The Huskies lost 2 – 1 to Northeastern University on Friday durning overtime, after the game was tied up in the last minute of the third period. (Photo by Kevin Lindstrom/The Daily Campus)
After another disappointing series versus Northeastern and Providence, the UConn women’s hockey team has an opportunity to get back on track this weekend at home.
Both Vermont (8-17-4, 6-14-2) and UConn (13-14-2, 8-12-2) have seen rough stretches as of late. UConn has not won in the last six games, earning only one tie. Aside from a win against Holy Cross last time out, the Catamounts had previously lost seven of their last eight games.
UConn has had a lot of trouble finishing off periods, and in order to be successful will need to sure up the late period defense. End of period issues have been the Kryptonite for this UConn team.
The Huskies have experienced offensive issues as well, seeing as top point scorer Natalie Snodgrass has been dormant for the past six contests. UConn has yet to win since its last goal. The Huskies have not scored more than one goal in five straight games.
In the last matchup between these two sides, UConn broke through in the last period to score three times and pulled away with a victory. Three of the four goals they scored were on powerplay chances, and the only other was scored on an empty net.
The powerplay will be a heavy factor in this series, as there was a total of 13 between the two teams in their only other matchup this year. Whoever can limit penalties in this game has an obvious upper hand.
The game saw goals from captain Jaime Fox, sophomore Natalie Snodgrass, junior Briana Colangelo, and sophomore Savannah Bouzide. Both freshman Viki Harkness and junior Tristyn Svetek each notched a pair of assists as well.
Vermont sits in eighth place in Women’s Hockey East with 14 points, just four less than sixth place UConn.
The Huskies have been much better against competition lower than them in the standings, going 5-2-0 in those games. That being said, this UConn team has been 3-10-2 in games against teams that are above them.
Catch the first game at the Mark E. Freitas Ice Forum at 3 p.m. Friday and the second at the XL Center in Hartford at 1 p.m. Saturday.
This will be the women’s hockey team’s first game at the XL Center this season, as the men’s team typically hosts their home games there.
Mike Mavredakis is a campus correspondent for the Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at michael.quinn-mavredakis@uconn.edu.
