Can Wildcats Make Championship This Year?

# 48 (Crowd Noise)

THREE TIMES IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS, THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE?S HOCKEY TEAM HAS QUALIFIED FOR THE NCAA?S ?FROZEN FOUR?.

TWICE, THE UNIVERSITY OF MAINE?S BLACK BEARS SWIPED THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY AWAY FROM UNH.

IN 1999, MAINE BROKE NEW HAMPSHIRE HEARTS WITH A 3-2 OVERTIME WIN IN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME.

AND LAST APRIL, THE BEARS AGAIN ELIMINATED THE WILDCATS 7-2 IN THE NATIONAL SEMIFINALS.

EVEN SO, THE 2001-2002 SEASON ENDED UP THE BEST EVER FOR THE WILDCATS.

FOR THE FIRST TIME, THEY WON 30 GAMES IN A SEASON, AND FOR THE FIRST TIME THEY WON THE HOCKEY EAST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP.

TWO GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

HOWEVER, UNH COACH DICK UMILE SAYS HE THINKS, BECAUSE OF LAST YEAR?S LATE SEASON LOSSES, MANY UNH FANS DID NOT SAVOR THE EARLIER VICTORIES.

Dick Umile
# 06 (26 sec) ?In support of the players, I think they were hurt a little bit because I think everybody at the beginning of this season are talking about last year?s disappointment. Yeah it was disappointing. We didn?t win the national championship when you?re so close. But nobody talked about the excitement we had when we won the regular season, when we won the Hockey East Championship, going to the Fleet Center with all our fans and the excitement and enthusiasm. It was tremendous, and I think a lot of people forgot about that.?

FORMER UNH COACH AND CURRENT TV ANALYST BOB NORTON, AGREES.

HE SAYS SINCE UNH BUILT THE WHITTEMORE CENTER IN DURHAM, WILDCAT FANS MAY HAVE TOO HIGH HOPES.

Bob Norton
#43 (18 sec) This has become a beast over here. You have to feed it. You feed it with wins. Last year they won their first Hockey East Championship. You?d think they had a bad season at the end of the season because they played a bad semifinal against Maine. So, I think the fans expectations are horribly out of proportion.?

ACCORDING TO NORTON, WINNING A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HAS NOT BEEN AN EASY THING FOR YESTERDAY?S ELITE TEAMS OR TODAY?S

Bob Norton
# 45 (13 sec) ?There?s a lot of great programs that haven?t won a national championship. Clarkson hasn?t won a national championship. Saint Lawrence hasn?t won a national championship. This has become so big that if you don?t win the Hockey East Championship and the national Championship, you?ve had a losing season in the minds of some.?

IT WASN?T TOO LONG AGO THAT A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WAS THE FURTHEST THING ON A UNH ATHLETE?S MIND.

GREG MOFFET WAS THE GOALTENDER FOR THE WILDCATS WHEN THEY WON THE 1977 EASTERN COLLEGE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE, OR ECAC, CHAMPIONSHIP.

Greg Moffett
# 32 (17 sec) ?Frankly, the year we won the ECAC , it was sort of a surprise to all of us. We thought we were pretty good, but we never really thought about winning the ECAC. When we did that, nobody gave much thought about where we?d go next. It wasn?t something we had discussed, and it wasn?t something that was a priority on anybody?s radar screen.?

# 28 Dick Osborne play-by-play

DICK OSBORNE IS UNH?S PLAY-BY-PLAY ANNOUNCER FOR YEARS.

HE SAYS THAT WHILE MOFFET?S TEAM DIDN?T THINK ABOUT A NATIONAL TITLE, HE EXPECTS TODAY?S WILDCATS TO MAKE THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP A PRIORITY.

Dick Osborne
# 35 (23 sec) ?Now it?s a perennial national power. Top ten team every year that you expect, and the goal obviously is a national championship. I mean sure you have interim goals along the way. You want to win your league in the regular season. You want to win the league playoffs. You want to get into the NCAAs. Those are all interim goals. But the ultimate goal is to win the national championship, and a lot of people don?t want anything but that.?

THE FANS AREN?T THE ONLY ONES EXPECTING A NATIONAL TITLE.

COLIN HEMINGWAY, A SENIOR FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA, IS CURRENTLY THE SECOND LEADING SCORER ON THIS YEAR?S SQUAD.

Colin Hemingway
# 11 (12 sec) ?You know what. When I got recruited by Coach McCloskey, the first thing he said was the team had a chance to win a national championship in the next four years. And that?s definitely the reason why I came here. You don?t want to settle for anything less.?

WHAT ABOUT THE PRESSURES ON THE ATHLETES AS DEFENDING HOCKEY EAST CHAMPIONS?

THE TEAM?S LEADING SCORER, SENIOR LANNY GARE, SAYS THERE ARE NONE.

Lanny Gare
# 15 (13 sec) ?No I don?t think so. I think, if anything, the pressure?s off. It was a big monkey off our back being labeled you can?t win the big one. We finally did win a Hockey East Championship. So, if anything, we?re more relaxed when we get back to the Fleet Center this year.?

COACH UMILE SEES IT A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY.

Dick Umile
#04 (23 sec) ?To be the defending champs, it was hard enough before and now all of a sudden you?ve got to defend the championship with the likes of a young Boston College team, your usual rivalries with Maine and Boston University. But it?s where we want to be and I guess it?s something we accept. It?s a lot better being in this position than trying to prove you?re a legitimate Division One program.?

IT?S BEEN QUITE A WEEK FOR THE WILDCATS.

TUESDAY NIGHT THEY MET THE NATION?S NUMBER ONE TEAM, BOSTON COLLEGE.

AND TONIGHT THEY PLAY THE FIRST OF THREE REGULAR SEASON GAMES AGAINST MAINE.

IS A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP IN THE OFFING?

WHETHER YES OR NO, UNH ATHLETIC DIRECTOR MARTY SCARANO, HAS THIS MESSAGE FOR WILDCAT FANS.

Marty Scarano
# 23 (10 sec) ?If we don?t get there, it?s not a failure but clearly there is a sense that that is the ultimate goal.? BUTT/BYTE (SAME CUT) ?I think our fans should learn to just enjoy everything, game by game.?

ANXIOUSLY AWAITING TONIGHT?S FACE-OFF IN ORONO MAINE, I?M JIM JEANNOTTE, FOR NHPR NEWS.