DURHAM - The final horn sounded and members of the University of New Hampshire hockey team jumped off their bench and headed to center ice to shake hands with their rivals from St. Cloud State.

Greg Burke had one last duty and went looking for the game puck. A linesman retrieved it and handed it to the senior forward from Lee.

“I just remembered it,” Burke said later. “It was his 500th and that’s amazing. I just wanted to make sure he had that puck.”

Burke gave the milestone puck to senior captain Connor Hardowa and a few minutes later in the team’s locker room Hardowa presented it to coach Dick Umile, in honor of his 500th career victory.

“If anyone deserves it, it’s coach Umile,” Burke said. “Everyone was super happy for him.”

Umile, starting his 23rd season, became just the sixth active Division I coach, and 12th all-time, to hit the 500 mark.

“It’s an honor to be part of the program when he gets that one,” Hardowa said. “A lot of guys put in a lot of effort to get to 500. We’re just a little, small piece of it.”

Umile went for No. 501 on Saturday night in a rematch against St. Cloud State at the Whittemore Center.

The two coaches on the top of the 500 list are Boston College’s Jerry York and Boston University’s Jack Parker. York, entering his 41st season, had 913 wins and Parker, in his 40th, had 876 going into Saturday night games.

The primary goal on Friday night was to get the season off to a good start.

Last year, UNH was shut out in its first two games, was 0-4-1 after five and finished at 15-19-3 overall and 11-14-2 in Hockey East. It was only the second time the Wildcats had been under .500 in Umile’s tenure.

“It was good to get our first win in our first game,” Hardowa said.

The Wildcats took a 2-0 lead with a pair of goals at the end of the first period. The Huskies got two quick ones at the end of the second to tie it.

“Coming into the third period, coach got on us pretty good like we needed,” said junior forward Dalton Speelman.

Speelman and the team responded and his two goals in the first 3:10 of the third period gave UNH some breathing room.

“We knew what we had to do,” Burke said. “We took the control of the game back right off the bat in the third period and never really gave them much from there on out.”

The Wildcats want to send a message.

“We’re trying to let everyone know, trying to create an identity of our own, a new identity from last year,” Burke said. “I think it was good start, but that’s all it was. A start.”

Another part of the early-season urgency is the way the UNH schedule shakes out.

The Wildcats want to gain a little momentum with a run of home games to open the season. Boston University comes to the Whit on Oct. 20 and Northeastern on Oct. 26.

UNH plays seven of its eight games after that on the road. A game against Vermont here on Nov. 10 is the only one at home until UMass-Lowell comes in on Nov. 30.

Saturday night, as Burke stressed, was a start.

“Five hundred is a huge accomplishment,” said Burke with a smile. “But we want to get 530 by the end of the season. Five-hundred and thirty-five would be nice. Finishing up in April.”

alessels@unionleader.com