FOSTER NAMED HOCKEY EAST GOALIE OF THE MONTH
For the second consecutive month, Brian Foster was named Hockey East Goaltender of the Month after sporting a 5-2-1 record in January. In the eight games, the Pembroke, NH native posted a 2.33 goals against average and .928 save percentage. Foster won two of the three overtime games that the Wildcats played this past month, including the scintillating 4-3 victory over Merrimack last Saturday night. His top save performance came the night before when he turned aside 40 of 43 shots in a 3-2 loss at Merrimack.

It is the fourth time in his career that Foster has been named Goalie of the Month, having copped the honor in October and February of last year. This season the senior netminder has been named Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week on four occasions. After a rough start to the season, Foster now ranks third in the league in goals against (2.59), second in save percentage (,915), and second in total saves (485). He also leads all Hockey East goaltenders in minutes played with 1042.08.

BUTLER & KESSEL NOMINATED FOR THE WALTER BROWN AWARD
Senior forward Bobby Butler and sophomore defenseman Blake Kessel were two of 16 semi-finalists nominated for the Walter A. Brown Award, given annually by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston to the best American born college hockey player in New England. Butler and Kessel were two of 11 players from Hockey East who were selected.

Butler (right), who leads Hockey East in total points and goals, ranks fourth nationally in scoring at 1.44 poins per game. Butler was the Hockey East Player of the Month for November and twice has been named the league’s Player of the Week. He has scored in 20 of the 25 games UNH has played, including the last seven straight.

Kessel leads Hockey East and ranks second nationally in points scored by a defensemen with 28. His 22 assists tie him for first nationally while his 1.17 points per games are third nationally behind only Brendan Smith of Wisconsin and Thomas Dignard of Yale. Kessel (below) has scored in 15 games this season with eight multi-point games. He has also anchored a defense that has allowed two or fewer goals on 11 occasions.

Six Wildcats have won the award in the 57 years that it has been presented – Bob Miller (1977), Ralph Cox (1979), Ty Conklin (2001), Mike Ayers (2003) Steve Saviano (2004) and most recently Kevin Regan (2008)

The award is named after Walter A. Brown, a legendary Boston sportsman who owned the original Boston Garden and the Boston Celtics for many years and helped found the Beanpot Hockey Tournament which has been played every February since 1953. The Gridiron Club will announce the finalists and the winner in March, following the league playoffs and before the start of the NCAA Tournament.

WILDCAT NOTES
The Wildcats’ 4-3 victory on Saturday was their second win in three overtime games played in January. The ‘Cats had previously bested Providence, 3-2, on January 22 and had battled to a 2-2 tie against UMass-Lowell on January 8. With the win, UNH extended their home unbeaten streak against Hockey East opponents to 6-0-2, with five more games to go. Their 3-2 loss at Merrimack snapped an 11-game unbeaten streak against the Warriors…

UNH’s pair of one goal games against Merrimack this past weekend should come as no suprise to Wildcat fans. While the ‘Cats continue to dominate the series with the Warriors, the last nine games played over the past three seasons have been decided by a goal or less. UNH has the decided edge (6-2-1), but they can never breathe easy…

After their 3-2 loss to Merrimack on Friday, Coach Umile shuffled three of his four lines the following night, most notably adding Stevie Moses to the line with Peter LeBlanc and Mike Sislo. It was that trio which quickly built the 3-1 lead that the Wildcats enjoyed by the middle of the second period. LeBlanc has two scores, Sislo had the third, while Moses has two assists…

The ‘Cats 4-3 victory on Saturday may have been a costly one. Freshmen forwards Dalton Speelman and Greg Burke, both suffered shoulder injuries and did not return. Speelman left in the middle of the first period while Burke was hurt in the third on a check by Merrimack’s Kyle Bigos, who received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for hitting from behind…

COMMENTS FROM THE COACH
It was a battle all weekend. Friday night I thought we had a couple of oppportunites that we missed, definitely an unfortunate misplay in the third period, that cost us. Give Merrimack credit. They are a much improved team, and they are tough to beat in their own rink, their record shows that. Last night after the game I told the team we won’t know how big of a win that this was probably until the end of the season, but they stayed with it. We stayed focused at the end and we found a way to win. It was an important win for us. We played great in the overtime and were just determined to get the two points. The guys didn’t want to settle for a tie. It was important to get the two points especially with us heading to Maine next weekend. Hopefully it’ll be a very important two points.