2022–23 New Hampshire Wildcats men's ice hockey season

The 2022–23 New Hampshire Wildcats Men's ice hockey season was the 97th season of play for the program and the 39th in the Hockey East conference. The Wildcats represented the University of New Hampshire and were coached by Mike Souza, in his 5th season.
==Season==
With about half of the roster changing in the offseason, the outlook for New Hampshire was a complete unknown. Gone was the team's starting goaltender, as well as its top three scorers. David Fessenden, who had previously been a starter at Alabama–Huntsville, held the inside track for the job at the start but he ended up sharing the job with Tyler Muszelik for most of the season. The revamped offense seemed capable enough in the first few games, enabling the team to post an early 3–2 record. Unfortunately, after that decent start, the scoring completely dried up. Over a nearly 8-week stretch, New Hampshire went 0–12–1 and scored more two goals on just one occasion. While the defense wasn't particularly strong in that span, the offense squandered the chances they got by averaging slightly more than 1 goal per game. It wasn't until the series with Arizona State in min-December that the team pulled out of its tailspin but they still ended the first half of the season 10 games under .500.
With the Wildcats on pace for one of their worst performances in history, UNH stumbled after their return from the winter break. The team got swept by a down Union squad and then had to run through a gauntlet as 8 of their next 9 games came against ranked opponents. With everything arrayed against them, New Hampshire completely turned its season around. Fessenden played some his best hockey in that 9-game stretch while the offense rediscovered its scoring touch. The Wildcats went 7–2 in those games to pull itself out of the doldrums. While they weren't solely responsible, the wins that UNH posted in that run helped knock Connecticut and Providence out of the NCAA tournament.
While the wins came too late to save New Hampshire's season, they did show what the team was capable of doing. The offense struggled over the final few games and cost the team in their lone playoff game, but the Wildcats had already proven themselves to be 'giant-killers'.
==Departures==
Joe Cipollone 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with South Carolina Stingrays)
Filip Engarås 	Forward 		Signed professional contract (Bakersfield Condors)
Eric Esposito 	Forward 		Graduate transfer to Mercyhurst
Lucas Herrmann 	Forward 		Left program (retired)
Drew Hickey 	Defenseman		Graduation (retired)
Eric MacAdams 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Adirondack Thunder)
Will MacKinnon 	Defenseman		Graduation (signed with Reading Royals)
Jake Moniz 	Goaltender		Left program (retired)
Jackson Pierson	Forward 		Graduate transfer to Notre Dame
Carsen Richels 	Forward 		Transferred to St. Scholastica
Mike Robinson 	Goaltender		Graduation (signed with Reading Royals)
Alec Semandel 	Defenseman		Graduation (signed with HK 36 Skalica)
Ryan Verrier 	Defenseman		Graduation (signed with Worcester Railers)
Tyler Ward 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Maine Mariners)
==Recruiting==
Jack Babbage 	Defenseman		22	Tully, NY; transfer from Quinnipiac
Damien Carfagna 	Defenseman		19	Wood-Ridge, NJ
Nico DeVita 	Defenseman		21	Bellevue, WA; transfer from Ferris State
Jake Dunlap 	Forward 		20	Windham, NH
Cy Leclerc 	Forward 		20	Brentwood, NH
Tyler Muszelik 	Goaltender		18	Long Valley, NJ; selected 189th overall in 2022
Cade Penney 	Defenseman		21	White Rock, BC
Stiven Sardaryan 	Forward 		19	Saint Petersburg, RUS; selected 88th overall in 2021
Kristaps Skrastiņš	Forward 		20	Grobiņa, LAT
Morgan Winters 	Forward 		20	Osprey, FL
==Roster==
As of August 23, 2022.
==Standings==
==Schedule and results==
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | 
==Scoring statistics==
 	F 	35	12	12 	24 	18
 	F 	35	13	7 	20 	6
 	F 	35	12	8 	20 	28
 	D 	35	3 	16 	19 	6
 	D 	35	6 	10 	16 	2
 	RW 	34	5 	8 	13 	0
 	F 	23	3 	8 	11 	29
 	D 	33	1 	9 	10 	33
 	D 	35	1 	8 	9 	14
 	F 	28	3 	4 	7 	10
 	C/RW	29	2 	5 	7 	8
 	C 	26	3 	3 	6 	4
 	D 	33	2 	4 	6 	12
 	F 	31	1 	4 	5 	14
 	D 	35	0 	5 	5 	14
 	F 	20	4 	0 	4 	16
 	C 	32	1 	3 	4 	10
 	F 	34	0 	3 	3 	6
 	F 	23	1 	1 	2 	4
 	F 	29	1 	1 	2 	16
 	C/W 	12	0 	2 	2 	0
 	F 	7 	0 	1 	1 	2
 	D 	14	0 	1 	1 	4
 	G 	25	0 	1 	1 	15
 	G 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	D 	7 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	13	0 	0 	0 	0
Total	 	 	74	124	198	271
==Goaltending statistics==
 	25	1427:21	7 	14	1	63 	647	1	.911	2.65
 	14	685:29 	4 	7 	2	37 	278	1	.883	3.24
Empty Net	- 	21:21 	- 	- 	-	5 	- 	-	- 	-
Total 	35	2134:01	11	21	3	105	925	2	.898	2.95
==Rankings==
Poll 	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week
Poll 	Pre 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10 	11 	12 	13 	14 	15 	16 	17 	18 	19 	20 	21 	22 	23 	24 	25 	26 	27 (Final)
USCHO.com	NR 	- 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	- 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	- 	NR
USA Today	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR
Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 1, 13, or 26.
==References==
2022-23
New Hampshire Wildcats
New Hampshire Wildcats
New Hampshire Wildcats
New Hampshire Wildcats