UNH Captain's Corner: Season Opening Win Over AIC

UNH Captain Collin MacDonald

The UNH Wildcats kicked off the 2015-16 season with a convincing 7-3 victory over American International College from the Atlantic Hockey Association. I had an opportunity to interview UNH Captain Collin MacDonald on how the team performed.

Mike Lowry ("C-H-C"): Congratulations on the team's 7-3 win over AIC in the season opener. What team and individual efforts stood out as positives in your mind?

Collin MacDonald: Obviously Kells and Pots each having 4-point nights was a positive. Dawson looked comfortable back there in his first game. Salvaggio scoring his first career goal is great, he’s a guy who could definitely make some noise with his size, speed, and shot.



Mike Lowry: The Correale-Poturalski-Kelleher line produced 4 of UNH's goals. What makes that line such an effective scoring threat?

Collin MacDonald: These three are definitely fun to have on your team. Each guy brings something different to the table and they just work well together. Kells can obviously finish, Pots is so dangerous with the puck on his stick and makes great plays, Corrs works so hard to get pucks and with his speed he’s always a threat.



Lowry: All 6 UNH defensemen took opportunities to lead the offensive rush through center ice and into the AIC zone. What are the potential advantages and disadvantages to this strategy?

MacDonald: Yeah it’s good to see our defensemen carry the puck and create some offense. Obviously this will give us opportunity to score on the rush. We just have to make sure we communicate and cover for each other to avoid odd man rushes going back toward our net.



Lowry: What aspects of the game does the team need to improve on?

MacDonald: We definitely want to get better every game; it’s something the coaches talk about all the time. Our defensive zone play needs to improve. Defenseman need to end plays down low, forwards need to play their positions and block shots.



Lowry: On a personal note, it looks like you've fully recovered from the serious leg injury you suffered in your sophomore season. This was particularly evident from the speed and quickness you showed on the forecheck against AIC. What was the long recovery period like for you?

MacDonald: The recovery was tough, but I learned a lot from it. There’s still a lot of maintenance work I do for it, but it makes me stay on top of taking care of myself. Little things like warming up, stretching, and icing are huge.