DURHAM – Freshmen will often say its the increased pace of the game that they need to get used to when starting their collegiate career.
Max Gildon, a rookie defenseman for the University of New Hampshire men’s hockey team, hasn’t had trouble getting up to speed.
Gildon potted three goals on four shots to lead the No. 17 Wildcats to a 6-3 win over Colorado College at the Whittemore Center on Friday. The Florida Panthers prospect, taken with the 66th pick in last summer’s draft, has five goals on the season and has played a pivotal role in helping the Wildcats reach 5-0 for the first time in 24 years.
“We’re just looking to ride this wave as long as possible,” Gildon said. “Obviously we just want to keep on winning, that’s always the goal. Hoping we can do it for a long time.”
Gildon’s hat trick was the first for UNH since Patrick Grasso scored four goals against Merrimack on Oct. 29 last year. The offense continued to fire at a high rate Friday – the Wildcats are averaging 4.6 goals per game this season – but the team relied on netminder Danny Tirone to handle 48 shots and he made 45 saves.
Tirone controlled all 15 shots the Tigers sent his way in the first period. It was the highest number of shots Tirone has faced in a period so far this season. The senior made three point-blank saves in that stretch to keep the Wildcats in control.
His workload didn’t lessen in the later periods. Colorado College hit him with 15 shots again in the second and third periods.
The numerous chances Colorado College created had UNH Coach Dick Umile shaking his head after the game.
“We’ll take the ‘W’ but not a great effort by us tonight,” Umile said. “Tirone won the game for us. We take pride in playing defensively away from the puck but tonight was not good.”
Gildon gave the Wildcats an early 1-0 lead on a power play chance less than two minutes into the game. After Brendan van Riemsdyk (goal, assist) made it 2-0 and CC’s Troy Conzo put the Tigers on the board, Gildon scored twice in the second period to give the Wildcats a 4-1 lead.
That kind of scoring production hasn’t been seen from a defenseman in a single game in several years at UNH. Not one defenseman had more than three goals in the entirety of last season. Gildon managed to score three in about 35 minutes Friday.
“Max played well, he’s a talented kid,” Umile said. “He does things very well offensively, and defensively he’ll get better as the team will hopefully Saturday night.”
Gildon was on the ice for the Tigers’ second and third goals.
Mason Bergh scored his team-high fifth goal of the season to cut into UNH’s lead, 4-2, in the closing minutes of the second period. Liam Blackburn answered back 2:15 into the third period scoring from the slot off a crisp feed from van Riemsdyk behind the net.
CC’s Andrew Farny scored on the power play, his first goal of the year, to bring the Tigers two goals and three minutes left. Coach Mike Haviland pulled his goaltender, Alex Leclerc (22 saves), shortly after but Chris Miller scored on the empty net with under two seconds to play.
“We need to get hungrier around that net,” Haviland said, sporting his 2010 Stanley Cup ring from his days as an assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks. “If we score some of those, maybe it puts (UNH) on their heels a little bit.”
The Wildcats struggled to stay out of the penalty box in the third period. UNH gave Colorado College four separate chances on the power play, but the penalty killing groups limited the Tigers to seven shots in those situations.
“We take pride in our special teams,” said van Riemsdyk, one of Umile’s top penalty killers. “We did a good job with that tonight.”
Overall, the Wildcats will need to improve defensively Saturday night to get back on Umile’s good side, despite remaining undefeated in the third weekend of the season.
“This is not the way we want to play, a little sloppy and not much structure to our game tonight,” van Riemsdyk said. “I think this game showed what kind of skill this team has but we can’t get away from our structure and expect to win too many games like that.”
Marcus Vela was the top Wildcat at the faceoff dot with 13 wins on 21 draws. Blackburn was second at 12-for-24 and Michael McNicholas (two assists) was 8-for-16. Overall, UNH won 38 faceoffs to CC’s 32.
Umile said second-line winger Shane Eiserman re-injured the leg that has been nagging him since last season. Eiserman left last Saturday’s game after scoring his second goal of the weekend and agitating the injury on the play. He participated in practice through the week and played most of Friday’s game. After the game, Umile was unsure if Eiserman will play Saturday.
Sophomore defenseman Anthony Wyse left the game toward the end of the second period with blood visible on his white jersey. Umile said it’s a “possible concussion” and doesn’t expect Wyse to be on the ice Saturday.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight between the Tigers and Wildcats. All home games are broadcast online on ESPN3 and on the Wildcats Sports Radio Network.
(Nick Stoico can be reached at 369-3339, nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @NickStoico.)