DURHAM, N.H. -- When Mike Souza took over as New Hampshire’s head coach prior to this season, one of his main goals was to make the Whittemore Center one of the toughest places to play in college hockey again.
The Wakefield, Mass., native Souza sure knows a thing or two about when “Lake Whit” was rocking. He graduated from UNH in 2000 after playing on four consecutive teams that advanced to the NCAA tournament under legendary coach Dick Umile. And it rocked even more when archrival Maine came down.
The Wildcats (10-9-8, 6-6-5) and Black Bears (10-13-3, 6-7-3) sit in the seventh and eighth-place slots of the Hockey East standings following the weekend, so NCAA berths aren’t in the cards for either team this season unless they make a run and win the league title at TD Garden next month.
But it felt a little bit like the glory days during the series split in Durham.
