DURHAM – For the second weekend in a row, the University of New Hampshire men’s hockey team took to home ice with a share of first place in Hockey East on the line. And for the second week in a row, the Wildcats couldn’t get the job done.

Last Saturday against Merrimack, the Wildcats fired 52 shots on net but ended up on the short end of a 4-1 final. On Sunday afternoon at the Whittemore Center against Providence College, the ’Cats put 45 shots on goal and had to settle for a 3-3 tie against the Friars. UNH is now 11-6-2 in Hockey East, a point behind Boston College and tied with Merrimack College for second place after the Warriors defeated Massachusetts 4-2 on Sunday as well. The ’Cats are 16-7-3 overall.

After a tip-and-tuck first two periods that had the teams tied at 1-1, things came a bit unglued in the final 20 minutes as both teams claimed short-lived leads before ending up where they started.

“It was a hard-fought game that went back and forth, we had the lead and then we gave it up … and the guys stayed with it and found a way to tie it up,” said UNH head coach Dick Umile. “We’ll take the tie. It’s better than losing the game, I can tell you that.”

Dan Correale gave UNH a 2-1 lead 30 seconds into the final stanza on a power play that carried over from the second period when the Friars’ Myles Harvey was caught hooking Kevin Goumas as the Wildcats’ center tried to out-flank him on the right wing. Correale’s goal started with some hard work behind the Providence net by Goumas who fed the puck to the freshman winger in the low slot where he fought off a Friars’ defender for his second goal of the season.

Three minutes later, Correale took an untimely slashing penalty that gave Providence the opportunity to even the score at 2-2. Nick Saracino got the goal on a shot from the slot with help from Shane Luke.

Four minutes later Saracino struck again to make it 3-2 Providence from the top of the slot with Drew Brown getting the assist.

Scott Pavelski was one of the hardest-working Wildcats for most of the afternoon but had little to show for his effort until there were just 3:26 remaining in regulation when he took a pass from Casey Thrush down low to slap the puck past Providence goalie Jon Gillies for the all-important equalizer.

“Scotty Pavelski is a smart hockey player,” said Umile. “He does good things out there.”

It was another frustrating first 20 minutes for New Hampshire. Although controlling play for most of the period, the Wildcats tailed on the scoreboard 1-0 after surrendering only their seventh power play goal of the season. It was the third straight Whittemore Center game that UNH gave up the first goal of the contest.

With Austin Block in the penalty box for interference, Providence defender John Gilmour slipped down low behind the UNH defense from the left point to take a cross-slot pass from Saracino. Gilmour took a stride toward the ‘Cats goal and let fly a shot that zipped past Casey DeSmith.

Of the 17 shots New Hampshire put on the Providence net in the period, at least a half-dozen were strong scoring bids. With 11 minutes to play, Dalton Speelman, standing in front of the Friars net, nearly redirected a Pavelski shot from the right circle and a minute later Goumas set up Nick Sorkin for clear one-timer from the left slot that whistled just wide.

UNH tied the score at 1-1 with five minutes remaining in the second period. The play started with a quick UNH breakout between Maxim Gaudreault and Speelman with Speelman firing a shot from the high slot that Gillies blocked but the rebound bounced clear where Grayson Downing coming off the bench pounced on it at the top of the right circle for a blast that landed just inside the near post.

It was Downing’s 11th goal of the season, to pull him even with Block for the team’s lead. The point also pushed him into second place in team scoring with 20 points.

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