Welcome to the Whittemore Center, where the universities of New Hampshire and Vermont meet with a trip to next weekend's Hockey East semifinals at stake. The Wildcats won Game 1, 7-4, then the Catamounts answered with a 1-0 win last night -- and whoever loses for a second time may well see their season end tonight.

DURHAM – After the sophomore let six pucks past him on Friday night, University of Vermont Coach Kevin Sneddon pulled no punches in assessing the performance of goaltender Rob Madore, never quite pinning total blame on his netminder – but coming awful close.

“I don’t have much to say about our goaltending tonight,” Sneddon said after Friday's loss. “I feel bad for our team; I thought we put an effort forth that certainly deserved more than seven goals against. That’s going to be the key to tomorrow night. We need to get better goaltending.”

Welcome to the Whittemore Center, where the University of New Hampshire looks to close out Vermont and clinch a trip to Boston in Game 2 of their Hockey East quarterfinal series. The Wildcats scored five times unanswered to win last night, 7-4, though they're expecting they'll need to be better for longer tonight against the desperate Catamounts.

DURHAM – Since the buzzer sounded last Saturday at Boston College, Dick Umile has been insistent. The regular campaign is in the past. It’s the playoffs now. And that means a new season altogether.

Welcome to the Whittemore Center, where the universities of New Hampshire and Vermont open their Hockey East quarterfinal with the first game in a best-of-three series. UNH won the season series by going 2-0-1, and enters as the No. 1 seed -- to Vermont's No. 8 -- but the stats show little separation between these teams, and it's expected to be a tight weekend.

If you’re among the many who’ve wondered about the University of New Hampshire this hockey season, tonight’s the night for you. Tonight the playoffs open for the Wildcats. Tonight the games really begin to matter.  Tonight we start to find out whether UNH is a really team that can survive spurts of inconsistency because they’re so darn good when everything is clicking – or if those periodic struggles signify a fatal flaw that’s been covered up by clutchness that can’t possibly last forever.

Sizing up the eight contenders for the Hockey East tournament title, all of which enter this weekend's quarterfinal action with a legitimate shot to win the league's automatic NCAA berth.

No. 1 NEW HAMPSHIRE vs. No. 8 VERMONT Whittemore Center - Durham, NH
WILDCATS	* * *	CATAMOUNTS
16-11-7	OVERALL RECORD	15-12-7
15-6-6	LEAGUE RECORD	9-11-7
T10	PAIRWISE RANKING	T16
9-2-5	HOME/ROAD	5-7-4
4-3-3	LAST 10 GAMES	3-3-4
1-1-3	LAST 5 GAMES	2-1-2
6-4	ONE-GOAL GAMES	6-3
2-0-1	HEAD-TO-HEAD	0-2-1
116 (98 HE)	GOALS SCORED	105 (78 HE)
3rd (2nd)	LEAGUE RANK	5th (7th)
108 (77 HE)	GOALS ALLOWED	99 (82 HE)
T7th (2nd)	LEAGUE RANK	T3rd (4th)
16.9 (17.0 HE)	POWER PLAY	17.7 (16.5 HE)
9th (8th)	LEAGUE RANK	8th (10th)
80.7 (78.1 HE)	PENALTY KILL	80.6 (79.1 HE)
5th (8th)	LEAGUE RANK	6th (6th)
Butler: 25-22-47 Thompson: 16-18-34 Kessel: 8-25-33	LEADING SCORERS	Irwin: 15-19-34 Vock: 11-17-28 Roloff: 8-17-25
7	20-POINT SCORERS	5
Brian Foster 15-11-7, 3.06, .906	GOALTENDER	Rob Madore 11-10-7, 2.70, 9.07
0	SHUTOUTS	2

Welcome to Conte Forum, where -- with the Hockey East title all wrapped up -- the University of New Hampshire hockey team looks to solidify its standing in the national picture by taking on Boston College. Coming into the night UNH is 10th in the PairWise Rankings, while BC is tied for sixth.

DURHAM – When he caught his own slip-up, a smile burst on Bobby Butler’s face. “It was a big win,” he said before a quick correction. “A big tie, I mean.”

He was right the second time, his University of New Hampshire hockey team having just fought Boston College to a 3-3 draw. But, given what that meant, it was easy for the captain to be momentarily mistaken.

Welcome to the Whittemore Center, where the University of New Hampshire looks to clinch its seventh Hockey East regular-season title -- and third in the last four years -- by notching at least a point against Boston College in this two-game weekend series. Tonight's being televised live on NESN, but stayed tuned here for instant analysis throughout the night.