UConn men’s ice hockey beat No. 12 Northeastern 4-1 Tuesday night after a previous record of 0-10 against them. (Eric Wang/The Daily Campus)
With another week in the books, let’s look at the winners and losers from the wide world of sports.
Winner: Men’s Ice Hockey
With their most recent victory over No. 12 Northeastern University on Tuesday night, UConn has strung together three consecutive wins. The upset marks the first time UConn has defeated Northeastern in program history, as they entered the game 0-10 against them.
UConn looks rejuvenated and was aided by the return of Alexander Payusov on the first line. Along with Maxim Letunov, Jesse Schwartz, and Johnny Austin, he led them to the 4-1 win, as they each found the back of the net once.
The huge upset over the fellow Huskies could swing momentum in their favor as they get deeper into the season. They struggled prior to this three game stretch, going winless in six straight contests. Their three game winning streak, though, vaulted them into sixth place in Hockey East, right in the middle of the pack. They will face UMass Amherst in their next two games in hopes of continuing to climb the standings.
Winner: Field Hockey
Off the Ice, the field hockey team completed its undefeated season, capturing a fifth National Championship. They defeated Maryland 2-1 in the final. Charlotte Veitner propelled the Huskies as she has all season, scoring the game winning goal and her 34th of the year.
The championship is their first since 2014, as they fell in the Final Four the past two years. This time around, there was no stopping them. They powered through North Carolina and Maryland, two of the only three teams to have more field hockey national championships in their programs’ histories. Since 2013, no team has had more success than UConn.
Loser: UConn Football
At this point, calling the football team “losers” is as repetitive as calling the women’s basketball team “winners.” But just when you think they cannot surprise you any further, they find a way.
After a blowout loss against Boston College at Fenway Park, UConn headed into the final game of the season hoping to salvage something as they look towards next year.
This thought seemed like a real possibility as the Huskies scored a touchdown with no time remaining in the game. With the touchdown it became 22-21, needing just the extra point to tie the game and force to overtime. Instead, in typical UConn fashion, they managed to miss the extra point and lose their fifth straight game to conclude the season.
The loss makes it difficult to be optimistic about the future of the program, as they finished 3-9 for the second straight year, and have suffered seven consecutive losing seasons.
Loser: Ben McAdoo and the New York Giants
To only heighten the dumpster fire of the Giants’ season, coach Ben McAdoo announced this week that their iconic quarterback, Eli Manning, will be benched for Geno Smith. This will end Manning’s streak of starting 210 straight games for Big Blue. But why? What for?
The worst part of the benching is that Geno Smith, the guy not even good enough to stay with the lowly New York Jets, will be the one replacing him. Smith is certainly not a long term option for the Giants under center, and despite Manning’s struggles, is still an inferior quarterback.
It really seems like the Giants are trying to embrace this role reversal, and become as much like the laughing stock Jets as they can possibly be. Jets fans must be relishing this.
At 2-9, the Giants season is long over, so they should simply let Manning finish out the season. Geno Smith, despite how poor he is, is not going to help them get any higher in the draft order either. To treat one of the greatest players that have ever played for the franchise this way is despicable. He helped bring the organization two Super Bowls and should be regarded with greater respect by his club.
Dylan Barrett is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at dylan.barrett@uconn.edu.