The UNC Wilmington club hockey team will host Christopher Newport University this weekend for two games to be played tonight and Saturday at the Wilmington Ice House.

Wilmington will play its first home game since Sept. 30.

“Coming back home is definitely going to be a huge spark,” said defenseman Nik Matiatos. “It’s always an awesome spark and there is a lot of intensity when we have all of our fans here. I think with how we have been doing this season we’re going to have a big confidence boost.”

On Wednesday, the rankings for Division 3 hockey were released by the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) for the first time. UNCW was ranked seventh out of 15 teams in the South Region. The rankings are divided into four different regions (North, South, Pacific and Atlantic).

“It’s a good feeling,” said assistant coach Tony McCabe. “You know you got some work to do. You see some good teams ahead of you that you have to beat. You have a team behind you that we have a loss to that we know we need to keep winning to stay ahead of them.”

In order for teams to qualify for the rankings, teams must have played at least five recorded games. Rankings will be updated each Wednesday.

Christopher Newport comes into this weekend with a 4-5 record. The Seahawks have become familiar with playing the Captains, having seen them in each of the last three seasons.

“We have had a lot of success against them over the last few years but we can’t afford to have any hiccups this year,” says McCabe. “Our biggest issue going into this weekend is our mindset and making sure that we come in playing right and take both of those games.”

Christopher Newport last played on Oct. 13-14 at the Hampton Roads Ice Plex, splitting a weekend matchup with College of Charleston.

The Captains are led in scoring by left winger Caleb Dalterio, who’s recorded 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in nine games. The team also has depth in scoring from forward Brandon Mills and defenseman Ryan Brown, who both have tallied 15 points on the season. In total, five players on the team have totaled 10 points or more.

“You have to treat every player like they are a first liner,” says Matiatos. “You can’t go out there thinking that different sets of the line have different skillsets. You have to play each player and each team like they are the best one.”

Students can purchase tickets at the door for $5. Tickets for adults are $8 and tickets for children ages 10 and under are $3. Tonight’s game will be at 10 p.m. and the game on Saturday will be at 4:30 p.m.

Contributing Writer Brian Carpenter can be found on Twitter @bostonfan17856. Any tips or suggestions should be forwarded via email to [email protected]. For video updates from The Seahawk, subscribe to our YouTube channel.