State of Sports: Plymouth State up for the challenge at Utica
Mar. 15—ALTHOUGH many of you will undoubtedly be focused on Saturday night's Hockey East quarterfinal between rivals UNH and Maine, that's not the only big college hockey game involving a New Hampshire team that will be played that night.
While the Wildcats and Black Bears are skating in Orono, Plymouth State will attempt to extend its season when it plays at Utica in the NCAA Division III quarterfinals. The winner will advance to the national semifinals, which will be played Thursday at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.
Like UNH, which has allowed one goal in its last four games, Plymouth State is playing stingy defense. The Panthers have won eight in a row, and have surrendered 14 goals in those eight games. Plymouth State has given up 10 goals in its last seven outings.
Plymouth State will be up against a Utica team that has 13 freshmen and five sophomores on its roster. The Pioneers are 14-1-3 on their home ice this season.
"They're a really good squad," Plymouth State coach Craig Russell said. "They're pretty young. I think that's going to be a benefit to them that you don't always need experience at this time of year. They're just young enough to not know any better, so they're just going to come out with their hair on fire a bit looking to play their game against us.
"I've seen them play a few times this year. They've had some games that I've been able to catch and they're a fun team to watch. Their atmosphere is really great. It's going to be fun for us to be on the other side of that."
Plymouth State set a program record for wins in a season — the Panthers are 24-2-2 — and collected the program's first NCAA tournament victory when it beat Cortland State 5-2 last Saturday. Utica earned a bye in the tournament's first round and will enter Saturday's contest on a 17-game winning streak.
Here's how the Panthers and Pioneers (23-2-3) match up on paper:
Scoring offense (goals per game): PSU, 5.00; Utica, 4.71.
Scoring defense (goals allowed per game): PSU, 1.89; Utica, 1.46.
Penalty-killing: PSU, .91.5%; Utica, .87.6%.
Power-play: PSU, 28.6%; Utica, 20%.
Key Players: Plymouth State sophomore center Will Redick has 27 goals and 31 assists in 26 games. He leads Division III in points per game (2.23), goals per game (1.04) and assists per game (1.19). Utica sophomore goaltender Ethan Roberts has a 1.57 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage. He has appeared in 19 games and has a 14-2-3 record with five shutouts. Roberts spent one season in the CCHA (University of St. Thomas) before he transferred to Utica.
—Liam Doyle left a strong first impression in his attempt to earn a regular spot in the University of Mississippi pitching rotation this season. Doyle, who led Pinkerton Academy to the Division I championship in 2022, struck out eight in 3 1/3 innings to help the Rebels defeat Morehead State 13-1 last Saturday. He surrendered a run on three hits, walked one and hit one batter.
"Felt great," Doyle said. "Awesome to be back out there. Obviously comfortable being a starter. I've been a starter a lot of my career. I can't wait to keep going this year with this team and this group of guys and just making the biggest impact I can no matter what my role is for the rest of the season."
Doyle, a sophomore, began his college career at Coastal Carolina, but transferred to Ole Miss after his freshman season. He was 3-1 with a 4.15 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 56 1/3 innings for Coastal Carolina last season.
—A reminder to New Hampshire football coaches (youth and high school) that the 26th Annual Joe Yukica Spring Clinic will be held April 5 at the University of New Hampshire's Wildcat Stadium. Coaches will be able to attend a UNH practice, which begins at 3:45 p.m. Registration for the indoor portion of the clinic will be held from 5:45 to 6 p.m. and will include a rules review by the New Hampshire Football Officials Association's Steve Hall. The rules review is mandatory for all NHIAA head coaches.
UNH head coach Rick Santos will be the keynote speaker, and there will be high school and college coaches speaking on a variety of football-related topics from 6:30 to 9:25. Food and beverage will be provided, and there will be a coaches social at 9:30 p.m.
The cost is $25 per coach, or $100 for an unlimited number of staff members from one program. To request a registration form, contact Londonderry High School head coach Jimmy Lauzon at jlauzon@londonderry.org.
—Souhegan High School running back/linebacker J.J. Bright announced on social media this week that he will spend a post-graduate year at Phillips Exeter Academy. Bright was named the inaugural winner of the Yukica Player of the Year Award last fall, when he rushed for 1,471 yards and 21 touchdowns and caught 18 passes for 356 yards. He also finished third on the team in tackles.
—The 90 points the Pinkerton Academy boys basketball team scored in last Saturday's 90-76 triumph over Nashua North set a record for points in an NHIAA Division I championship game. The Astros were 37 of 79 from the field (46.8%) and made 29 of their 52 two-point field goal attempts.
—Here are the New Hampshire players scheduled to perform in front of NFL scouts at the Holy Cross Pro Day on Thursday: Dylan Laube, RB (UNH), Randall Harris, DB (UNH), Kyle Lepkowski, TE (UNH), Heron Maurisseau, WR (UNH), Osho Omoyeni, OL (UNH) and Anthony Brown, WR (Saint Anselm).
—Baseball America has released its preseason high school baseball rankings and has Londonderry at No. 4 in the East Region. The Lancers are the only New Hampshire team ranked in the East Region, which includes the New England states plus New York and New Jersey.
