UNH Wildcats Come from Behind

(Photo: William Cherry/Presseye)

Ralph Cox, Ambassador of the Friendship Four Tournament which is now in its fifth season, finally got the opportunity to see his alma mater, the University of New Hampshire Wildcats participate. The former Team USA member has been involved in the tournament since its inception and ranks that involvement as one of his greatest achievements. While he would certainly have preferred to see the Wildcats taking the ice on Saturday night in the championship game, instead he watched them take on the Princeton University Tigers in Saturday afternoon’s consolation game.

The game was a low-key affair for the bulk of the first period before the UNH Wildcats got on the score board when Liam Blackburn notched his first goal of the season at 15:09, assisted by Eric MacAdams and Robby Griffin. It was actually a bit of a surprise that it took that long because they had been outshooting the Tigers six to one halfway through the opening frame. The Princeton Tigers responded on their second shot when Christian O’Neill tied the game at 18:12 and the teams went into the first intermission tied.

The second period saw a bit more physicality though surprisingly fewer penalties. The first period saw Princeton called for a slashing (Mark Paolini) and a tripping (Spencer Kersten) while Charlie Kelleher was whistled for a boarding. During the second period while Kalle Ericksson sat in the box for the Wildcats for an interference call, Princeton put themselves up by one from the stick of Derek Topatigh. Princeton was unable to convert on the second penalty which was called on UNH’s Joseph Cipollone for tripping. However, as the period came to a close, Princeton was up by a goal despite continuing to be outshot.

The third period was the Wildcats period though. They didn’t panic about being down a goal and while Topatigh sat in the box for a slashing call on the Tigers, UNH’s Blackburn got his second of the season and of the game to knot the game up at 8:21. That power play goal definitely gave the Wildcats some added energy because just 1:07 later Filip Engaras put the Wildcats on top, where they held on until the end of the game.

Watching the teams play, for them it was the honor of getting the win and getting the points by the end and for Ralph Cox it was the chance to watch his Wildcats come from behind and take the win.

Hopefully in addition to the hockey games, both the University of New Hampshire Wildcats and the Princeton University Tigers enjoyed their entire experience while in Belfast and that those experiences remain with the players well after the win or loss in Saturday’s game.