This weekend, the Connecticut Huskies faced off with two Hockey East opponents, hoping to earn back the top spot in the conference standings.
After a tough matchup to start the year, taking on Minnesota on the road in back-to-back days, UConn settled back into the mode they were in before winter break. In their next two games, the Huskies took down Brown University and Merrimack, pushing their overall win total to 14 for the year. Having regained this momentum, the Huskies headed into the weekend, still battling for the top spot among the Hockey East standings. Here’s how the weekend went:
The Huskies went right to work in their game against the Maine Black Bears Friday night. Just under three minutes into the game, the Huskies had already found the lead. After Jorden Mattison blocked Negan Woodworth’s shot, Brianna Ware put the rebound into the back of the net for her third goal of the year.
Around 10 minutes later, the Huskies would build upon that off a strike from their leading scorer. The sequence started with a pass from Riley Grimley to Ashley Allard in the corner. Allard then centered the puck to Jada Habisch, who, with a nice chip, scored her 12th goal to double the Huskies’ lead.
Maine responded with a goal of their own a few minutes later, and the Black Bears entered the first break down a score.
Both teams traded blows for the next period and a half without any scores until just under five minutes to go. Grimley, who earned an assist on the Huskies’ second goal, got a chance to score herself and took advantage. Jada Habisch took a shot that deflected off Mattison again, allowing Grimley to score off the rebound for her sixth goal of the season, also her third in four games.
Tia Chan started in goal for UConn, making 20 saves, including 11 in the final period. On the other side of the ice, Mattison made 23 saves but allowed all three. Their win against Maine completes the season sweep over the Black Bears for Connecticut, having swept them back on the road in November.
Game two of the weekend took place Sunday afternoon, with the Huskies paying a visit to the New Hampshire Wildcats. What followed was an offensive onslaught by UConn.
In the first period alone, the Huskies scored three times, the first coming off a power play opportunity for UConn. Kathryn Stockdale notched her sixth goal on the year off a great pass from Claire Peterson. Stockdale had also scored in one of these teams’ previous meetings back in October.
Captain Coryn Tormala extended the lead several minutes later, coming right out of the penalty box and scoring off the pads of goalie Sedona Blair.
UConn would strike again on another power play opportunity in the first period, this time from a wide-open Ainsley Svetek. With goals from Stockdale, Tormala and Svetek, three out of four of UConn’s captains scored in the first period.
In the third period, Megan Woodworth padded the lead even more off a spectacular pass from Stockdale, and the Huskies walked out of Durham, New Hampshire with a 4-0 win.
Megan Warrener started in goal for the Huskies, making 20 saves in her fourth shutout performance of the season and second against New Hampshire.
The win gives UConn a one-point advantage over Boston College as the top team in the Hockey East standings, also extending the win streak to five straight. It also extends a streak of 14 straight games against conference opponents without a loss, going 13-0-1 over that stretch.
Looking at what’s ahead for Connecticut, the Huskies will take on the Vermont Catamounts, a team that’s been struggling as of late. Vermont extended their losing streak to six with a series loss against Boston University this weekend. What bodes well for UConn is the Catamount’s road record of 2-8-0, where both of those wins came on the same weekend back in October when the team took two from Merrimack. UConn gets two shots at them at home this coming weekend (Friday and Saturday) and looks to keep their winning streaks alive.
As previously mentioned, the games will take place this weekend at the Toscano Family Ice Forum in Storrs. They can also be streamed on ESPN+.