This morning I rolled out of bed wondering how my alma mater’s hockey team was doing this season. See, I’ve got this ongoing bet with my college roommate about UNH making the playoffs, and if they drop below .500, I owe him a case of craft beer.
So I grabbed my laptop still half-asleep. First thing I did was check the official Hockey East website – total nightmare. Their standings page was loading like dial-up internet. Spun for a solid minute before showing last week’s stats. Useless.
My Detective Work Begins
Switched tactics and hammered “UNH hockey record today” into Google. Top result was some fan forum with a thread titled “Wildcats suck this year??” – not helpful. Second link was ESPN’s college hockey section, but they only showed NHL scores by default. Had to dig through three dropdown menus just to find NCAA divisions.
Finally found it under Division I Men’s Standings and sorted by conference:
- Boston College: 12-3-1
- Boston University: 10-4-2
- UNH Wildcats: 8-7-1
- Maine: 7-9-0
My coffee went cold staring at that 8-7-1 record. That’s fifth place in Hockey East! They dropped two spots since last Tuesday after that overtime loss to UConn. Started mentally calculating if I could sneak cheap beer instead of the fancy stuff for my bet.
The Realization Hit
These guys are sitting right on the bubble for tournament contention. If they can sweep Merrimack this weekend, they might jump into third. But their power play percentage? Still hovering around 18% according to the stats sidebar. Not great Bob.
The whole search took twenty frustrating minutes when it should’ve taken two. Ended up bookmarking the ESPN college hockey direct link so I don’t repeat this circus tomorrow morning. Looks like I’m safe from buying beer this week – but barely.
