WHO: No. 1 Miami RedHawks (2-0) at New Hampshire Wildcats (0-1).
WHERE: Whittemore Center, Durham, N.H.
WHEN: Friday, 7 p.m. and Saturday, 7 p.m.
RADIO: Friday: None. Saturday: WKBV-AM (1490), Richmond, Ind.
NOTES: Jeff Zatkoff stopped 43 shots. Forwards Ryan Jones and Nathan Davis, both having all-world seasons, both scored a goal.
And Miami won its first-ever NCAA Tournament game.
That was the last time the RedHawks faced New Hampshire, in a first-round game in Manchester, N.H., that Miami won, 2-1 over the top-seeded Wildcats.
It was only 2½ years ago, but as far as the Miami hockey program has evolved recently, it feels like a decade has passed since (three current RedHawks - seniors Jarod Palmer, Gary Steffes and Dane Hetland - were members of that team).
Since that March 24, 2007 game, the Wildcats have been back to the NCAA Tournament both seasons. They lost to Notre Dame, 7-3 in a first-round game in 2008, and beat North Dakota before falling to eventual champion Boston University in a regional final earlier this year.
New Hampshire went 20-13-5 last season, but lost leading scorer James van Riemsdyk, the No. 2 overall pick of the 2007 draft. Van Riemsdyk went to the Flyers after two seasons with the Wildcats.
Without their top point producer, New Hampshire lost its first game this season, 3-1 at RPI.
But UNH's offense should still be potent, since three of the top four Wildcats scorers from last season returned. Senior Bobby Butler had nine goals and 21 assists, and he scored New Hampshire's lone goal vs. RPI.
Senior Peter LeBlanc - a Chicago Blackhawks draftee - finished with 14 goals and 16 assists, and junior Mike Sislo scored 19 goals and dished for 12 assists.
Butler and LeBlanc played in the Wildcats' loss to Miami in 2007.
Senior goaltender Brian Foster was on the Wildcats in 2007, but he was not in net for the last meeting between these teams. The former fifth-round pick of the Florida Panthers will probably will start both games this weekend.
Foster played in 35 of New Hampshire's 38 games in 2008-09. He went 19-11-4 with a 2.68 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage.
Two other New Hampshire forwards and one defenseman have been drafted - junior Phil DeSimone and freshman Greg Burke. DeSimone had 18 points last season, and Burke was a sixth-round pick who played juniors in 2008-09.
Sophomore defenseman Blake Kessel - younger brother of Toronto Maple Leafs' forward Phil Kessel - did not play in the Wildcats' first game, but he's arguably the top defenseman on the team. The New York Islanders' sixth-round pick had a goal and an assist in New Hampshire's exhibition, and it would be a major loss for the Wildcats if Kessel couldn't play this weekend.
Speaking of NHL relatives, New Hampshire freshman forward Scott Pavelski is the younger brother of San Jose Sharks forward Joe Pavelski.
New Hampshire is 4-3 all-time vs. the RedHawks in a series that dates back to 1993.
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