2025-26 Hockey East Season Preview: New Hampshire Wildcats

Since the 2015-16 season, the New Hampshire Wildcats have only been able to muster one finish outside of the bottom four, with a lonely sixth place two years ago. Outside of that one run, the Wildcats have regularly been another one of Hockey East’s basement dwellers, with this season looking like it will be more of the same.

With a new season less than a month away, the program is once again looking towards the incoming youth to ignite the spark in order to turn around this once proud program that played for national championships.

The Wildcats will kick off their season traveling to the midwest on Oct. 9, to take on Michigan State. Their home opener will come two weeks later on Oct. 24 at 7 p.m., when they take on Long Island. The regular season will then play out as normal. It will conclude with a matchup against UMass Amherst at home on March 7, at 7 p.m.

This season, 10 new freshmen will dawn the Wildcat’s sweater for the first time: Alex Carr, Ryan Philbrick, Reid Conn, Conner de Haro, Nick de Angelis, Connor DeTurris, Felix Gagnon, Sam Oliver, Jacob Newcombe and Kristian Coombs.

In terms of incoming transfers, there are four: sophomore Oscar Plandowski comes over from University of New Brunswick, sophomore Cam MacDonald was previously at Acadia University, senior Kyle Chauvette previously attended Union College and lastly, graduate Jack Cronin formerly played for Princeton.  

A captain is yet to be announced for the upcoming season but whoever it may be, he'll have his work cut out for him (or them). Not only will he will be tasked with leading a program that has been spinning its wheels for more than a decade, but live up to the standard of the previous captain, one who turned professional. 

Alex Gagne, recently signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the Colorado Avalanche. 

"Alex embodies a standard that will make him a great pro and the Avalanche have a prospect that will represent the organization both on and off the ice in a first-class manner," head coach Mike Souza said. "We are proud of Alex and grateful to have had the opportunity to coach him here at UNH." 

With a strong captain who had the role for two years, gone, and more than half of the 26-man roster being new, what are the Wildcats' keys to having a successful season this year? 

Firstly, they need to establish their offense. Last season, the team was only able to score 96 goals last season, with a mere 53 of these finding the back of the net in conference play, the second worst mark in the entire league last season. 

What makes it worse is that the top two goal scorers from the team last year, Robert Cronin (17 Goals) and Ryan Conmy (15 Goals), are gone. Cronin graduated as a senior. Conmy transferred about an hour south to Boston College, to one of heavy hitters in college hockey.

Instead, UNH will have to rely on a lot of newcomers to pick up the slack and contribute in more ways than incoming freshmen should ever have too. One to keep an eye on, though, is Sam Oliver, who could end up leading the offense.

Oliver last played for the Drummondville Voltigeurs in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. In his last season with the club, he tallied 78 points, scoring 50 goals and connecting on 28 assists in just 63 games. Oliver's stellar goal-scoring ability earned him the Mario-Lemieux Trophy as the QMJHL’s top goal scorer for that season. He also led the QMJHL in regular season power-play goals with 18. 

Another potential problem is goaltending. Senior Jared Whale had his work cut out for him last season. In 31 games between the pipes, he won 11 games but posted a .888 save percentage throughout the season, the second lowest in all of Hockey East last season. 

Now, this isn’t even a knock on Whale, who did the best he could given the circumstances. When he was sidelined late in the season the Wildcats turned to Rico DiMatteo, who posted a .911 save percentage. 

The simple question, why didn’t DiMatteo play more, needs to be asked, as giving your starter rest and not over-working them is paramount to long-term success in Hockey East. 

To help strengthen up the defense, Alex Carr was brought in from the QMJHL. During his time there Carr stood out as a versatile defenseman. In 75 games, he scored nine goals and assisted on 43 of them, while also setting the team’s record for the all-time highest +/- rating for a defenseman with +86. 

Carr is just exactly what the Wildcats need in their young core: playmaking, offensive prowess, and the ability to play consistently over long periods of time. That last key, consistently, is a term that falls very little on the players. It mostly falls on the coaching staff.

Since replacing the legendary Dick Umile eight seasons ago, former UNH player Mike Souza has a record of 101-135-33 and is still trying to turn the corner while playing in a brutal conference.

Players come and go, but coaches remain. Sometimes, a deep playoff run, a Cinderella championship, or even a few years of success, can be enough to keep a coach around for years to come, even if the record isn’t spectacular. What bought Souze some time was last year's hot start. Entering early January with a 10-4-3 record and reaching as high as No. 16 in the national rankings. However, things came crashing down in February and ended in the Hockey East Tournament with a 3-2 in overtime against UMass Lowell.

However, for a team lacking sustainable offense and a defense that has more questions than answers this season, one would believe that the proverbial seat will be rather hot for Souza this season. If they maintain the status quo and finish in the bottom four once more, the Wildcats could be on the prowl for a new head coach to lead the program back to their winning ways. 

This is the second story in a series previewing the 2025-26 Hockey East season on Boston College On SI.

See Also: 2025-26 Hockey East Season Preview: Vermont Catamounts