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They are warriors who have battled for four years.
University of Maine senior defenseman and captain Peter Metcalf and New Hampshire senior center and captain Darren Haydar will conclude their regular-season duel this weekend when the Wildcats, rated No. 1 in one national poll and second in another, invade Alfond Arena for a two-game set.
Maine is ranked sixth in one poll and eighth in the other. UNH is atop Hockey East and Maine is second, four points back. Maine has played one fewer game.
UNH holds a 6-5-1 advantage over Maine since Haydar and Metcalf first donned the jerseys. They are rivals but they also possess a mutual respect.
“He’s definitely a good player who reminds me of [former Boston College star] Brian Gionta,” said Metcalf. “He will do anything to win. He’s real competitive. He gets his team ready to play. He knows how to get open and he knows how to score goals.”
Haydar said Metcalf “is definitely a tough kid. He’s gritty. You can’t take him lightly or he’ll put you on your butt. He has definitely contributed a lot over the years.”
Haydar figures he may have an edge in the incentive department. It all dates back to April 3, 1999. That was the night the Bears beat the Wildcats 3-2 in overtime in the NCAA championship game at Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, Calif.
“I feel like we owe Maine after my freshman year,” said Haydar, who is fourth on UNH’s all-time scoring list with 198 points in 143 games. “We feel they’ve gotten the better of us because of that game. That’s what’s driving me right now. We want to show Maine we can compete with them. This is a big weekend for us. We want to show we belong on top of Hockey East.”
Metcalf, who has 83 career points in 130 games, knows stopping Haydar, the nation’s leading scorer, will be one of the keys this weekend.
“We’ve got to get in his face. If we can throw him off-kilter, it will throw their team off-kilter,” said Metcalf.
Boston College coach Jerry York said Haydar and Metcalf “have been outstanding players ever since they first stepped foot on their campuses in September of their freshman years. They made immediate impacts.”
UNH coach Dick Umile said Haydar “has done lot for us, not only as a player but as a leader in the locker room. And Metcalf deserves a lot of credit for what he’s done with all the adversity they’ve had to go through.”
Umile was referring to the Sept. 24 death of coach Shawn Walsh due to complications from kidney cancer.
“Peter has done an outstanding job as our captain,” said Maine interim head coach Tim Whitehead. “He is a great competitor and he had had a lot to do with the development of our four first-year defensemen.”
Whitehead considers Haydar a “great all-around player” who does everything well.
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