UConn and RPI faced off once already this season, with UConn winning by a score of 3-1 at RPI in October. (Judah Shingleton/The Daily Campus)
The UConn men’s hockey team will be looking to bounce back Wednesday against the 6-15 Rensselaer Engineers after falling to the Merrimack Warriors on Saturday 5-2.
Currently losers of eight of their last ten games, the Huskies record has dropped to 7-13-1 (2-10-1 Hockey East) and have found themselves in the bottom of the conference. If not for a Vermont team that is 8-11-1 (1-8-1 Hockey East), the Huskies would be dead last. In fact, the Catamounts only in-conference win came against UConn earlier in the season.
However, RPI hasn’t been much better, also winning only two of their last ten games. Currently 6-17 and 4-7 in conference, the Engineers are also coming off of a 5-2 loss to Clarkson.
The Engineers are 1-5 this season against Hockey East opponents, with their only victory coming against the 11-8-1 (5-4-1 Hockey East) UMass Lowell River Hawks in November.
UConn and RPI faced off once already this season, with UConn winning by a score of 3-1 at RPI in October.
Junior forward Jacob Hayhurst leads the way for the Engineers on offense, and while only recording three goals he has been credited with 18 assists, tied for fifth most in the nation. Junior forward Patrick Polino leads the team in goals with seven, his three assists make him tied for third on the team in points.
RPI goalie Owen Savory has been having a very good season for the Engineers, currently boasting a .924 save percentage, good for No.17 in the nation.
As for the Huskies, senior forward Karl El-Mir leads the team with 19 points and is tied for the team lead in goals with 11. Freshman forward Jáchym Kondelík is right behind him with 18 points and leads the team with 15 assists. El-Mir and Kondelik were responsible for the Huskies only two goals against Merrimack.
The Huskies lead goalie, Adam Huska, ranks No.50 in the nation with a save percentage of .905.
This will be the second to last non-conference game for the Huskies of the regular season, with their final one coming against Sacred Heart University on January 29.
Jorge Eckardt is a staff writer for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at jorge.eckardt@uconn.edu.
