The Huskies emerged victorious against the St. Francis Xavier X-men at Freitas Ice Forum on Saturday Sept 30. Although UConn was drawing numerous penalties, the Huskies won 2-1. (Jon Sammis/The Daily Campus)
This weekend, UConn men’s hockey takes on Hockey East rival No. 7 Boston University in a home-and-home series.
UConn has had a very average start to their season with a 2-2 start. Last weekend, the Huskies split their two games, defeating American International 6-4 and losing to Sacred Heart 3-1. The team has also gotten Hockey East play off to a 1-1 start after splitting a weekend series with Maine.
Saturday will be the team’s home opener. Last season, the Huskies were 6-6-3 at the XL Center, despite consistently drawing some of the biggest crowds in college hockey.
Sophomore Alexander Payusov has done a spectacular job of filling the hole left by last year’s top scorer Tage Thompson. This season, Payusov has four goals and an assist, building off of his two assists all of last season.
BU (2-2-1) enter this weekend coming off of two losses at home to Minnesota State, 6-3 and 3-0. The Terriers’ two wins this season have come against quality opponents, defeating No. 16 Union and No. 14 Quinnipiac. This weekend will be the first time BU faces a Hockey East rival this year.
The Terriers are a young team as they are led by sophomore Patrick Harper and freshman Shane Bowers. Harper has started off the season with four goals and a two assists, while Bowers has four tallies on the season.
Last season, the two Hockey East rivals split their home-and-home series for the second straight year, with the Huskies losing the first game 2-1 and winning the second 4-0. With the result, UConn is now 1-2-1 at BU.
All of the players that scored in the series last season are still with the team. Senior Spencer Naas scored the Huskies lone goal in the first game, while junior Karl El-Mir and seniors Kasperi Ojantakanen, David Drake and Corey Ronan all got on the score sheet in Storrs.
After this weekend, the Huskies travel to Ohio to take on Miami University.
Antonio Salazar is a staff writer for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at antonio.salazar@uconn.edu.
