#TomasVomacka

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CANTLON: CAVANAUGH PREPARES UCONN FOR BC

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings STORRS, CT - The red-hot UCONN Huskies come off a big, convincing win over Merrimack on Tuesday night and head on Friday night to Chestnut Hill at Kelley Rink to take on Boston College. While the BC tiger may have lost a fang and doesn’t have lots of bite at the moment after being defeated in its Beanpot game, Cavanaugh was giving nothing away and has nothing but respect for his former coach, Hockey Hall-of-Famer, Jerry York. “We played a pretty complete game against Merrimack on Tuesday night, but that’s not gonna help us tomorrow night against the Eagles,” Cavanaugh whose squad owns a five-game road winning streak and has won five of their last six contests, said. “I was very impressed with them in the Beanpot on Monday night. I thought they deserved better in that game. They controlled a lot of it, but they ran into a hot goalie. They’re really, really skilled up-front with Nesterenko, Cruz, Ambrosio, and Giles. Giles is having a breakout year. It’s gonna be quite the challenge for us.” BC fell to fourth place because Boston University won 4-1 over Providence College on the strength of two Jay O’Brien power play goals on the road at Schneider Arena. SENIOR LEADERS UCONN’s resurgence and elevation in the standings is a result of the strength of its senior leadership. “We have some great seniors, including three grad transfers. That’s ten alone with those players. The upperclassmen have provided stability and experience to the team and have played a lot of hockey in February. They know what it takes to win. The credit goes to them.” The team's big guns are Jachym Kondelik, Jonny Evans, Vladislav Firstov, and Ryan Tverberg. They have led the charge scoring big goals. “We have scored six goals in each of the last two games and nobody has had more than two. That shows we have a lot of depth on this team. That means more to me than a couple of guys carrying the team. When you're getting contributions up-and-down your line up, that usually means your team is in-sync and playing well.” KONDELIK Kondelik’s metamorphosis from his first days being recruited from Muskegon (USHL) to winning that battle over BU, to being drafted by the Nashville Predators (NHL) to wearing the "C" has been something. “Assistant coach Joe Peirara said, 'I want you to take a look at this kid.' I was in Pittsburgh (at a USHL Showcase tournament). He was intriguing, big at the time. I remember (former NHL’er) Brian Boyle when I recruited him (at BC). There wasn’t a lot of action there (yet). So much is expected of bigger guys. I liked his skill set and it came down to us and BU. He really liked his visit here and we had Tomas Vomacka (now playing with Nashville’s system) committed here, so it was good to have another Czech kid he felt comfortable with him. "Watching him grow has been fantastic. He’s not only blossomed into not only a good college hockey player, but he has also grown into a high-end (player) who can play in the National Hockey League.” He has certainly improved his skating to be considered for an NHL deal from Nashville. In discussing the putting together of his top line of Kondelik, Firstov, and Yale transfer Kevin O’Neil, Cavanaugh was willing to be a bit self-deprecating about it. “Luck!” he said with a droll laugh. “I’d like to say it was strategic, but Kondelik and Firstov have played together in the past. They all bring a different element to the line. "Kevin’s a realty player, as in he competes (for the pucks). Vlad is a super high-end skill guy as you saw the other night with his highlight-reel goal against Merrimack. They all really compliment each other well. They have skill. They compete well, and play great defense. They don’t cheat on defense and that creates a lot of offense.” Cavanaugh’s lineup is healthy and he once again deferred to wait until after practice to name his starting goalie, which, except for one game, has been Darion Hanson. UCONN MEN'S HOCKEY HOME Read the full article

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CANTLON: UCONN 2021-22 SEASON PREVIEW

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings STORRS, CT - As if on cue, the first-morning dew on campus heralded a new hockey season for the UCONN Huskies and their head coach, Mike Cavanaugh. “I’m excited to be with the team and to make a deep push in Hockey East and maybe the NCAA tournament (both at the Boston Garden this year). We’ll have our fifth practice today, and I hope we’ll have 16 before next weekend’s first game with Sacred Heart (University) at the XL Center.” SHU is the Division I level team UCONN has had trouble with and has not beaten them at the D1 strata. “Not only have our freshmen, but none of our sophomores have played there, so we want to get them acclimated to the building,” remarked Cavanaugh. LAST YEAR The team, which posted a 10-11 record last year and lost to Providence College in the playoffs’ opening round, hasn’t advanced in Hockey East post-season action. They have a slew of grad transfers, and it’s different but not unique to future opponents. “It was like they were recruiting us in (goalie) Darion Hanson (Union College), Kevin O’Neil (Yale), and (Jarrod) Gourley (Arizona State). They didn’t play last year. They spoke to us, and I have spoken to their coaches, who would love to have had them back for a fifth year, and they spoke highly of them. “Boston University, our second opponent, has seven (transfers). We just have three, and they have been committed to us for a long time. They give us a different perspective and are a great for me and a great resource for our players,” remarked Cavanaugh. IN NET In net, Hanson will share duties with Logan Terness, who’s a highly touted freshman from Trail (BCHL). They will also have one goalie coming off labrum (hip) surgery, Matt Pasquale. They will also have one having it, Ryan Keane (Coppell, Texas), who both had zero time behind the off to the NHL, Tomáš Vomáčka, who played every second last year. “It’s wide open; not a lot of them played last year. Darion has the most experience of the three goalies, so I expect he’ll get the most work early, but we have five or six practices to go before that decision is made.” Upfront, the Huskies have a solid returning cast led by last year’s Hockey East top scorer, senior Jonny Evans. They’ll also have senior Carter Turnbill, and after not being offered a contract, 6’6 center from the Czech Republic, Jachym Kondelik (Nashville). FIRSTOV Vladislav Firstov (Minnesota) is giving Cavanaugh a rare luxury they haven’t had. "This is the best depth we’ve had since I’ve been here. We really don’t have a fourth line. I can spread Jonny on one line, Vladdy Firstov on another, Carter Turnbull on one, Jachym (Kondelik) on another. This could be the strength of our team this year.” On defense, Yan Kuznetsov and Tomas Vomáčka went pro, Kuznetsov, though, was a surprise. “Tomas, a goalie, they offered him a contract, and they give out only five or six goalies. One, you gotta take it, and it shows they think he can play. So, you have to take the contract. Yan, by the same token, was a surprise. It wouldn’t have hurt him to come back,” remarked his now-former head coach. SOPHMORES His younger sophomore class with Hudson Schandor, Artem Schlaine, Cassidy Bowes, and Nick Capone (East Haven/Salisbury School) (Tampa Bay 6th round #157) got to know Hockey East last year, introduced themselves, and got quality minutes. He has high hopes for Capone. “He is really a good player. He can do a lot of things (well) that can translate to getting to the next level. I want him to be more of a factor night in and night out. I want him to play a power forward game like Tom Wilson without the suspensions, antics, and penalties. I want him averaging three or four shots a game, and he’s capable of that, and can bring that intimidation factor to the game too.” On the backline, Jake Flynn and Carter Berger, are a pair that have made early good impressions. CAPTAIN KINAL On his team’s new captain, Roman Kinal, Cavanaugh was philosophical. “He’s on a trajectory like (former defenseman) Wyatt Newpower was (now with Cleveland-AHL). He struggled on-and-off the ice in the classroom the first year and struggled with his play and injuries in his second year.” His freshmen class is a more traditional mix in net with a high-end goalie prospect in Terness, who’s in the mold like Adam Huska and Tomas Vomacka, who both came before him. There’s also a late defenseman to commit, Aidan Metcalfe, and in-state kid Jake Veilleux (South Windsor/Selects Academy at South Kent Prep), another BCHL grad from the Victoria Grizzlies, and Sasha Telguine. “Aidan was a surprise. He is a big kid, strong, skates well; Veilleux can play forward or defense. He’s pretty versatile, and Sasha has a lot of skill. We’re not going to have to rely on them because we’re a veteran team. Injuries in a season will happen, so it’s good to have some players to slide into those positions, on a veteran-laden team.” POSTSEASON HOPES The change in the post-season conference playoff system to the one-and-done structure from the three-game series that Cavanaugh has advocated for over the past several years. “I think you’ll see more conferences going toward it. It mirrors our national tournament. Shooting for Boston is a team goal.” The new captain Kinal replaces Adm Karascik (Ridgefield/Avon Old Farms) will play a post-grad year at ND. “The (Boston) Garden has been talking about all (offseason and all year) Hockey East is there, the Finals (Frozen Four) are there. We’ve been talking about it all year to get to the Garden; that’s our goal. That’s our long-term goal. We also, of course, have individual goals. That starts with winning October 2nd against Sacred Heart and goes from there.” DRAFT PICKS That some of his players and just five nationally (three in the first six picks) with more incoming players selected surprised Cavanaugh. “When you’re drafted, that means the work has just begun. When you’re drafted, you sign a million-dollar deal; you’re taking home $400,000 after taxes, escrow, and paying your agent, and we’re bringing in business people to educate the kids about the business inside and outside of hockey. It’s sticker-shock when you go to places like Seattle and California,” said Cavanaugh. The brand new yet unnamed rink is taking shape. “It’s great,” said Cavanaugh. The new (UCONN) rink will be the second smallest rink in the conference to Matthews Arena (home to Northeastern built over 100 years ago and occupied in 1910.) We’re already getting benefits on the recruiting trail with inquiries from kids we wouldn’t have heard from before, say, three or four years ago. It’s exciting; once a week at the top of the hill, I can look in, and you can see the foundation of the building now.” CAPTAIN PUMPED His captain is equally enthused. “I pass it every day going to class. It’s awesome. You definitely see progress being made. Every year they would talk about. Now you see the stones being set in place. Now you see the work being done. It’s pretty cool were excited for sure,” said Kinal. The season looks to be a bright one for UCONN. COLLEGE NEWS Heading pro is Wisconsin-River Falls (WIAC) player from Division III in Christian Hausinger, with Wichita (ECHL) as the seventh D3 player. The Division-1 breakdown is: Hockey East 29, Big 10 has 23, NCHC 17, AHA 11, ECACHL with eight, CCHA, formerly the WCHA with four, and independent Arizona State with two. Division-I pro signees are 94, underclassmen who have left school early 36, and ALL college players signed from Division I and III in North America are now up to 132. Grad school transfers are at 51, and school transfers are 81 for 132 players who switched schools. In addition, 36 Division I and III have headed to Europe, including the latest Jaako Heikkinen (Denver University). Three went to Canadian college and university, and one went to Canadian major junior. COACHES A whole slew of volunteer coaches and assistant coaches were named. Jordy Murray at ND, Jack Riley heads to Division III independent Albertus Magnus College (New Haven), Ryan Zapolski, former Team USA goalie in the 2018 Pyeongchang, South Korea Games at Mercyhurst (AHA). Peter Ward is the new is senior advisor for coaches at MSU with Dylan Strom, the Spartans volunteer, Matthew Vanden Berg at Maine (HE). Minnesota State in the new CCHA and Colgate ECACHL are the preseason favorites to win their conferences. The brand new Ed Robson Arena at Colorado College ribbon is cutting is coming up shortly. UCONN HOCKEY HOME Read the full article

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CANTLON: UCONN CLOSES OUT SEASON AGAINST UMASS AMHERST

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - It’s a big night for hockey in Hartford for the UCONN Huskies are on the verge of breaking another Hockey East barrier. They have a home-and-home with the UMASS-Amherst Minutemen starting with Senior Night festivities at 7 PM (WCCT-CW Channel 20) and then tomorrow night at the Mullins Center at 7 PM (NESN PLUS) to close out the regular season schedule. UCONN enters the weekend tied for fourth place in the crowded Hockey East standings. The Huskies have 24 points, their best-ever point total since joining the conference in 2014, and are even with UMASS-Lowell. UCONN is a mere point behind the third-place University of Maine, and two points behind the second-place UMASS-Amherst. UCONN is four points back of the first-place Boston College, who knocked Merrimack, 6-1. A weekend sweep could put the Huskies in the top four guaranteeing a first-round, home playoff game next weekend. The reason UCONN is standing on the edge of this goal is the superlative effort on the road last week to beat BU 6-1 last Saturday sweeping their first Hockey East series of the year. Perfect time to do so. It was tight game 2-1 for UCONN when the floodgates opened and the Huskies swarmed all over BU and on all their key opportunities, they didn’t miss the net. The play that set the Huskies superb second third period in motion was a 10-bell-save from sophomore Tomas Vomacka that he made on Dave Farrance off a three-on-two late in the first period. Vomacka was down-and-out and completely vulnerable. He reached out with his glove and snatched a sure goal away from Farrance The first of three goals by senior Alexander Payusov came with linemate Brian Freeman in the slot in front with a screen. Payusov was able to obtain his own rebound for the goal. 41 seconds into the third, Payusov tallied their second goal of the evening as the Russian from Montreal motored like an Acela train through the middle of the ice, lowered his left shoulder and went wide on BU’s defenseman Alex Vlasic. Payusov fired a 35-foot wrister past goalie Ashton Abel and gave the team a 3-1 lead. UCONN never looked back. Freeman then used a time-honored flip pass to Payusov and he marched in and fired a shot five-hole on Abel and a strong 4-1 lead. The Huskies upped the lead to 5-1 with a fantastic powerplay where all five players on the ice touched the puck. Freeman among the conference-best in faceoff percentage cleanly won the draw. Then Jake Flynn was at the left point and sent it over to Jonny Evans at the right point, then down low to Ruslan Iskhakov. Iskhakov spotted Payusov on the doorstep and got the puck and made a blind backhanded pass to Freeman, who was in the shooter's position on one knee on his off-wing. He drove it into the open left side for a 5-1 commanding lead. The exclamation point came with Justin Howell with 48.3 seconds left winning a one on one battle with BU’s Alex Wise got around and fired a great short side, on the stick-side. The high-wrister on Abel went in to close out the game. Freeman’s two goals and five assists (seven points) earned him Hockey East Player-Of-The-Week, the first one of the season. He has taken over the team-lead in scoring with career-best 26 points on the year on seven goals and 16 assists.  Over the last five games, Freeman has 11 points on the strength of three goals and eight assists. UCONN with a player in any of Top 20 of stats has played a team game and has put themselves in this position that is a mountain that in early January seemed couldn’t be climbed. The Huskies lineup features six 20-point scorers with Payusov having 12 goals, seven coming over the last five games. Freshman Vladislav Firstov who has 23 points on 11 goals and 12 assists and fifth among freshmen scoring in Hockey East. Sophomore Carter Turnbull scored his 11th goal of the season and tied Firstov for the team lead in goals scored.  Turnbull has 23 points on the season, and has had at least a point in eight of his last nine games.  Over that stretch, he has five goals and seven assists. Sophomores Jachym Kondelik eight goals and 13 assists and Iskhakov nine goals and 11 assists round out the UConn 20-point scorers.  There are 12 Huskies who have double digit points and nine different players have scored five or more goals. Senior defenseman Wyatt Newpower is eighth among Hockey East blue-liners with a career-best 19 points with three goals and 16 assists.  He leads the Huskies as a plus 23 on the season, ranking fifth nationally. UCONN is now 7-1-0 over their last eight Hockey East games coming into the weekend. UCONN came back to beat BU in overtime, 4-3, at home last Friday a game they shouldn’t have won. Since joining the Hockey East, UCONN and UMASS have face-off 12 times with the Minutemen holding a slim 6-5-1 edge. In last season's regular season finale, UCONN knocked off the then number two ranked Minutemen, marking the highest-ranked opponent the Huskies have ever beaten. They had previously knocked-off the number three ranked team in the nation when they beat Boston College at home (1-0) in 2014 and a road win over then number three ranked UMASS-Lowell (3-2) in 2016. NOTES: -It will be Senior night with Payusov, Freeman. Newpower, Howell and Bryan Nelson. They will be honored before the game. All fans are encouraged to wear white shirts for the game. -Former Husky Spencer Nass was traded from the Idaho Steelheads (ECHL) to the Kalamazoo K-Wings. Read the full article

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CANTLON: UCONN BEATS WILDCATS, 7-4

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The suddenly revived UCONN offense aided by a pair of seniors, Alexander Payusov two goals and Wyatt Newpower three assists and a plus-five, swept a critical Hockey East weekend series from UNH by the score of 7-4 before a season-high crowd of 8,211 at the XL Center. UCONN’s record goes to 11-12-4 overall, but the all-important Hockey East number went above .500 at 8-7-2  and UNH falls to (13-11-2 overall, 7-8-1 HEA). The Huskies are in sixth place in the conference, but in a four-way tie in points at 18 with UMASS-Lowell in fourth place, Providence is in fifth followed by UCONN and then Maine. Northeastern is in eighth with 17 points. “I was very pleased with the weekend it was the second is where we won the game from start to finish. It was one of our five best periods of the year and we kept the pressure on them,” said a smiling head coach Mike Cavanaugh. For UNH’s head coach Mike Souza it was a big disappointment. “Not much to say. Credit UCONN they wanted it more than we did this weekend. It was an unacceptable defensive performance on our part. Hats off to Mike (Cavanaugh) they competed hard and made more plays than we did, that’s for sure. We beat ourselves in a lot of ways tonight.” In the third period, the Huskies added some extra icing on the cake as sophomore Jachym Kondelik scored two goals himself as UCONN erupted for 14 goals in two games and 12 different Huskies were on the scoresheet at game’s end. The play was all started by a blind backhand pass by Wyatt Newpower to Kondelik standing at the right side of the UNH net and his first shot was stopped by Trey Taylor, but he got the puck right back and buried his seventh goal of the year at 7:06 for a 6-2 lead. Newpower’s backhand pass was a no-no as the head coach wanted the blind backhand passes to stop as it was leading to turnovers that have been hurting the team. In this case, it ended well. “The coach told our defenseman not to do those types of passes just get to the net. It doesn’t have to be the hardest shot it has to be on the net and a speed we can tip it at or get a (rebound) like on Sasha’s first goal, that’s what we need,” said Knodelik. The head coach was pleased not only his big players came through, but the team got scoring throughout the lineup. “We got everybody scoring Sasha had two goals, Jachym had two goals, Ruslan’s line two goals. We got scoring from all four lines, that’s a recipe for success. When all four lines are chipping in its hard for the other team to focus on one line and shut it down. I told the kids if you keep getting multiple shot shifts, not just one and done. Several multiple shot shifts you will wear teams down and will score.” UNH got a puck bounce of their own on their third goal as Will Mackinnon right point drive went wide short side, but the eight ball bounced off the backboards and off Vomacka’s skate and into the net at 10:04. It was Mackinnon’s third goal of the year and West Haven’s Eric Esposito picked up the first of his two assists for the game and made the score 6-3. Kondelik scored his second goal at 16:37 on a great feed from Kale Howarth from behind the net and UNH closed out the scoring as Joe Sacco Jr. son of Boston Bruins assistant coach Joe Sr. scored his first of the season at 18:06 to make it 7-4. The Huskies regained the lead early in the second period as Brian Rigali, who had a net-front presence, and pest with four shots on goal started this scoring sequence. Rigali put the puck up the left-wing boards and defenseman Yan Kuznetsov shooting off his back foot got it on the net. UNH goalie Ty Taylor left a 28 oz. porterhouse rebound that Alexander Payusov easily slapped past him far side for his sixth goal at 4:32. For Cavanaugh, he shows more from his senior winger from Montreal. “He showed more emotion, he was vocal and was into the game. He was moving his feet, he’s a fun kid to watch when he is playing like that. You can get paralyzed by statistics sometimes were your not scoring goals, but you're helping your team in a lot of other different ways. I was really glad to see him get a few goals because were gonna need Sasha going down the stretch.” The Huskies got the all-important two-goal cushion on some fine work from UCONN’s fourth line. Defenseman Blake Wheeler (plus four) kept the puck in the UNH end of the ice after a Zac Robbins attempt was stopped. Justin Howell deep in the right-wing corner corralled the puck that UNH goalie Taylor missed behind the net. Robbins circling back like an eagle looking for a squirrel went to the net and made a perfect open blade redirect for just his second goal of the year at 15:06. “That was a big goal and gave our bench a big lift. They did very well in the second and in the third with good puck management.” Tomas Vomacka kept the lead for the Huskies with several breathtaking saves on Patrick Grasso hat trick bid, Filip Engaras, and Eric MacAdams. The best though came on Will Mackinnon as the original shot by Mackinnon came off the backboards past Vomacka and went right back to MacKinnon. Vomacka incredibly got back to the net, past a prone teammate top of the crease to deny him what seemed was a sure goal. The Huskies went back on the rush from that save as Vladislav Firstov stopped on a left-wing bid on across ice pass on a late-developing break play with 2:50 to go in the period. The Huskies got some serious puck luck on its fifth goal and third of the period. Alexander Payusov from behind the goal line as he got the puck from hard work by Harrison Rees dump in. Payusov just wheeled and fired the puck that went off the skate of UNH defenseman Ryan Verrier and into the net with 12.7 seconds left, ending a 20 shot barrage from UCONN. The Huskies went to the intermission with a commanding 5-2 lead plus roaring ovation from the crowd. “We shot a lot more pucks than we did last week. We didn’t get the bounces last week but we're happy with the outcome. The crows were great today.” The Huskies grabbed the 1-0 in the first period as they did Friday in New Hampshire. Once again their top line Ruslan Iskhakov-Vladislav Firstov and Jonny Evans factored in the goal. Evans on the right-wing got a good lead pass from t Firstov and Ruslan Iskhakov had inside position on the defenseman and redirected the perfect soft lead pass by Wildcats netminder Ty Taylor at 4:12 for his ninth goal. They finished a combined plus five with six points and on Friday had 11 points and combined plus 15 with each forward plus five. “The commitment to playing defense is helping them, they’re playing a 200-foot game. It was an emphasis we made to shoot one-time pucks, off the pass we saw that a couple of times tonight. My college coach Terry Meagher at Bowdoin always said shoot five-hole when your struggling when looking to pick corners that’s when you miss the net. That is something we have been doing really, really well this week,”. UNH’s lethal powerplay quickly tied it at one just 36 seconds later and 16 seconds into the penalty. The penalty call by Jamie Koharski on Adam Karaschik was a very weak interference call. UNH’s Patrick Grasso received a pass from the left-wing boards from fellow assistant captain Charlie Kelleher at the left side of the net, Grasso completely unchecked turned and swept his 10th goal of the season by Tomas Vomacka. UNH took the lead at 2-1 as Max Gildon from the right point with the puck on edge came off the right point with a slapshot that Vomacka stopped. The rebound was right there and Patrick Grasso found a still bouncing puck swiped at it and put in his second of the period and 11th of the season at 14:01. The Huskies top line was involved in their second goal that came in the last minute of play in the first. Wyatt Newpower at the right point let one fly and with a partial screen from Firstov who cleanly tipped the puck with 52.6 seconds left the Huskies had a lead and momentum going into their locker room. The period saw Vomacka keep the lid on what could have become a wild scoring free-for-all with several stops that he has made look routine as he has all season. NOTES: -UCONN has a bye week off and returns to action against the Maine Black Bears with the second game in Orono will be another NESN broadcast at 7:30 pm on the 15th. -RW Carter Turnbull (lower body) was injured on Friday was out and likely won’t be back till the Maine series in Orono in two weeks. -UNH lost Charlie Kelleher for the game with a lower-body injury late in the first period. -Ben Freeman continues his solid faceoff work with 12 of 23 many in the UCONN end of the ice in PK situations. -UNH had some local ties in Eric Esposito (West Haven/Loomis Chaffe Prep), head coach Mike Souza an ex-Bridgeport Sound Tiger and associate head coach Glenn Stewart, is a former UHL New Haven Knights in his sixth season. Goaltending Development coach ex-Pack, Ty Conklin in his first season. -The Wildcats Patrick Grasso’s uncles are former NHL superstars Joe and Brian Mullen and ex-New Haven Nighthawk, Tom Mullen. Patrick Mullen his cousin is still playing with the Belfast Giants (Northern Ireland-EIHL). -A recent article in USHCO .com by Jim Connelly intimating that Hockey East as a conference might change its format and become part of all-conference setup with all sports. A longtime trusted hockey source and confidant, very familiar with Hockey East and hockey in general, collegiate and minor pro, shot the article down like an incoming drone. “Utterly and completely baseless. I have no idea where that information came from, but there is no truth to it whatsoever.” It seems farfetched because nearly half of the conference would be disqualified from BU, Maine, UNH, Merrimack, Vermont, and UCONN either are have no conference affiliation or only in certain sports. College hockey is on the verge of expansion not contraction in the next two years. The long plan anticipated inclusion of Holy Cross into Hockey East is still not on the horizon our source commented, “I think that issue might be something the next commissioner will handle.” Joe Bertagna after 23 years is stepping down at the conclusion of the season and a conference committee has been interviewing candidates and has been narrowed down to five candidates. -The UCONN rink bond package has been written according to our source, however, when it will be formally presented to the bond commission remains unknown at this time as legislative jockeying is still ongoing with the Governor and other legislators. -Good news for UCONN hockey fans for next season a Nashville organizational source said both Tomas Vomacka and Jachym Kondelik will be back for their junior years as neither will be offered contracts this spring when the college season ends. -Matej Blumel, from the Czech Republic who was a former UCONN player, but never skated a minute for the Huskies bolting for the Czech Elite League three weeks before the season was to begin. The NHL draft choice of Edmonton Blumel has just three goals and four points in 26 games has re-signed with HC Litvinov (Czech Republic-CEL) for next season. Read the full article

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CANTLON: (SUN) QUINNIPIAC HOLDS OFF LATE UCONN CHARGE WIN 3-2

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings BRIDGEPORT, CT - Despite a furious final six-minute push to tie the game the UCONN Huskies (9-11-4) came up short 3-2 to the Quinnipiac University Bobcats (14-8-1) in the first game of the SNY College Cup Championhip.at the CT Ice Festival at the Webster Bank Arena. “I was certainly disappointed because I thought we played a pretty good hockey game. We carried the play in the first, Quinnipiac carried the play in the second period and in the third period especially over the last part of the period we played really, really well. They have been in a lot of big (NCAA) tournament games. I was happy with your kids how they competed all night long, just disappointed we didn’t get that tying goal to force overtime,”. The Bobcats team defense over the last seven minutes bent, but never broke holding UCONN to just two shots (seven for the period) despite the wild action and intense pressure and so many near misses by the Huskies. “We had two really good hockey team and you have to weather some storms,” said Cavanaugh so appropriately on a rainy Saturday “every now and again they score. They scored on theirs and in third period we took it back I don’t think it was one thing they did, but that’s how some hockey games go,” remarked a demure Cavanaugh. UCONN had a great chance with a late powerplay and had everything you wanted possession, puck movement and opportunity, but the red light never went on. The Bobcats got the lead back in the middle of the second period. Nick Jermain was able to get to the loose puck behind the UCONN net on shot attempt he just chipped from behind the net it went of Vomacka’s pads for his eighth goal of the year at 12:03 give QU a 3-2 lead they protected like a bobcat does its pups. “I saw the whole area behind the net open and put out front hoping something good will happen,” said Jermain and that he did. From that point, QU put strong pressure on UCONN seeking the fourth goal. Joe O’ Connor (Hamden) off the right-wing, Alex Whelan and Jermain had two more quality chances that Tomas Vomacka turned away in a two-minute span Then late in the period center blue line Peter DiLibertore let one fly Vomacka swallowed up. UCONN got a late powerplay as Wyatt Bongiovanni caught Iskhakov in the head just the two-minute variety and the Huskies got the setup, but no quality shots before the expired leaving just 22 seconds left to start the third period. The first-ever goal of the SNY College Cup CT Ice Festival came off the stick of the Huskies Ruslan Iskhakov. Standing at the left side of the net he converted a rebound of a Wyatt Newpower right point blast and got enough of rolling puck to put in the open right of Bobcats for Keith Petruzzelli at 4:59. The Bobcats answered back to tie the game at one by winning a faceoff in the offensive. Center William Fallstrom at 5’11 got his stick underneath the much bigger 6’6 Jachym Kondelik and got it back to Latvian senior Karlis Cukste who then zipped a shot from the left point past Vomacka. The Bobcats took a forced turnover and immediately turned into a goal. Pressured the Huskies Harrison Rees lifted his stick, swiped the puck and then left a neat short drop pass and step into it for his and giving Quinnipiac a 2-1 edge. Then UCONN got that fortuitous bounce any hockey team hopes for. The Bobcats Logan Britt sent a backward forehand pass meant to evade the forechecking of Carter Turnbull behind the net. The blind pass went off the backboards came out in front and Turnbull was right there to retrieve the lonely puck and notched his eighth goal of the season at 17:45 and tied the game at two. “He’s been terrific all year long and consistent. Last year he played injured a bit and this year he has been healthy and it shows in his play,” said Cavanaugh. NOTES: -Tomorrow UCONN will Yale at 3:30 pm in the consolation game of the tourney. Sacred Heart blitzed Yale 6-2 with Mike Lee having two assists and ex-UCONN Evan Wisocky with a goal for the Pioneers who scored four in the first period. Sacred Heart will play Quinnipiac for the title at 7 pm. -The Hartford Wolf Pack went into the AHL All-Star break with a 4-2 win over Lehigh Valley Phantoms after falling behinds 2-0. Ryan Gropp scored twice including the game-winner. Before a season-best 6,027. The Wolf Pack are still in first place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 25-10-4-5 for 59 points percentage points ahead of Hershey who won 3-2 in OT in Providence. -In Portland, Maine Friday former UCONN goalie Adam Huska stopped 44 of 45 shots in his ECHL debut in an 8-1 rout over the Worcester Railers. The two teams met again in Worcester last night at the DCU Center with the Raiklers winning 2-1 with Huska making 25 saves. Huska will be back in Hartford when Igor Shesterkin is recalled back to the Rangers following the end of the NHL All-Star break. While former QU Bobcat Jordan Samuels-Thomas (West Hartford) had a tough night for Worcester going a team-worst minus-four. -Former QU Bobcat Sam Anas of the Iowa Wild with 45 points in 45 games and is the third-leading scorer in the AHL was added to AHL All-Star Classic roster. -Thoughts and prayers are with UMASS-Lowell sophomore Hockey East defenseman Nolan Sawchuk who suffered a broken vertebra in a game against last weekend in a Hockey East game against Merrimack, No penalty was called on the play. The school announced his season is obviously over and a cloud hangs over his collegiate career as to whether he will be able to continue because of the severity of the injury. The good news is he will recover and suffered no paralysis of any kind. A Superb national anthem guitar duet that would have made Jimi Hendrix proud. Read the full article

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CANTLON: UCONN LOSES UGLY TO MERRIMACK

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - If there was ever a must win game for the UCONN Huskies this season, this was it. Yet despite knowing they needed a win coming into the contest, the Huskies were out-hustled, out-worked, and out-gunned by the second-to-worst team in the conference, the Merrimack Warriors. The Huskies lost 6-2 on Tuesday night at the XL Center before a hearty crowd of 2,953. The loss, was the Huskies third straight. “It hasn’t been a good week for UCONN hockey," UCONN head coach Mike Cavanaugh said, not sugar coating his team's poor performance. "I apologize to all those fans who came out tonight. They didn’t see a team that we customarily put on the ice. We didn’t compete for sixty minutes. They (Merrimack) were the team that deserved to win. We haven’t played well the last two games.” UCONN’s record drops to 7-9-5 overall, 4-6-2 HEA. Merrimack improves it's record to 5-14-2 overall, 3-6-2 HEA. The schedule is not kind to UCONN. Still to come is a trip to Schneider Arena where they will take on the Providence College Friars who have a high-octane offense. The Friars lead the conference with 73 goals scored as of Saturday at 5 PM. The Friars are the 12th ranked team in the country according to the national polls and presently sit in third place in Hockey East. They are just a point behind UMASS-Lowell and are tied with Northeastern (15 points). The red flags are up and the red lights are flashing for UCONN this season. It started out with so much promise and is presently in peril. “There’s no magic formula here. We have to come out and be ready to play. I thought we were ready to play, I liked our energy. We just didn’t have it on the ice,” Cavanaugh said with a rare level of sarcasm, but the shoe fit. Merrimack reestablished a three-goal lead just 2:09 into the third period and pulled away from the Huskies. Ben Brar got a great feed from Sami Tavernier and snapped off a wrist shot that was blocked. Brar had a second shot at sophomore netminder, Tomas Vomacka, as the puck came right back to him and he didn’t miss, depositing his second goal of the season. Merrimack shut the door for good after UCONN’s most effective offensive zone pressure of the evening led to a goal, the Warriors had some effective zone pressure of their own. Patrick Holway sent a pass across the blue line from the left side to his defense partner at the right point, Liam Dennison. Dennison marched 25-feet in below the face-off dot on the right-wing uncontested and then snapped a wrister with Vomacka screened. His wrist shot sailed past Vomacka to the short-side to put the final nail in the coffin for UCONN. In the second period, things were a little better at the beginning and at a little better at the end of the period for UCONN. In-between however, it was all Merrimack who stretched their lead to three goals. At 46 seconds Logan Drevitch had all sorts of open ice and took a pass from deep on the right-wing side from Chase Gresock. The Warrior then went straight to the net and from twenty-feet out scored his fifth of the season. The play was precisely what the team game plan was looking for. “We attacked very well on that play. We supported each other well tonight. We talked about that before the game, that open space, when you don’t have the puck, play outside the dots. We did a very good job in the game with that and on that goal, the whole play happened between the dots. That was a highlight for the team. We played right down the middle of the ice,” second-year Merrimack head coach, Scott Borek, said. The Huskies answered quickly at 2:12 with one of their few solid efforts as Jordan Timmons made a quick, clean entry in the zone got to the left wing corner. There he sent a pass to Justin Howell in the slot. Howell turned and fired his second goal of the season past Warriors goalie and Finnish freshmen, Jere Huhtama. UCONN then got a fantastic chance to build on the momentum when Zach Uens was nailed for a major penalty and a game misconduct for cross-checking Brian Rigali into the boards in front of the UCONN bench. But the Huskies managed to garner just three shots on goal over four of the five-minutes as a minute was scratched off when the Huskies took a needless penalty of their own. Killing off the major penalty gave Merrimack the emotional boost and swing in momentum. “The (PK) was the biggest part of the game. We got a lot of momentum out of that five-minute major and they lost a lot of momentum from that. Number seven (Uens) plays every situation for us, and (helps) kill a lot of (other teams') power-plays, so it was tough to lose him. Our guys stepped up and lifted our whole bench up. We blocked a couple of shots and they got frustrated a little bit. I can’t say enough about our penalty kill. They did a great job,” said Borek. The Pack's will to win the one-on-one battles and superior puck management was missing in the first to start the game. “It was missing the whole game,” said a dead-panned Cavanaugh. “We're not a very good team if we think skill goes before will, and right now we're relying on a lot more skill than will. We're doing the work it takes to create scoring chances." Merrimack’s Mac Welsher was in front of then et and easily converted a pass from Gresock for his third goal to push the Warrior lead to 3-1 at 9:17. Merrimack made it 4-1 at 15:59 off of one of many odd man rushes. On this rush, a two-on-one, Merrimack's Tyler Irvine raced in off the right-wing and tucked the puck past Vomacka's outstretched left leg for his eighth goal of the season. The Huskies shrunk the lead to 4-2 with 26.6 seconds left in regulation when Marc Gatcomb picked up a Jonny Evans rebound off a semi-busted play. Jachym Kondelik's shot from an off-angle went off a skate over to Wyatt Newpower for a right-point shot that was stopped. The Huskies started the game and picked up where they left off with Northeastern... a lethargic effort and fell behind at 6:01. Regan Kimens was stopped on the first shot by Vomacka seconds earlier, but this time he was on the left-wing, behind the goal line. He sent a pass to a wide-open, Hugo Esselin, who completed the easy redirect past Vomacka for his second of the season. “The last two games started out exactly the same way, and maybe it's confidence, maybe it's not. Instead of playing downhill we're playing uphill all game. One goal is turning into two goals, and then into three goals, and I don’t know if it's confidence, but I know its not the way we want to play,” said a stern speaking Cavanaugh. UCONN was held to just to one shot on goal in the final 10:45 of the period. NOTES: Senior Alexander Payusov and junior Bradley Stone were scratched because of illness. The flu is running through the locker room. Merrimack has several players with CT and NHL ties. Logan and Tyler Drevitch are both the sons of former New Haven Nighthawk, Scott Drevitch. Tyler Heidt is the son of former Nighthawk, Mike Heidt. Jacob Modry is the son of former NHL’er, Jaroslav Modry, who's now an assistant coach with Ontario (AHL). The SNY Connecticut Ice Tournament is two weeks away. The tournament schedule is as follows: Mite jamboree at Noon. That is followed by a high school girls game. It kicks off at 4 PM as Guilford plays Sacred Heart Academy. That will be followed by a HS boys prep school game between Loomis Chaffe (Windsor) vs. Westminster (Simsbury) at 6:15 PM and concludes with a public high school contest between Division One powerhouses, Darien and Notre Dame - West Haven at 8:30 PM. Saturday at 11:00 AM will be a U-10 Boys championship game followed by a girls U-12 championship game. Then the big boys will play. UCONN plays Quinnipiac University at 3:30 PM followed by Sacred Heart University vs. Yale at 7pm. Then Sunday at Noon, there's a U-12 Boys championship game and then the SNY Connecticut Consolation game at 3:30 PM and then to conclude the inaugural event, the trophy championship game will be at 7 PM. Former QU Bobcat, Mike Dalhuisen, was traded from HK Dukla Michalovce (Slovakia-SLEL) to HK Poprad (Slovakia-SLEL). Australia has announced it's full squad for the Division II, Group A, 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship taking place in Zagreb, Croatia from the 19th-25th April 2020. Cheshire's Rob "Bert" Malloy, a dual citizen will represent the Mighty Roos for a fifth time in international competition. He currently plays for the Newcastle Northstars of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) and the season runs from May until early September. Double good news, Mallloy reports that his family is doing well and found safety from the horrible brush fires in eastern Australia where they reside in NSW (New South Wales). Read the full article

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CANTLON: BATTLE OF HUSKIES GOES NORTHEASTERN'S WAY

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The UCONN Huskies had their first major Hockey East test and it came against the 12th ranked Northeastern Huskies who blew past their hosts 5-2 at the XL Center on Saturday. Northeastern ups their record to 12-5-2 overall (7-4-1 HEA). UCONN's record slips to 7-8-4 overall (4-5-2 HEA). UCONN takes the ice again on Tuesday night against the Merrimack Warriors. “I haven’t been this disappointed like this since the BC weekend. We had stuck together and played a good stretch of hockey there for eleven games. It started right from the beginning. We came out late to the ice for the game. I think we weren’t into the game right from the get go, and spotted them three goals. We didn’t make a real push till it was 5-0. We played a strong third period, but it was too little, too late,” a dejected UCONN head coach, Mike Cavanaugh, said. To be into a Hockey East conference game, with a truncated college schedule the way it works out, turns points into gold so a team can make the playoffs. A game like this could comeback could come back to haunt the Huskies in March. But the question needs to be answered in how a team could be late in it's own building? Cavanaugh didn’t exclude himself or his coaching staff from criticism on this woeful night of hockey. “Our team just didn’t have it tonight. We have to coach better, play better, our special teams have to be better. It’s just a complete poor effort from the entire UCONN hockey program. It needed to be better tonight.” UCONN had a late game chance to sweep away their earlier poor play when they were granted a five-on-three power play for the final 4:23. They were unable to score a goal despite spending the entire man-advantage in the Northeastern end of the ice. On the UCONN side of the ice, a goalie interference call was made on Northeastern’s Aidan McDonough on the UConn side of the ice. Meanwhile, down at the other end, Michael Kesselring was assessed a major penalty for a blatant crosscheck to UConn's Ruslan Iskharov in front of his own net. Kesselring was also assessed a game misconduct which makes it reviewable for a potential suspension by Hockey East. The UCONN team got seven of their 14 shots for the period, but were too deliberate. At one point UCONN had three players at the blue line when they should have had them in front of the net. In the seven shots they took, none of them were serious threats to score. In the second period, Northeastern maintained the pressure they had in the first period aided by solid forechecking and bodychecking coupled with UCONN’s poor puck management. Northeastern scored a beautifully executed power play goal on the back-end of a five-on-three power play. McDonough was on the right-wing and fired a cross-ice pass through the box to Tyler Madden brilliantly put the puck in front to Zach Solow who beautifully redirected the puck into the net at 11:46. Northeastern made it 5-0 when Neil Shea was able to freely skate down the left-wing and get off a shot that was stopped by UCONN netminder, Tomas Vomacka, but he left a rebound that Matt Demelis put behind him with both d-men, Yan Kuznetsov and Adam Kraschik, out of the picture. It was Demelis' his fourth goal of the season. UCONN broke the shutout when Carter Turnbull grabbed  a loose puck and made a quick cross ice thought the crease pass to Vladimir Firstov. He pulled the puck back, off the tape-to-tape pass and flipped his sixth of the season into the net with 1:04 left in the period. After the goal, Northeastern pressed and had a two-on-one with defenseman Ryan Shea stopped twice on the right-wing by Vomacka. Then two more bids by Madden and Julian Kislin before the period ended. For the first three minutes of the game, UCONN dug themselves a hole. Northeastern scored on the game’s first shot when Matt Filipe motored past Karaschik (Ridgefield) and swept in on Vomacka slipping a backhander into the net for his fourth goal. Jachym Kondelik then took a penalty 57 seconds later that the Huskies would have to kill. The Huskies clipped Jayden Struble, a Montreal Canadiens draft pick, on the left wing side of the neutral zone, It looked like it could have been a minor for kneeing, but after a video review by the referees, no penalty was called. It would be the only break the Huskies would get. Northeastern had an effective forecheck the entire game. Filip crunched UCONN’s Harrison Rees in the right-wing corner. Then, at the blue line, Jake Flynn handed the puck right to Solow, who zipped lined down the left wing side on a solo dash and put his seventh of the season past Vomacka at 10:40. “I’m not sure it was their forwards so much as us," Cavanaugh said. "We turned over two pucks we had full possession of, and we weren’t under any pressure. The first goal, we turned it over a bit high (in the zone). The second goal we had full control of it and passed it right to their guy. I think it was more us, being lackadaisical, we weren’t ready to play a hockey game.” Northeastern’s  coach, Jim Madigan, was very happy with the start. “We did a real job on the forecheck and we pressured their defense and got the turnovers and scored early and that was a key to our play in the first two periods.” On Northeastern's third goal, Madden put on a puck control clinic fifteen feet from the net. Madden got the puck off a pass from Biagio Lerario. The right-handed center slipped the puck through the legs of Iskharov, then past Kuznetsoc and fought off Turnbull’s backcheck and put a forehand past Vomacka at 15:57. That was an NHL play. “He is one of those guys you say, 'Uh-oh,' wow. He’s that type of player. People don’t realize how well he handles the puck and he has more room to grow and get there (the NHL). We'll have him ready for the NHL in four years.” The shots at the end of the period were only 7-3 with Northeastern holding the edge, but it felt like far more since UCONN had so little offensive zone time. NOTES: Northeastern has played just two games since winning the Friendship Tourney in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Northeastern had a slew of sons of former players. Tyler Spott's father, Steve Spott, is the assistant coach for the San Jose Sharks. Tyler Madden is the son of former NHL’er John Madden. Kasselring is the son of former Merrimack star from the 1990’s Casey Kasselring, and Brendan Van Riemsdyk is the youngest of the Van Riemsdyk’s. Brother James is back in Philly and Trevor is in Carolina. Read the full article

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CANTLON: UCONN FINISHES WEEKEND WITH SWEEP OVER MIAMI (OH)

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The UCONN Huskies battled hard and swept a weekend non-conference series over the visiting Miami (OH) Riverhawks with a 4-3 victory on Saturday at the XL Center before a small crowd of just 2,735. The second period was devoid of real quality scoring chances by either team except for the first six minutes. Miami came out with a fierce forecheck and pinned UCONN in their own end and they were able to tie the game at two. The Redhawks Derek Daschke circled the net and found Monte Graham open in the slot and with traffic in front snapped his third goal past Tomas Vomacka at 1:10 and tied the game at two. UCONN answered back just 1:04 later. Zac Robbins broke in with Brian Rigali. Robbins fed Rigali, who's been snakebitten of late, who, from 30 feet out, whistled a wrist shot over the blocker of Ben Kraws to help the Huskies get back their lead at 3-2. It was one of several turning points for the Huskies. “It was the key to the game. They had just tied it up,” remarked UCONN head coach, Mike Cavanaugh. “They felt good about themselves coming back and scoring on that next shift got the momentum right back for us.” Robbins says the play starts very early in the week. “It starts with practice on Monday. We really skate hard throughout the week and on Saturday we're ready for whatever comes at us. Day-in and day-out, I don’t do anything special. I just try to bring energy every single day, so good things are finally coming.” Robbins has been a strong contributor to the team's turnaround the last month. UCONN got some puck luck helped them extend the lead to two goals. It started with a faceoff win on the power play by Jachym Kondelik and Wyatt Newpower taking the puck and feeding his defensive partner, Yan Kuznetsov at the blue line for a 55-foot blast. The shot just sailed past the left post and hit the backboards. In his backswing, Kraws, while trying to stop the initial shot, caught the puck and put it into his own net at 5:48. “We got lucky on the goal, but good things happen when you shoot the puck. We have been preaching that as of late, and that’s why we're scoring powerplay goals as of late.” UCONN's improved late-game performance goes to the work of the team’s strength and conditioning coach Maureen Butler. “I think we have a great strength and conditioning coach, Mo Butler, who does a phenomenal job with our guys. It just doesn’t start in September, but back in July. She has a good feel in keeping them in good shape conversing with us, how we should skate them on the ice. The reason we're in pretty good shape is primarily because of her.” Miami kept chipping away. Just after a powerplay opportunity, they cashed in to narrow the gap back to one goal. Karch Bachman was at the left point and made a perfect diagonal pass to Chase Pletzke, who in one motion on the right-wing, in one motion, put it back across the crease to John Sladic, who easily put in his second of the game and fourth goal of the season at 12:15. The Huskies were able to handle the last push with the goalie pulled as Ben Freeman won a key late defensive zone draw to stifle the Redhawks. The first half of the second period was a tight defensive battle with the best chance coming with a wide-open Rigali taking a Jordan Timmons pass from behind the net. Kraws stopped his first shot and his follow up a couple of whacks at the rebound trying to jam it past him at 6:38. The second period was like a traffic jam with no room to maneuver. The first opening UCONN took advantage. Freeman made a good short pass to Robbins. He got Redhawks defenseman, Grant Frederic, turned around. Robbins scooted past him and cut across the net and slipped in his first of the season at 16:40. For Robbins, who had battled back injuries over the past year, this was a sweet moment. “I saw the defenseman had a bad gap. I yelled for the puck. Free made a great pass to me, and I was able to beat him wide and was able to get the puck and get it in.” Cavanaugh was effusive about his sophomore winger. “He was our Husky of the Week this week. We give out an award for someone who continually plays the right way not getting all the accolades he deserves. Zac been really solid and was really glad to see him rewarded with that goal tonight.” The rejuvenation of Robbins' play comes down to one word - health. “I’m finally healthy. I’ve had back issues in the past that took a toll on me mentally, but now that I’m healthy, it's helped my game a lot.” Miami’s Phil Knies had two chances. The first on the right-wing and then at the end of his shift both denied by Vomacka. Green smacked one out of the air but missed the shot to the short-side with about 20 seconds left in the period. Despite a strong, effective first half of the game at the start, it was Miami that got the game’s first goal. From the left point, Alec Capstick, with Ryan Savage in front screening Vomacka, saw his linemate John Sladic make a perfect deflection up high for his third goal of the year at 11:27. The Huskies tied the game at one 5:10 later. Kondelik had a right-wing rush and took a backhanded shot that Kraws saw go over and past his left post. Kraws only got a piece of it. Payusov was right there to get a piece of the puck as it went over the goal line at 16:37. “Kondy (Kondelik) made the play getting it to the net. We had been practicing all week getting pucks to the net.” The line has been clicking of late. “We really complement each other. We bring different skills" remarked Payusov. “Gatty (Gatcomb) is such a good skater. Kondy is such a good passer and shoots the puck quickly and it makes it hard to defend against us, and aIso it's fun to play when we're playing like this.” UCONN had the shot advantage of 18-9 with Marc Gatcomb, getting a quality chance, but Payusov and Kondeilk combined for seven of the 18 shots on net. NOTES: The Huskies switched up and played in their blue/gray uniforms. Several other Miami (OH) Redhawks have pro hockey lineage. Carter Johnson’s grandfather, Bob Leiter, played 447 NHL games with Boston, the California Golden Seals, Pittsburgh, and the Atlanta Flames. He ended his career with the WHA Calgary Cowboys. He also spent three years with the AHL Hershey Bears. Grant Frederic’s older brother, Trent Frederic, plays with Providence (AHL). The team also features a player from Tennessee and the Nashville Jr. Predators program in Andrew Sinard, who's a current Hawaii resident born in Arizona in Brian Hawkinson. Read the full article

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CANTLON: HUSKIES OUT SLUG RED HAWKS

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The UCONN Huskies (4-6-3 overall) showed their best attributes and their worst in a 60-minute, wild, action-packed 6-4 non-conference win over the Miami (OH) RedHawks (4-7-3) before a holiday crowd of 3,006 at the XL Center on Friday afternoon. The win was the Huskies first at home this season. The two teams meet again Saturday afternoon at 4 PM. “I was certainly pleased with how we responded after the first period," UCONN head coach Mike Cavanaugh said. "We started out OK, but Miami took it to us the rest of the first period. In the second and third period we skated pretty well.” UCONN came out in the third frame and scored three unanswered goals. The pivotal first one, that knotted the game at four, came early in the period just as the Huskies had done in the second. Marc Gatcomb circled behind the net and chipped the puck in front. Both Jachym Kondelik and Alexander Payusov had whacks at it, but the puck squirted out in front allowing Gatcomb, who was right there, to gather and put in the goal at 1:21. “That was point of emphasis this week. Playing in front of the net, or net-front, whatever you want to call it because Providence (College) owned that on us all last weekend, and it paid off for Marc tonight,” Cavanaugh said speaking of the efforts of the sophomore. The Huskies had a great chance to break the deadlock, but Ruslan Iskharov was denied by Miami goalie, Ryan Larkin, nine minutes in. The Huskies then erupted for two more goals in just 28 seconds, getting the crowd on its feet and taking the win out from beneath the RedHawks. Iskharov came in a rush down the right-wing side and curled and hit the trailer, Alexander Firtsov. He made a patient move, almost too patient, but got Miami defenseman, Rourke Russell, to commit. As he did that, Larkin was semi-screened as Firtsov ripped his fourth goal of the season into the net. It capped Firtsov's first three-point game as a Husky (goal and two assists) and his first game-winner. “Vlad played very well tonight and all four lines gave us great efforts and it's good when you can get four lines rolling like that. It gave us that much more energy and becomes infectious,” said Cavanaugh. UCONNfollowed by executing a perfect three-way play that established a two-goal lead at 6-4 that would hold up as the final score. Zac Robbins made a perfect pass to Brain Rigali. He slipped a beautiful backhanded pass. The righthanded Rigali was on the left-wing side. He sent it to Justin Howell who finished the sequence perfectly for his first of the season at 12:14. “We have been working on that play the last couple of weeks after practice and it worked,” Rigali said with a laugh. Howell then finished the thought, just like he did the shot, “We weren’t linemates then yet. Now coach shuffled the lines around a bit, so it was a pretty neat play and I was just fortunate enough to be right there and finish it off.” With UCONN's play not going as the coach would have liked it to in the first period, there could have been some choice words for the team between the first and second periods, however, Kavanaugh was more professorial than say an Army drill sergeant might have approached it. “The mistakes we're making weren’t effort mistakes, but more self-inflicted. We were making poor decisions,” remarked Cavanaugh. “We turned the puck over, rather than making the right play. Basically, I said to them the effort is there making the right decisions. In the neutral zone turning some pucks over, if we play better puck hockey, putting pucks behind the defenseman, we're going to be OK.” The Huskies came out of the chute in the second period buzzing around the Miami net. Rigali was first and stopped, then a tremendous save on Zac Robbins off a shot from the puck came right to Ben Freeman who buried the shot at 19 seconds, narrowing the lead to 3-2. The fans, who were quiet with the PA announcement at the start of the second, “Here are your UCONN Huskies,” finally had something to cheer for. “Robbins, Rigali, and Freeman gave us a great effort for sixty minutes. It got our bench alive. It was a great way to start the second period,” said Cavanaugh. For Rigali, it was getting back-to-basics. “We just said, 'Stick to our motto... Keep it simple..." I just stayed with our systems the right way and played hard (on that shift) and put the puck in the back of the net. We wanted to set the tone and we took off right from there.” Rigali’s three-assist night was critical in the win, but game-in and game-out consistency were noted by Cavanaugh. “He’ll score on one of those breakaways one of these days. I tell the guys this every day, 'Be the same player every day. You can be great on Friday and not so good on Saturday. It’s a wash. Brian Rigali is the same guy every game, and that what you get from Brian, and the block he made on the penalty kill, that was as good as block your gonna see in a hockey game.” The Huskies evened the game as Rigali sprung Firstov on the right-wing. Firstov made a good move off the right-wing, cut to the middle on RedHawks defender, Derek Daschkle, and snapped a wrist shot across the grain on Larkin over his glove hand at 15:09 and tied the game at three. “We talk about it all the time; skill doesn’t mean anything if the will isn’t there. It has to be will over skill. When the will is there then their skill is gonna shine. If we're gonna rely on skill, we're gonna be in trouble, and we were trying that a bit there in the first period.” UCONN gave away the momentum it had built handing it right back to Miami (OH). They were able to get a three-on-two break as Monte Graham hit Scott Corbett off the right-wing and he hit the trailer Derek Daschkle perfectly with all sorts of free real estate down the middle. He blasted it past Tomas Vomacka for his fourth goal. Iskharov vainly tried to backcheck but was two paces behind. UCONN scored early on a five-on-three with Iskhakov parked at the right side of the net and tallied his third goal of the season at 2:51 converting Firtsov’s pass. The rest of the period was all RedHawks. Penalties were UCONN’s undoing on the first two Miami (OH) goals. Perhaps the effects of an over-indulgence of turkey and the tryptophan it from Thursday's Thanksgiving dinner had the Huskies looking sluggish. The first goal came on the backend of a five-on-three powerplay at 10:43. Karch Bachman perfectly redirected a Russell right point shot for his sixth of the season. UCONN’s penalty penchant created Miami’s second goal. The combo of Casey Gilling and Gordie Green was top on the menu. The RedHawks swarmed around the net as Chase Pietzker's shot from the right point was redirected by Grilling but stopped by Vomacka, but he couldn’t contain the rebound at 16:08. Green was at the left point and slipped a pass at the blue line to Grilling. From the right point, he skated in uncontested to about twenty feet at the top of the right-wing faceoff circle and wired his shot over the left shoulder of a thoroughly screened Vomacka by his own defenseman at 17:26 and a 3-1 Miami of Ohio lead. NOTES: UCONN’S trio of Firtsov, Kondelik, and Gatcomb combined for 19 shots on goal to help UCONN to a season-high 48. Kale Howarth is out of the lineup with a non-sports related spleen injury according to Cavanaugh. “His spleen is enlarged. The good news is that all of his lab results have come back clean at this point. He is skating however in a non-contact jersey until it resolves itself he can’t be in the lineup right now.” Miami (OH)'s Larkin is the younger brother of former Yale player, Adam Larkin (now with Greenville-ECHL) and is the cousin to NHL’er, Dylan Larkin (Detroit). Defenseman Bray Crowder is the son of former NHL’er, Troy Crowder. Ryan Savage is the son of ex-NHL’er, Brian Savage, while Chaz Switzer is the son of former Muskegon Lumberjacks, of the old IHL rearguard, Erle Switzer. Read the full article

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CANTLON: (FRI) HUSKIES AND FRIARS SETTLE FOR A TIE 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Carter Turnbull scored twice to lead the UCONN Huskies to a 3-3 overtime tie with the Providence College Friars on Friday in a Hockey East matchup at the XL Center. The tie came for the second week in a row for the Huskies. Sophomore Tomas Vomacka was in net for UCONN for the fourth time this season and faced 40 shots and gave the Huskies a chance to win in this game. The two teams will complete the weekend home-and-home Saturday in Providence at the Schneider Arena. The Huskies record now stands at 3-5-3 overall (2-3-2 HEA) while Providence College is 6-4-3 overall (4-3-2 HEA). The Huskies cashed in on a quality chance early in the third to tie the game at three. Turnbull was able to get the edge on Friars' rearguard, Cam McDonald. The right-handed shot was on the left-wing at full throttle and slipped his third goal under the right pad of Friars' goalie, Matt Lackey at 3:39. “We practice that all week, cutting across the net, that was the shot I was looking for,” remarked Turnbull. Each team had golden chances to get the go-ahead tally. Brian Rigali had a breakaway opportunity at 11:28 and couldn’t dent the twine. Particularly over the final six or seven minutes of the game, Vomacka was simply spectacular. Vomacka stoned the Friars' Luke Johnson at 13:15 and 17-seconds later stopped Spencer Young from 20-feet out. Ben Mirageas' one-timer was denied from the right-point and then eight seconds later, Greg Printz came off the half-wall at 14:31 and with traffic in front of the net, he was prevented from turning on the goal light. Printz just shook his head after his backhanded attempt was rejected. It was amazing how Vomacka even found the puck through all the traffic, sticks and legs, that were obstructing his view. “They put a lot of pressure on me in front, and that’s my job; to find the puck, and I was able to do that a couple of times,” Vomacka, a Czech native said. Huskies Head coach, Mike Cavanaugh, was battling a persistent cough and a cold, was effusive in his praise of him. “He made some great saves. That’s his job,” Cavanaugh said with a smile. “That’s what he is supposed to do. Their kid was good too. He stopped two breakaways on us.” The power play couldn’t provide a game-winner while operating in overtime. The team was just too stationary and only managed to put two shots on net. The Huskies were down one player, an important one at that. Second-line center, Kale Howarth, was injured, forcing the Huskies into playing mostly three lines while the Friars had lots of horses to wear UCONN down. Jachym Kondelik picked up a lot of the work down the middle. At 4:45, of the second period, after Ben Freeman broke in, but was in too tight as his backhand-to-forehand just went wide. He was in too tight for the big man with a shortage of space to be flexible enough to slip it on to the net. UCONN had another solid chance when Jordan Timmons stole the puck from twenty feet out and was in all alone, but he also lost control of the puck at the last second. Providence scored twice in the second period to take a 3-2 lead on very quirky plays. At 9:23, Colin O’Neil went for a wraparound. Carter Berger lost his edge and slid past him. The wraparound attempt went off Vomacka’s right pads and in just before a Friars player slid into the net and knocked the net off. It as O’Neil’s fourth goal. The video review confirmed the goal was a good tally. Three minutes later, at 12:22, Berger grabbed the rebound of Printz’s tip-in shot, turned to clear it and his shot went off of his teammate. Jack Dugan, the leading scorer in Hockey East, grabbed the loose biscuit and whacked the rolling puck off the inside of Vomacka’s pad for his sixth of the year. “We were down a bit after those two lucky goals,“ said Turnbull. “Tomas is playing great and he gave us the energy. He’s a gamer. He works hard. It’s not a secret. He practices the same way every day so it's no secret why he's so successful. Timmons and Turnbull had quality chances turned aside as Vomacka worked his magic in goal for UCONN, keeping the Friars at bay, including his stop of a Parker Ford point-blank shot. With 3:33, the Huskies' Sasha Payusov cut across from the left-wing side couldn’t get it past Lackey. Then UCONN’s Marc Gatcomb had a quality chance just before the period expired. It didn’t take long for the Friars to get on the board in the first period. Max Crozier retrieved the puck off the right-wing boards sent the shot toward the net. Then Tyce Thompson sliced through Payusov and Ryan Wheeler, a New Jersey Devils draftee, found the rebound and backhanded in his tenth of the season at 3:38. He's in a three-way conference tie for second place in goals scored. The Huskies tied the game at one with a solid offensive zone cycle. Timmons, playing on the fourth-line for the game, was in the lower, left-wing, circle chipped the puck back to Yan Kuznetsov at the left point as he headed off at the end of his shift. Kuznetsov was patient with the puck. He put an accurate, low shot, toward the net.  Freeman used his 6’6 frame and perfectly boxed out defenseman Cam MacDonald and screened Lackey perfectly for his first of the season. UCONN made it 2-1 when Turnbull scored his first of the night, second of the season, on a superb wrist shot that sailed past the unprepared Friars goalie for the UCONN lead at 17:59. Kale Howarth got the whole play started by winning the offensive zone draw. NOTES: Cavanaugh had no update on Howarth's condition except to say that he was taken to a local hospital to be evaluated. Providence has a few CT hockey connections on its roster. Senior Vimal Sukhamen, (Salisbury Prep), Greg Printz, (Select Academy at South Kent Prep), Ben Mirageas (Avon Old Farms) and of course sophomore right-wing Tyce Thompson (Milford/Salisbury Prep), who's the brother of former UCONN star, Tage Thompson, who's currently with the Buffalo Sabres.  Of course, as stated, both are sons of current Bridgeport Sound Tigers head coach, Brent Thompson, who also happens to be a former Wolf Pack player. Coincidentally, Bridgeport was in Providence tonight. The elder Thompson would have liked to be there. They got shutout 5-0. The Friars have owned the Huskies since their joining Hockey East. Their record is 8-0-2 and they've have won five of the six meetings in Hartford (4-0-2). UCONN is still without a home win (0-4-2). They play five of their next six in the supposed to be friendly confines of the XL Center before the holiday break. Wyatt Newpower (goal and two assists) earned Hockey East Player of the Week. The Huskies dormant powerplay awoke to reverse a 1-22 trend tallying twice at key points of both games. The Hartford Wolf Pack were shutout for the first time this season in Rochester 4-0. Goalie Igor Shesterkin played his first back to back games gave up the first goal 22 seconds into the game. Former UCONN defenseman Joseph Masonius signed a deal with Norfolk (ECHL). Read the full article

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CANTLON: (FRI) RIVERHAWKS AND UCONN BATTLE TO A TIE

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - A far better effort than a week ago and the chances to gain a victory where there, but UCONN hockey had to settle for a 3-3 overtime tie against the UMASS-Lowell Riverhawks Friday night at the XL Center. The Huskies record advances to 2-5-2 overall (1-3-1 HEA) and the Riverhawks record becomes 7-2-4 overall (4-0-3 HEA). The Riverhawks are the top team in Hockey East. The two teams play Saturday night in Lowell at the Tsongas Center. The overtime session saw the Huskies have three of the best chances between the two schools. A clean breakaway by Brian Rigali went forehand on the Riverhawks Tyler Wall, but the big netminder’s left pad stopped the bid at 1:53 of the extra session. After a wraparound attempt by Sasha Payusov sailed in front, Jachym Kondelik came charging down the middle and fired a chance just wide. Carter Turnbull, on the entry in the UMASS-Lowell zone, waited for the screen to develop and whistled a wrist shot that Wall closed the door on at 3:49. “I think certainly that was the first time at home we have played to our potential, and it's been a rallying cry all week - Let's play to our potential and wherever the chips may fall, they fall.” Of his assistants, UCONN head coach, Mike Cavanaugh noted one that he had found a quote from baseball coach Jim Penders, about UCONN’s history, that was founded by two farmers. Farmers get up earlier than everybody else and work the hardest, that was the message for the team prior to the contest. No Husky sat on a bale of hay. They were in the game for the full 65-minutes. The net-front presence on defense was notably much better as it was on offense. “We were playing with the puck. We weren’t playing in our defensive zone for most of the game. It's hard to have energy to play offense, so tonight, we were able to play down in their end for long stretches, which makes it a lot easier to play defense,” remarked Cavanaugh. In the third period, each team sought to get the game-winner. Six minutes in, the Riverhawks' Zach Kaiser thought he had it, and then Brian Chambers, but UCONN goalie Tomas Vomacka, who faced his lowest shot total of the season at 15, because of a more solid team approach to defense, earned high praise from his a teammate Kale Howarth. “Tomas has been great this year. He’s been the best player on this team by far. He’s the goalie I want 10-times-out-of-10. He has always had our back, and now (its our turn) to have his back (tonight). Just a great guy to have between the pipes." A wild sequence of plays saw UMASS-Lowell take a 2-1 lead. A puck sent ahead of Howarth slowed down and he and Wall were in a race to get to it first from 35-feet out from the net dead center. They came together at the same time, but the puck popped up in the air and Howarth was able to retrieve at the right-wing goal line. He skated ten-feet curled in the lower right-wing circle, shooting for the open net, but Wall, racing back with Rigali in front, managed to get a piece of it preventing the red light from going on for UCONN. The Riverhawks peeled back up ice and scored taking a 2-1 lead. Colin O’Neil was on the right-wing circle and as a left-handed shot took Connor Sodergren’s pass off the right-wing boards, skated ten-feet into the circle and zipped his fourth of the season through the five-hole at exactly the 10:00 mark. UCONN came right back to even the game at two 54 seconds later. The new defensive pair for UCONN moved the puck quickly. Wyatt Newpower fed Ryan Wheeler at the left point, and Wall made the save, but Marc Gatcomb wrestled himself away from Riverhawks defenseman, Seth Barton, and backhanded the rebound past Wall for his third of the season. The Huskies briefly regained the lead at 3-2 as Ben Freeman deep in the right corner and took a sharp angle shot. Howarth was in front and tipped it over Wall's glove at 18:08 on the power play. “That was a point of emphasis all week, to get pucks deep and get in front of the net. Win those net front battles and it's any good hockey team’s game plan to get to the front of the net.” Just 1:08 later, the Riverhawks' Chase Blackmun, sent a stretch pass off one of the few UCONN miscues of the game to Matt Brown, who slipped behind the UCONN defensive duo of Harrison Rees, and Newpower. Brown went forehand-to-backhand and slipped his fifth goal underneath Vomacka with 44.1 seconds left in the period to tie the game at three. For the Huskies, the first shot on goal by UMASS-Lowell at 12:08 of the first period found its way into the net. The Riverhawks executed a perfect power play goal with Detroit Red Wings draftee Seth Barton at the left point fed Charlie Levesque, a right-handed shot at the goal line. He swiftly sent a cross goal pass to a wide-open Sodergren, who made no mistake burying his first of the season. UCONN used its first power play late to tie the game at one. The Huskies Yan Kuznetsov found Alexander Payusov at the top of the left-wing circle and he one-timed a rocket to the top-shelf under the crossbar with a screen setup in from by Jachym Kondelik. Wall didn’t see anything with the 6’6 sophomore Czech center blocking out the shot and likely the ceiling lights with 59.1 seconds left in the first period. It was Payusov’s first goal of the season and first since he scored against Vermont on March 1st at the end of last season. “We have been telling him to shoot the puck. He has a great shot and tonight he had five shots on goal tonight. That’s the most he has had on net all season. That’s what we need out of Sasha, he shoots the puck. We gotta keep him shooting (every game).” The Huskies held a distinct shot advantage at 11-3 a big change from a week ago against BC. The first 6:53 UCONN played it tight and solid defensively not allowing a shot on goal and getting a quality left point shot by Kuznetsov. At the 10:22 mark UML was still without a shot and UCONN’s Kondelik turnaround show saw a left pad save by Wall. NOTES: Cavanaugh changed all his line combinations in part of the injury to Jonny Evans (broken finger) and of course to get the team to play better. Payusov and freshmen Alexander Firtsov went to the first line with Kondelik. Created a whole new second line with Ruslan Iskharov-Cale Howarth and Carter Turnbull and a third line of Justin Howell at center flanked by Zac Robbins and Rigali. Then dropped Freeman and Marc Gatcomb to fourth line with Eric Linell (Choate Rosemary Hall). On defense, Kuznetsoc and Rees went from the third unit to the first pair and put Wheeler in for Ryan Flynn with Newpower as his second pair and dropped Cater Berger and Adam Karaschik to the third pair. The 12th ranked nationally red-hot Riverhawks lead the series at 6-4-2 and had won four straight against UCONN. Standing in the Huskies way was Wall, another Rangers draft choice who has been lights out early in college hockey season. He has played 11 of their 12 games has a .949 save percentage and a GAA equally as impressive at 1.59 coming into the game. He has just two regulation losses 3-2 to Colgate in OT and 2-1 to the defending national champion. University Minnesota-Duluth plus two overtime ties to go with his seven wins. UCONN has its next seven games at home as part of a 10 game stretch. Huskies are still winless at home so far this season (0-4-1). UCONN announced earlier in the day the formal national letter of intent was signed by East Haven native Nick Capone who originally two years ago committed to Maine. He went Salisbury prep school for two years and presently is play with the Tri-City Storm (USHL) where he has six points in 14 games so far in his first full season of junior hockey. Capone will matriculate at UCONN next season 2020-21. Read the full article

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CANTLON: RPI DROPS UCONN 5-3

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Avon's Chase Zieky had two goals and an assist while Simon Kjellberg’s two points combined to help guide RPI to a 5-3 victory over UCONN on Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 2,859 in the first game of a hockey doubleheader at the XL Center. “It’s always great to come home and play in front of friends and family. I look forward to it,” remarked Zieky, who did the same thing last year in his first-ever game for RPI after transferring from Providence College. “(It was the) best decision I ever made. I really love the guys here. The coaches have been great, and they have treated me very well ever since I got here.” UCONN remains without a win (0-2-1 overall, 0-0-0 HEA) while RPI picked up its first win (1-1-0 overall, 0-0-0 ECACHL). The Huskies were unable to find a way to stop the Kjellberg-Zieky combination in the entire game. At 2:26 of the third period, RPI had scored off a two-on-one rush with Ryan Mahshie, who saw his first shot stopped, but was able to sweep in the rebound to make it 4-1. The last RPI goal of the game came on the powerplay. The two players were instrumental in scoring the goal. Kjellberg was at the left point and cradled the puck. He fed Zieky who walked in with it 15-feet off the right point and snapped a rising wrist shot that UCONN goalie, Tomas Vomacka, was only able to get a piece before it went into the back of the net to make it 5-1 at 5:20. “The story of this game is we got behind the eight ball. I thought we played a good first period, but in the second period we gave up too many odd-man rushes, were a little too non-structured, I would like to say,” Cavanaugh stated. He was trying to finesse his unhappiness with his team's effort for about two-thirds of the hockey game. “Then we really got behind," he said. "But I liked the fact that down 5-1, we made a comeback. We played pretty well at that point. It’s a long season. It’s my job to make sure this team is getting better every week and improving every week.  While this weekend was disappointing, I still feel very good and confident about this team.” Cavanaugh and his staff will have plenty of work to do with the Hockey East portion of their schedule about to begin. After falling behind 5-1, the UCONN bench heard some strong words from their head coach, and it woke them up. They had their best offensive zone pressure of the afternoon cycling effectively and were rewarded with a score to make it 5-2. Alexander Firstov took a Jachym Kondelik shot that was going wide and did a wraparound that went to the back of the net at 5:12. Kondelik then made a perfect open blade redirect of Harrison Rees’s shot off the right-wing at 7:36 to narrow the lead to 5-3 and visions of a wild comeback was being felt, but RPI was able to close the door and preserve their win. The Engineers were on target for their first two goals that they worked for with mathematical precision in a span of 3:17. The first goal came off Zieky's stick on the left-wing. He took a cross-ice feed from Nick Bowman who had maintained solid puck possession before finding Zieky and hitting him in full stride. The right-handed shooting Zieky on the left-wing and hit it perfectly into the top shelf and just under the crossbar at 41 seconds. Zieky was involved in the second goal as well. At 3:58, he was coming down the right-wing boards in the UCONN zone and waited until the last second before catching Kjellberg, a New York Rangers defenseman draft choice, coming off the right point. The Huskies defense backed off and that was a big mistake. Kjellberg, was playing in his first college game, and swiftly moved to the right circle faceoff dot and fired a laser beam directly at the top shelf. His shot found the upper left corner of the net, which in Canadian hockey parlance, is putting it, “Where Grandma hides the cookies.” UCONN's defense gave RPI time and space and they used it both effectively and wisely. “Whenever they had their chances they buried them," Cavanaugh said. "But I can think of five point-blank shots that we had and we missed the net!” Cavanaugh's disappointment was apparent. “You can’t do that. One cost us a goal and then they go back the other way and score (Mahshie’s early goal of the third period). It’s something we'll continue to work on. They made great shots two of them off the crossbar and in.” The RPI defense kept the UCONN forwards away from the 10-15 foot zone in front of the net and did not allow for many second or third chances. “We finally got them in the third period. I thought we had some in the first period. Johnny Evans had one…we just have to bury them. They will come eventually, but what I don’t like is we gave the chances up at the other end. Too many clean looks for them.” One of the few quality chances and the one that Cavanaugh was referring to came off Evans' stick, but RPI goalie, Linden Marshall, pushed it to the corner. As the second period was winding down, RPI built a 3-1 lead on another NHL type shot. Zach Dubinsky fed Will Reilly, who was stopped minutes earlier with a golden opportunity, but the right-handed defenseman came off the right-wing boards, had plenty of room to skate and went to the faceoff dot where he fired a wrist shot to the far side that went under Vomacka’s left arm. Vomacka had no chance on either shot. After having little offensive zone time early, UCONN picked up the game’s first goal. Justin Howell’s pass from behind the net went off the left boards like it was a corner pocket pool shot right to defenseman, Yan Kuznetsov. He caught Marshall cheating to his right side and tallied his first collegiate goal going top-shelf into the left corner at 7:04 for the 1-0 UCONN lead. The first period was fast-paced with few whistles as each team tested their opposing goalie, each of whom was sharp. Vomacka stood tall on a break-in by Mike Gornall who charged in all alone with 1:45 left in the period. UCONN had three chances to get the second goal of the game. Firstov was stopped twice in close and Jacob Flynn wheeled around in the left-wing circle only to be stopped by Marshall. Mahshie was on the doorstep and was denied by Vomacka at 13:55 and just before that, the Huskies' Jacob Flynn, who was also playing his first college game, was stopped by Marshall with the left pad. The combo of Evans and Ruslan Iskhakov produced a great scoring chance. Iskhakov set up Evans nicely for a 15-foot snapshot that was pushed aside. The Huskies Marc Gatcomb had a good wrist shot from the slot rejected. Vomacka's goal post, which made two saves for him on the previous night, helped him out agaIn as Ture Linden clanged one off the right post. In the games’ opening 1:48 of play, Finnish-native Ottoville Leppanen was stopped by Vomacka, who then used his left pad to deny Kjellberg’s left point drive. Kondelik was in close for the Huskies' first quality chance turned away. NOTES: Very nice ceremony in the first intermission with 2000 MAAC champion UCONN squad with a group photo and lowering of a new banner from the XL Center rafters to honor the title. RPI has a few Connecticut hockey connections and the sons of NHL’ers. Zieky, as previously mentioned played and is from Avon Old Farms. He is a Providence College (HE) transfer and was in the opening game lineup for the Engineers and had his cheering section. Son’s of NHL’ers were Mason Klee, whose father Ken Klee played 934 NHL games with Washington, Toronto, New Jersey, Colorado, Atlanta, Anaheim and Phoenix (nee Arizona) from 1994-2009. Kjellberg was a 2018, sixth-round draft pick of the Rangers. His father, Patrick Kjellberg, played 394 NHL games with Nashville, Montreal, and Anaheim and is currently a Rangers European scout. Dubinsky's father, Steve Dubinsky, played in 375 NHL games with Chicago, Calgary, Nashville, and St. Louis. He was also in the opening game lineup. A superb rendition of the National Anthem was sung by Leanne Adams Read the full article

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CANTLON: ARMY INVADES UCONN ON HOME OPENER AND WINS 2-1

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - A timely goal midway through the second period along with strong goaltending from junior Trevin Kozlowski and a strong defense allowed Army to upend UCONN 2-1 Friday in their home opener. The loss leaves the Huskies without a win while Army remains undefeated before 2,029, the lowest home-opening crowd since UCONN began playing home games at the XL Center. UCONN drops to (0-1-1 overall, 0-0-0 HEA) and Army goes to (2-0-0 overall, 0-0-0 AHA). The Huskies play Saturday afternoon in another non-conference game beginning at 3:30 pm against RPI (ECACHL). The Army hockey team is off until next weekend when they host Robert Morris in their home and conference opening game. The early part of the third period belonged to Kozlowski who stoned Ruslan Ishkarov on a break in taking Kyle Howarth’s pass before going forehand-to-backhand, but the 6’4 netminder stretched his left leg out as far as it could go and kept he puck from crossing the goal line at 1:45. “I thought we played a decent game for two periods. We didn’t bury our chances. You gotta bury them,” remarked UCONN head coach, Mike Cavanaugh. “Their goaltender played well. I give him credit. They played hard and it was a good hockey game. I thought in the third period we tilted the ice, but I think in this game when you get the chances, you have to bury them.” At 3:52, Russian freshmen, Alexander Firstov, made a great move in the left-wing circle to get around a defenseman, and fired a shot to the short-side, but the goal post was in the way. The Huskies bad puck-luck continued midway through the third period. The Huskies, Marc Gatcomb, took a long shot into the zone that came off the backboards and came back right through Kozlowski’s legs. Gatcomb then managed to get between two Army defensemen while falling down to fire the puck that went off the inside of the post to the Huskies dismay. The subsequent review confirmed it. Firstov put his team-high fourth shot on net, but Kozlowski denied him. On the other side, UCONN sophomore Tomas Vomacka stopped Tucker DeYoung’s fifth shot on net with 7:31 left that Vomacka kept from going to the back of the net on a sharp angle shot from the right-wing boards. The Huskies had their chances late with Jachym Kondelik getting two of them. The first was in the right-wing circle. He missed the net. The second one on the left-wing and was stopped by Kozlowski. The third came off a clean win off the draw to Kale Howarth with 2.4 seconds left. It was blocked by the Army defense to end the game. “We were trying to be cute, make that extra move. When you're going to the net, you gotta not be so concerned about (how you shoot it), but get it off quick and shoot it hard, rather than being concerned about being cute and putting it in a certain spot and we hit a couple of posts. That will happen in this game, but if you put performances like we did in the third period, those will eventually go your way,” Cavanaugh said while speaking philosophically on his team’s offense game posture. The first period had a dearth of quality scoring chances while the second period saw two goals scored in a 31-second span. The Army Black Knights Dominic Franco won a draw from Ben Freeman and got the puck back to John Zimmerman (Arlington, TX). The right-handed shot at the left point launched a shot that found its way past Vomacka at 3:17. “It was a knuckleball that kinda fooled Tomas,” said Cavanaugh. UCONN wasted little time in answering back. This time the shot from the left point and came from the Huskies highly-regarded freshmen rearguard, Carter Berger. He sent a hard, low shot on net. It redirected by Brian Rigali in front of the net to tie the game at one. “We got a good entry into the zone on that. I actually fell down and worked my way back to the front of the net. I got lucky it was a nice shot (by Berger),” said Rigali. Army operated like a platoon getting territorial shots on net, spaced apart. Puck possession allowed the Black Knights to take the lead at 2-1. Defenseman Marshall Plunkett zipped down the left-wing boards and went around the back of the UCONN net. He put a pass in front sending it to the hard-charging, Mason Krueger. Husky, Carter Turnbull, had his back turned and didn’t know where the puck, or Krueger, was. So, Krueger pushed it over to a wide-open Daniel Haider on the left-wing and he put it in at 15:50 for a 2-1 Army lead that sustained them the rest of the game. The first period looked like it was being coached by Jacques Lemaire. UCONN and Army combined for just 12 shots between them, and the quality chances few and far between. The lone solo rush by either school came as Konedlik, a 6’6, Czech, drove wide on the left got to the front of the net, but Kozlowski shut the open five-hole and rejected the bid with 2.3 seconds left in the period. Army had just had its best quality at the other end as Vomackarejected senior Dominic Franco (Portsmouth, RI) as he tried to nail the shot far side. Kozlowski had two other quality stopping Firstov on a redirect in front at 10:12 and then at 12:38 he stopped Turnbull. NOTES: UCONN won last year’s meeting with Army 5-2 at West Point. Army won its opening game 2-1 over Union College Kozlowski played three seasons of prep school hockey at Gunnery Prep (Washington, CT) and was the team captain his senior season. Senior Bryan Gerstenfeld (Fairfield, CT) did not play public or prep school hockey in Connecticut. Alex Wilkinson of the Black Knights played his junior hockey with the CT (Norwalk) Oilers (EHL). First major Hockey East injury, Ty Amonte, the son former NHL’er Tony Amonte, was announced by Boston University that he would miss the entire season with an upper-body injury. The Hockey East portion of the Huskies schedule starts November 3rd against Merrimack at 2:05 pm Saturday's game will be a dedication to the 2000 MAAC championship UCONN team which was their first foray in Division I hockey. The trophy will be on display on the concourse and other celebratory displays are planned. Read the full article

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CANTLON: (FEB 9) UCONN WINS BIG MATCHUP WITH MERRIMACK

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Ruslan Ishkarov and Jonny Evans, each had three points in leading the UCONN Huskies in a must-win game over Merrimack College, a 5-0 shutout before a season-high XL Center crowd of 8,211 on Saturday. UCONN's record climbs to 9-17-2 (4-12-2 HEA) while Merrimack falls to 7-20-1 (4-14-0 HEA). UCONN climbs to ninth place and within five points of Maine for the eighth and final Hockey East playoff spot. “That was the most complete game our team has played all year long with the exception of six minutes at the start of the second. We played very consistent, smart, and played the smart way. All of a sudden the puck starts bouncing for you. We’ve struggled a few good games together here and we're reaping the rewards that come with that. I'm very happy with the effort.” The Huskies put the cap on a full sixty minute game in the third period with a gorgeous give-and-go between Ishkarov and Evans. Evans was in the center area inside the Merrimack zone. He sent a pass to Ishkarov, who quickly put it back on Evans stick. Evans got inside position on Merrimack's rearguard, Tyler Heidt, and deposited his second goal of the game, and fifth of the season inside the near post at the 5:00 mark. Evans returned to the lineup following an absence due to a concussion. He was a key factor in what UCONN has been badly missing, scoring. “It's nice to play with him,“ remarked Evans. “We started the year together on the power play and we have kind of built from that the last five games or so." For Cavanaugh, Evans return was a necessary ingredient they needed. “We struggled to score goals in that tough stretch we had. He’s a dynamic player and he and Ruslan had found some chemistry and Max (Kalter) is the engine of that line. In his last four games, Ishkarov, a second-round draft pick of the New York Islanders, has displayed his varied skill set which prompted the team to select him when they did. The biggest change was a more directed use of his smooth skating skills. “He is playing with two guys who like to go North in a hurry. When he first got here he played a lot of East-West hockey and not using his speed to his advantage. He has manifested himself into a player who is playing hard and adjusting to North American hockey and getting results.” Evans who missed eleven games with an upper-body injury is the perfect complement to Ishkarov getting into offensive positions all game as UCONN, as a team, kept their feet moving right from the game’s first shift. “We worked on that this week. We wanted to get on top of their D early and we did that effectively,” said Evans. The Huskies and Merrimack jockeyed for position in the first eight minutes of the second period. UCONN’s netminder, Tomas Vomacka, made key saves, but a strong cycle shift with three quality UCONN shots, one went off the post, halfway through the period, set up the next shift and the Huskies tallied their second goal. “In this league, you're going to have to weather storms. You're not going to have the puck for sixty minutes every game. We used the TV timeout to regroup, mitigate some of the turnovers that were causing us problems, and we took it to them and opened the game up,” said Cavanaugh. Vomacka felt good, while his team knew of the importance of the game. “We were focused right from the beginning. We started fast and that’s what we talked about in the locker room and everybody started to feel better. Making the saves, that’s my job, and after those five minutes the boys had me pretty good and that’s what you have to do to be successful,” Vomacka, a freshman from the Czech Republic, said. Evans and Miles Gendron were denied on their scoring attempts, and then the Huskies' Ben Freeman went from behind the net to the right wing corner side and shielded the puck with his 6’5 frame perfectly on Warriors defenseman Alex Carle. He hit Zach Robbins, who was open on the left-wing side, fifteen feet out and snapped his first goal of the season at 10:16. “Zach did a nice job on that play. Their strength is they carry it out well and they try to outnumber you and we won those battles as Ben did there to feed it to Zach.” The Huskies scored again 44 seconds later on the powerplay just ten seconds after the penalty call. UConn started the man-advantage perfectly by winning the faceoff. Four of the five UCONN players on the ice then touched the puck with Ishkarov spotting Freeman in a perfect situation in the slot down. He went down to one knee and fired his sixth into the back of the net at 10:50. “I just have to pass the puck to (Freeman) and he shot it, not hard,” remarked a smiling Ishkarov. Cavanaugh was elated with the play “You don’t often get a powerplay to work like that. There were a lot of options we had out there, but Ben finished off the play as Ruslan made a nice feed to him.” UCONN had full control of the puck and offensive zone time scored for a fourth goal. Evans took Kalter’s lead pass and marched down the left wing. Kalter got around the Warriors' Dman, Matt McArdle. He approached the net. Halladay made the first move and Evans snapped his shot into the top shelf under the crossbar at 14:25 sending the large, exuberant crowd dancing in their seats throughout the XL Center. “I was going to the net and I thought I was going to get blown out (hit), so I cut back across quickly, and I just saw the opening and shot it,” Evans said with a laugh. The Huskies got exactly the start they wanted controlling the puck in the offensive zone and keeping Merrimack out of the Huskies end of the ice and scoring the first goal to get the home crowd into the game. From behind the net, Evans spotted Ishkarov all alone. Ishkarov handled the puck well in the small space and just long enough to find room to put in his fifth goal of the season on the short side at 1:55. The surprise UCONN starter in net, Tomas Vomacka, made a save on a two-on-one by Sami Tavernier, a righthanded shot taken from the left-wing. The calculus of the decision was not a Cavanaugh developed algorithm. “He won the last game,” Cavanaugh said with a smile. “The team played pretty well in front of him (so), let’s give him another one.” Vomacka stood tall in a pressure filled game. ”He played very well and we didn’t give up too many Grade A chances and that is a credit to the defense playing well in front of him and he did a good not leaving rebounds out there for them to have second chances.” Halfway thru the period, UCONN had a decided edge in shots 10-4. Jachym Knondelik and Payusov had back-to-back chances repelled, and with 2:23 remaining in the period, Ishkarov was on a breakaway and stopped, as was Ben Freeman’s wraparound attempt with under a minute to went through the crease from the left wing side. NOTES: Merrimack featured several sons of New Haven Nighthawks. Tyler Drevitch son of Scott, Tyler Heidt son of Mike and Cole McBride son of Daryn. Mike Babcock for the Warriors is indeed the son of Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock Sr. Ex-Husky Brian Morgan was taken by Greenville (ECHL) on waivers from Florida (ECHL). Robert Cronin, Gunnery Prep (Washington, CT) has committed to University of New Hampshire (HE) for 2019-20. Read the full article

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CANTLON: (FEB 7) UCONN BEATS NORTHEASTERN IN OVERTIME 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The UCONN Huskies reversed what could have been another looming one-goal loss and instead in dramatic fashion, turned it into a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory over the 13th ranked, Northeastern Huskies 3-2. UCONN improves their record to 8-17-2 overall (3-12-2 in Hockey East) while Northeastern's record slips to 16-9-1 overall (9-6-1 in the conference). UCONN will play Merrimack on Saturday at 5 pm at the XL Center in an extremely critical Hockey East matchup for both teams. UCONN moved into a tie for the tenth spot with one less loss, and one less win than Merrimack. UConn is now seven points behind eighth spot holding Maine. “We're excited with the win and we have been playing pretty well during this homestand. We just haven’t gotten the results, and tonight we stayed with it,” UCONN head coach Mike Cavanaugh said with a clear sigh of relief. The OT game-winner came when Northeastern‘s Jordan Harris lost control of the puck as a result of pressure from Sasha Payusov from behind and just outside the crease area. The puck found the right player for UCONN, as Jachym Kondelik wasted little time feathering a perfect pass to Payusov, who corralled a rolling puck and went upstairs with it on 6’4 netminder, Cayden Primeau, ending the game at the 1:05 mark of the extra session. “We just made eye contact and he got it right to me. It was rolling a bit, I just got it on the net,” Paysusov said. After four other of Paysusov's previous bids stopped by Primeau, he observed something he was able to use. “He (is) so good down low. I wasn’t getting one there, so I tried to go upstairs and that worked better,” Payusov said with a very broad smile. For Paysusov, it was his team-leading 14th goal and first game-winner of the season. Kondelik picked up his team-leading 20th assist and completing a two-point effort for the game. Northeastern head coach Jim Madigan was red-faced and direct in how he felt regarding his team play over the final period and overtime in what was just a twelve-second press conference, likely a new post-game record. “Our puck management sucked, any questions?” Madigan said, then stood up and charged out of the room. The Huskies tied the game late after pulling starter Tomas Vomacka with 1:37 remaining. They got a double screen on Primeau with the 6'7, Kondelik, and 5'8, Brian Rigali. The shorter of the two got the deflection of Ruslan Iskhakov’s right point shot. “I just showed my stick on the play. He (Iskharov) put it right there and was able to get it,” said a smiling Rigali. “We have been working all week on this type of play, the six-on-five and it paid off,” Rigali said. Karl El-Mir's hard work resulted in a forced turnover in the Northeastern zone. It got the whole play started. “That’s the only way to beat him,” Cavanaugh said chuckling while offering his analysis of the Hockey East goaltending. “There are a lot of good goalies in this league, Joe Woll (BC), (Tyler) Wall (UMASS-Lowell), (Jake) Oettinger (BU), who’ll we'll face next week. If you don’t take their eyes away from them it's going to be awfully hard to beat (any) of them.” Cavanaugh's two goalies, Adam Huska, and Tomas Vomacka also rank right up there with the names he mentioned. Knowing the team's post-season hopes are slim, Cavanaugh was very happy with the team character they showed in the third period, even while trailing and seeing several good shots go wide that would have tied it earlier in the period. “I liked how we stuck with it, staying with it no matter what happens. Miles (Gendron, the team captain) challenged the team to score the first goal and we did. When they scored early in the third period, I liked how we stayed with our game plan and it's a good win. We're very happy with,” Cavanaugh remarked. The early part of the third period saw the Huskies come out flying and with their feet moving in the offensive zone. Isharov hit the post at 1:28 on a quick breaking two-on-one. Payusov was denied a bid on the right wing try. Isharov was then denied on a left-wing rush at 4:56. The first solid scoring chance Northeastern got they buried in the net. On a strong cycle off the left wing, Grant Josezek, before he circled the UCONN net, reversed the puck back to the left side to Eric Williams, who was wide. Williams easily fired his third goal of the year past an unsuspecting Vomacka at 2:03 to give Northeastern the lead. “That was some blown coverage when you have guys get two players chasing one, but I like our mindset. We have played good third periods in our last three games, and that wasn’t the case early in the year. We have made it a focal point of our team in the second half that we want to win third periods.” Tyler Madden, who was quiet for Northeastern in the first period, but was very noticeable in the second. He was stopped twice and was a forechecking menace throughout the second frame. One of those chances came in the last minute of play and he got into two skirmishes as well. UCONN had a stellar chance on a redirect by El-Mir, but Primeau, the son of the ex-Hartford Whaler and NHL’er, Keith Primeau, did a great job tracking the puck. UCONN’s Tomas Vomacka (31 saves) was equal to Primeau 29 saves) knocking aside a redirect by Zach Solow. Jeremy Davies of Northeastern was at the left point and chipped the puck down the wall to Solow. He was able to come out of the left wing corner uncontested on Vomacka. He deked and swept the puck past Vomacka scoring his 12th goal of the season at 6:15 of the second period. The goal tied the game at one. UCONN was able to start generating some quality offensive pressure late in the period and collected the first goal of the game. A beautiful three-way passing play started by Roman Kinal at the right point to El-Mir in the lower left wing corner. He sent it to Kondelik in front, who put it past Primeau at 15:21. The UCONN Huskies really started to apply some offensive zone pressure to get Primeau to move, but UCONN’s Marc Gatcomb and Jordan Timmons were denied. NOTES: Offensively, UCONN is ranked last with 30 goals for, but they're also first in goals against with 67. Northeastern is in fourth place in the conference. They are tied for the third-best in scoring offense and fourth best in scoring defense. Their PP is seventh while UCONN’s is tenth.  The Northeastern PK is seventh and UCONN is tenth. El-Mir has six powerplay goals are is second in Hockey East and ninth in the nation. Kondelik has 22 points, good for third among freshmen and fifth in the nation. Madden is the son of the former NHL’er, John Madden, who is now the head coach of the Cleveland Monsters (AHL). He also attended Avon Old Farms for one year. Besides Primeau, there is one more son of a former NHL’er on the team. He is the fourth-line center, Eutu Selanne, the son of NHL great Teemu Selanne, but not nearly as much of an offensive threat as his father with no points in 13 games. Former UCONN goalie, Garrett Bartus, who's currently with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (ECHL), has signed to play this summer with the Sydney Ice Dogs (Australia-AIHL). Last summer, former UCONN Husky, Trevor Gerling, scored the overtime game-winner to help his CBR (Canberra) Brave win the Australian Goodall Cup championship. Read the full article

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CANTLON: HUSKIES LOSE TO ENGINEERS, 5-2

By Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Avon's Chase Zieky had three points propelling RPI to a 5-2 non-conference win over the UCONN Huskies before 3,165 fans at the XL Center on Wednesday night. The UCONN record drops to 7-14-1 and 2-10-1 in HEA). They will play home next Friday against The University of New Hampshire. RPI's record improves to 7-15-0 overall and 4-7-0 in the ECAC. “It was a disappointing loss for us. Coming off a game against Merrimack, where we didn’t play well at all structurally, I thought we got better structurally as the game went along. We didn’t give up a lot of odd-man rushes like we did in Merrimack, where there were six or seven. From that standpoint, I thought we were better. The game came down to special teams. The Engineers got two power-play goals, but five-on-five it was a pretty even game. We just have to get better as a team; coach better, and play better, and find a rhythm. I don’t think we found a rhythm yet as a club. With 12 games left, we gotta find a way to do that pretty soon,” Huskies head coach Mike Cavanaugh remarked. The Huskies started the third period having not won in ten tries this season when trailing after two periods. They almost saw RPI make it a three-goal lead early. Ottoville Leppanen of RPI, saw his shot hit the pipe at 1:07. The red light came on, but neither referee Scott Hansen or Jay Durfee signaled a goal. Before a whistle could be blown, UConn called for a review and it narrowed the lead to one goal. UConn team captain, Miles Gendron was in the lower right wing corner and Karl El-Mir's hard work allowed him to turn and fire it quickly on a sharp angle. The shot evaded the padding of RPI goalie, Owen Savory, at 2:15. The goal momentarily gave the Huskies a brief hope they could make a comeback. The goal extended El-mir's point-scoring streak to a season-high six games. The Huskies had a chance to tie it as Ruslan Iskharov had his best offensive opportunity of the game with a backhander off the right-wing that was denied, but shortly thereafter, RPI reestablished their two-goal lead. Zieky, an Avon product who played at Avon Old Farms, and who had 30-plus family and friends rooting for him, nailed his third point of the night with a cross-ice pass from high in the left wing circle. The pass found Will Reilly, who had inside position on Evan Wisocky on the right wing. He beat Tomas Vomacka who was over too far to his short-side at 10:44. The goal made it a 4-2 RPI lead. The Huskies outshot RPI, 33-28, but they missed the net far too often. Their big guns, Iskharov and Payusov, had just three shots between them. “I would like more shots from everybody," Cavanaugh said. In the second period, UCONN came out and put strong offensive zone pressure on RPI and got three shots on the first 1:30. The Huskies just couldn’t sustain any long offensive zone cycles or play with a sense of urgency as a team with its back up against the wall. This team needs to get on a winning streak as it embarks in playing ten conference games over the next six weeks. “I don’t know if we played with enough urgency in the first period,“ as Cavanaugh pondered his words carefully as he answered. “In the second period, we came back after the two powerplay goals and in the third period, we played desperately.  But you have to play desperate from the start the way the season is going. If we don’t play desperate now, we won’t make the playoffs,” said Cavanaugh. This season, Hockey East will have the top eight make it to the post-season and the bottom three, they will go home. RPI was able to establish a two-goal lead off the power play. Ishkarov took a penalty and is known for his speed, but used it poorly when he chased down a player from behind and earned a tripping call in the UCONN defensive end of the ice. Zieky then got his second goal of the night sneaking behind two UCONN players and converting a perfect pass from behind the net from Leppanen, the team's Finnish freshmen, at 12:11. “(It) felt good putting it in the net, and it was good for us to get some power-play goals. Today was our best full-game we've played to date,” remarked the PC transfer playing in his seventh game since he became NCAA eligible. “ I had all my little cousins here tonight. They made signs for me. It was pretty cool,” Zieky said. The Huskies responded quickly. Brian Rigali picked up a rebound from his first shot that came on the left wing. He snapped it into the open left side at 13:38. The play was set up by Max Kalter, who had retrieved the puck in the right-wing corner with a backhand pass to Rigali. Another poorly timed penalty allowed RPI to retake a two-goal lead. Gendron got caught with the extra swat at center ice and that let the Engineers go on to score in the last minute of regulation. RPI’s Patrick Polino skated around the net and spotted the right-handed, Todd Burgess, all alone in the left wing circle. Burgess snapped a shot over Vomacka's glove hand into the upper left-hand corner with 44.2 seconds left and a 3-1 lead, giving RPI the game's momentum. The Huskies season-long inconsistency put them in a box forcing them to work their way out of it in order to make the Hockey East playoffs, and their first-period play reflected that. UConn's center-ice puck management was not up to par as they made too many neutral zone turnovers. RPI connected off their first prime chance for the lone goal of the period. “I thought in the first we were holding on to the puck too long. We were not moving the puck quick enough, but I thought it got better as the game went along,” said Cavanaugh. RPI had a whole different perspective on puck amangement. “Everybody wants to handle the puck and play offense, but we have success when we defend quickly and we were committed to that tonight,” RPI head coach Dave Smith said. “Across the board, UCONN had a couple of pushes. We managed the puck and controlled the ice very well. When they pushed, we fought back very well.” Brady Wiffen had a quality chance off a turnover and the Engineers kept the puck in the zone. RPI’s fired another shot on goal from the left side by Jake Johnson. Vomacka made the save, but the rebound went right to Zieky who flicked it over the Huskies' netminder for his second goal in seven games at 5:40 to give RPI the 1-0 lead. “We talk before every game about getting the lead and we did tonight,” Zieky said. “Its been great for us. We have done that in the last three road games.” UCONN didn’t get a quality shot on goal until El-Mir's shot at 10:46. Again, a neutral zone gaffe allowed RPI defenseman Kyle Hallbauer to strip the biscuit from the much taller Ben Freeman. Hallbauer used the backhand with body position, but Vomacka made the save. RPI had 13 shots in total for the period and a poorly thought-out blind back pass by Ishkarov and RPI’s Jakub Lacka, who was cut off with effective backchecking, kept the puck in the UCONN end of the ice give RPI a chance at some quality shot taking. The Huskies only other quality shot gave from Brian Freeman with 2:09 left but RPI’S Owen Savory made the save. NOTES: Several Huskies have been offensively challenged for about the past month. Sasha Payusov now has three goals in 14 games. The NY Islanders' second-round draft pick, Ruslan Ishkatov, has one goal in his last 14 games and just four points. On the plus side for UConn, senior Karl El-Mir (Montreal, QC) has eight points in his last 11 games while freshmen, Jachym Kondelik, has three points in three games since returning from the World Junior Championship tourney in Vancouver where he played for the Czech Republic. He had his mini-point streak ended. The Huskies', Johnny Evans, remains out with an upper-body injury. No date for his return has been set. Meanwhile, Justin Howell’s season is over as he's having knee surgery. UConn goalie, Tomas Vomacka, played and saw his first game action in over a month since representing the Czech Republic in the World Junior A tournament in Bonnyville, AB. Vomacka was in the net when Canada West's entry knocked off the Czechs 3-1. He made 37 stops at the RJ Lalonde Arena. Read the full article