DURHAM - Jeff Pietrasiak knows the score. For now, he's the UNH hockey team's No. 1 goalie. He's arguably the pivotal ingredient this season. He's got huge skates to fill, those of Michael Ayers, an All-American last season. He's the focal point of an untested defense, on a team that is supposed to challenge for a national championship, year after year.

Pressure, Jeff?

"There's obviously a lot of pressure all the time," Pietrasiak said yesterday during media day at the Whittemore Center. "I try not to think about it. I just try to go out there and concentrate and play my game. Just focus."

Pietrasiak will need all the tunnel vision he can muster as this season evolves. The Wildcats, who open the season a week from Saturday at home against Ohio State, are as young and inexperienced as they've been in recent memory.

They've got 16 freshmen and sophomores. Veterans like Ayers and Steve Saviano and Patrick Foley and Tim Horst are gone.

Head Coach Dick Umile never wants to use the term rebuilding, not for a program that's qualified for the Frozen Four four of the last seven years. But Umile yesterday moved in that direction before quickly changing gears.

"I'm not saying it's rebuilding, but we're going to be a little bit young in numbers," the coach said. "The majority of the players we have on the team will be freshmen and sophomores, not juniors and seniors. We will need those guys to contribute very quickly."

Which brings us back to Pietrasiak, a sixth-round pick of the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2002 NHL Draft. While he is a junior, he has little experience. He made 11 appearances last season, starting five games. He was 3-1-1 with an impressive

1.86 goals against average and a solid .923 save percentage.

He made 30 saves in a 5-2 win over Northeastern University and had 33 saves in a 1-1 tie with Providence College.

"It helped a lot, getting in there, getting the experience, playing with the team and getting used to playing in front of big crowds," Pietrasiak said. "I'm looking forward to playing some more this year."

That's when we'll get some answers. Make no mistake, Pietrasiak is on the hot seat, playing a position that is as crucial as it can be lonely.

He's following in a wonderful tradition, one that includes, in recent years, Ayers, Ty Conklin and Sean Matile. Go back a while, to the mid-1980s, and the Wildcats featured local boy Bruce Gillies, a Bishop Brady graduate.

Pietrasiak is close with Ayers, who's in camp with the AHL's Hartford Wolfpack. The two spoke two weeks ago.

"I learned a lot from Mike just watching him over the past couple of years," Pietrasiak said. "I talk to him a lot. He definitely helped me progress and become a better goalie through the last two years."

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