 28 saves.

“We knew coming down here they like to shoot the puck, so I was prepared to see a lot of action,” Regan said. “They throw the puck on net from everywhere. Any goalie will tell you that’s better than (facing) 20 shots and having to make a big save. It’s really easy to stay focused when you’re seeing a lot of pucks.”

League-leading UNH is 18-7-2 overall and 14-4-2 in Hockey East. Providence (13-10-4, 10-6-4) is part of a three-way tie for second place with Northeastern and Boston College. Those teams trail UNH by six points.

Regan made 13 of his 52 saves during Providence’s four power-play opportunities. The Friars failed to score a power-play goal.

“They take a lot of shots, you gotta handle it,” UNH coach Dick Umile said. “I don’t like to see that number of shots. That’s not the way to play the game. Kevin is playing really solid. He made some really good saves when he had to.”

Freshman left wing Danny Dries scored the UNH goal, which handed the Wildcats a 1-0 lead 6:45 into the game. The goal came during a UNH power play. Assists were credited to defenseman Brad Flaishans and center Mike Radja.

Jon Cavanaugh, a sophomore center, pulled the Friars even when he scored from near the left post at 13:39 of the second period.

The best scoring opportunity in overtime came when Radja missed the net on partial breakaway with 40 seconds to play.

“Anytime you can put points up on the board in this league it’s a good thing,” Army said. “You want to win the game, but the only thing we can control is how we play. They’re fourth in the country for a reason, so we did a lot of good things.”

ooo
’CAT NOTES: Regan’s younger brother, Mike, is a freshman at Providence and is the Friars’ team manager. … The teams will play again tonight (7) in Durham. UNH is 8-0-0 against Providence in the last eight games played at the Whittemore Center, and the Wildcats outscored the Friars 28-7 in those eight contests. … UNH has played its last five games on the road. … Regan became UNH’s all-time leader in games played by a goaltender (102). … The Wildcats are 9-0-1 in their last 10 Hockey East games. … Tonight’s game can be seen on Ch. 11.

Posted by Frank Coppola at February 15, 2008 11:20 PM

Comments

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31