2023–24 New Hampshire Wildcats men's ice hockey season

Hoping to continue their strong play from the end of the previous season, New Hampshire began the year with a tough slate by facing preseason #1 Boston University in the opener. Surprisingly, the Wildcats outscored the Terriers and planted their flag early in the year. UNH then earned a split with the defensing national champions, Quinnipiac, but not everything was looking good. Tyler Muszelik had been in goal for all three games and allowed 4 goals in each. Even so, the team was set to continue with the sophomore netminder in goal but he was knocked out of the lineup with a lower body injury in the third week of the season.^[1]

Transfer Jakob Hellsten took over in goal and the goaltending results improved immediately. Over the next four games, hardly allowed a goal, albeit against weaker opposition. Hellsten played so well that when Muszelik had recovered the two goalies had to share the crease. This situation only made the difference between the two more stark as Hellsten swiftly proved to be the better of the two. In the meantime, New Hampshire's offense continued to score at an impressive rate. The Wildcats scored at least 3 goals in eight of their first thirteen games and entered the break in a prime position to finally end their NCAA tournament drought.

After the winter break, Muszelik had the worst game of his career, allowing 5 goals on 13 shots against Army. While the Wildcats were good enough at the time to absorb the loss, it was the last real opportunity for Muszelik in goal and Hellsten would start all but one game for the rest of the season. The UNH defense did a good job insulating their goaltender as the Wildcats were the #3 team in the nation in shots allowed (23.5 per game).^[2] That assistance helped Hellsten's efforts to keep the puck out of the net, however, the Wildcats began experiencing other troubles.

The offense that had carried the team in the first half of the year suddenly found it difficult to score consistently. UNH squandered several chances to win games by failing to score and went .500 over their final 14 games. Though the team was not helped by that middling stretch, New Hampshire was saved due to the fact that the Hockey East was the top-ranked league in college hockey that year. Even with their up and down play, the Wildcats remained in the top-20 by season's end and still had a small chance at earning an at-large bid.

With UNH starting in the first round of the conference tournament, the team would need to at least make the semifinal round if not the conference championship game to make the tournament. As the 6th seed, the Wildcats opened against last-place Massachusetts Lowell. Hellsten set a new program record by posting his third consecutive shutout which, coincidentally, all came against the River Hawks. The offense was barely visible in the match but New Hampshire would have to hope that that was a one-off and the scoring would return in the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, the trend continued and their long-time rival Maine was more than happy to take advantage. The Wildcats only managed to muster 18 shots on goal and none of them found the back of the net. To make matters worse, UNH was whistled for five penalties in the game and the two power play goals from the Black Bears were more than enough to end New Hampshire's season.^[3]

As of July 10, 2023.^[4]

No.	S/P/C	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team	NHL rights
1		Jeremy Forman	Senior	G	5' 10" (1.78 m)	150 lb (68 kg)	1999-09-22	Northbrook, Illinois	Corpus Christi (NAHL)	—
2		Jack Babbage	Junior	D	6' 1" (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	2000-08-30	Tully, New York	Quinnipiac (ECAC)	—
3		Conor Lovett	Junior	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	2001-04-07	Franklin, Massachusetts	Cedar Rapids (USHL)	—
5		Zach Hahn	Freshman	D	6' 2" (1.88 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	2002-08-06	Huntington, New York	P. A. L. (NCDC)	—
6		Marty Laviņš	Freshman	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	2003-04-10	Riga, Latvia	Cedar Rapids (USHL)	—
7		Stiven Sardarian	Sophomore	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	2003-02-07	Saint Petersburg, Russia	Youngstown (USHL)	BUF, 88th overall 2021
8		Nikolai Jenson (A)	Senior	D	5' 11" (1.8 m)	193 lb (88 kg)	2000-07-28	Cold Spring, Minnesota	Youngstown (USHL)	—
9		Connor Sweeney	Junior	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	2000-05-05	North Andover, Massachusetts	Islanders (NCDC)	—
10		Ronan Walsh	Freshman	F	6' 4" (1.93 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	2002-05-03	Andover, New Hampshire	Amarillo (NAHL)	—
12		Liam Devlin	Junior	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	192 lb (87 kg)	2001-01-07	Needham, Massachusetts	Omaha (USHL)	—
13		Nick Cafarelli	Senior	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	182 lb (83 kg)	2001-12-31	Middleton, Massachusetts	Wenatchee (BCHL)	—
15		Luis Lindner	Junior	D	5' 11" (1.8 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	2001-05-16	Spittal an der Drau, Austria	American International (AHA)	—
16		Luke Reid	Senior	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	192 lb (87 kg)	2001-09-26	Warman, Saskatchewan	Chicago (USHL)	NSH, 166th overall 2020
17		Kristaps Skrastiņš	Sophomore	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	2001-11-20	Grobiņa, Latvia	Amarillo (NAHL)	—
18		Harrison Blaisdell (A)	Senior	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	2001-03-18	Regina, Saskatchewan	North Dakota (NCHC)	WPG, 134th overall 2019
19		Brendan Fitzgerald	Freshman	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	2003-03-06	North Reading, Massachusetts	Cedar Rapids (USHL)	—
20		Colton Huard	Junior	D	6' 3" (1.91 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	2000-11-27	Foothill Ranch, California	Chicago (USHL)	—
21		Cam Gendron	Senior	D	6' 3" (1.91 m)	181 lb (82 kg)	1999-02-05	Hampstead, New Hampshire	New Jersey (NAHL)	—
22		J. P. Turner	Freshman	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	2003-01-31	East Falmouth, Massachusetts	Fargo (USHL)	—
23		Jason Siedem	Freshman	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	2002-10-17	Madison, New Jersey	Blackfalds (AJHL)	—
24		Robert Cronin	Junior	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	187 lb (85 kg)	2000-08-15	Plymouth, Massachusetts	Dubuque (USHL)	—
25		Nick Ring	Freshman	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	2003-10-26	Abington, Massachusetts	Sioux Falls (USHL)	—
26		Morgan Winters	Sophomore	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	2001-12-08	Osprey, Florida	Omaha (USHL)	—
28		Alex Gagne (C)	Junior	D	6' 4" (1.93 m)	207 lb (94 kg)	2002-08-12	Bedford, New Hampshire	Muskegon (USHL)	TBL, 192nd overall 2021
29		Cy LeClerc	Sophomore	F	5' 9" (1.75 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	2002-08-17	Brentwood, New Hampshire	Janesville (NAHL)	—
30		Tyler Muszelik	Sophomore	G	6' 3" (1.91 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	2004-07-01	Long Valley, New Jersey	NTDP (USHL)	FLA, 189th overall 2022
35		Rafe Gaughan	Senior	G	6' 1" (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	2000-02-11	Somersworth, New Hampshire	Northeast (NA3HL)	—
36		Ryan Conmy	Freshman	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	2004-10-23	Alexandria, Virginia	Sioux City (USHL)	LAK, 182nd overall 2023
37		Jakob Hellsten	Junior	G	6' 0" (1.83 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	2000-02-02	Ljusdal, Sweden	North Dakota (NCHC)	—

^[6]

Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 11 or 25.^[7]
Note: USA Today did not release a poll in week 12.