The UConn women’s ice hockey team (16-6-2, 13-3-1 Hockey East) has an opportunity to finish January with their only loss coming from No. 2 Minnesota.
Since being swept in Minneapolis, the Huskies are coming into the season’s first meetings against the University of Vermont (9-14-1, 7-10-0 Hockey East) on a five-game winning streak, with wins over Brown, Merrimack, Boston University, Maine and most recently New Hampshire.
Connecticut dominated from start to finish in Sunday’s 4-0 win over the University of New Hampshire. In the win, goaltender Megan Warrener finished with 20 saves. Senior forward Kathryn Stockdale provided an offensive spark for the red-hot Huskies, scoring one goal and finding forward Megan Woodworth to tally an assist later in the game.
UConn scored two power-play goals in the win, their most this season. Defenseman Ainsley Svetek scored her second goal with a man advantage in January.
Warrener and Stockdale’s performances against Maine and New Hampshire earned them spots on the list of the Hockey East Top Performers, alongside teammate Claire Peterson, who dished out two assists in the shutout win on Sunday.
Vermont, on the other hand, has not found the same success as the first-place Huskies. Along with Maine, the Catamounts sit in a tie for seventh in the conference out of ten teams. They could not be colder coming into Storrs, with a six-game losing streak and only one win this month. This weekend wraps up their back-to-back weekends on the road, losing by multiplied goals in both games at Boston University.
In the two-game series against the Terriers, Vermont sophomore forward Lara Beecher shined with two goals, finishing with a plus-one rating.
Despite allowing ten goals in the two games last weekend, goaltender Jessie McPherson tallied 45 saves to earn a spot on the Hockey East Top Performers list. The six goals allowed in one of the games against the Terriers tied for a season-high in goals allowed. Boston College and Providence both had the same prolific outings against Vermont.
Limiting Vermont’s total shot count was key in Boston University’s win over the Catamounts. Vermont only recorded 15 shots, just five less than New Hampshire’s total in UConn’s shutout win on Sunday.
Last season, it was a back-and-forth battle between the two schools. Vermont won the first two games, the first being in a shootout and the second being a 6-1 rout. However, UConn got the last laugh in the third and final meeting of the 2022-23 season, winning 4-1.
Vermont forward Natalie Mlynkova leads the team in points with 23. The senior from the Czech Republic tallied 23 points on the season thanks to her 12 goals and 11 assists. She leads the team in goals, but is second in assists to sophomore defenseman Krista Parkkonen, who has 12 so far.
The last time the Catamounts won in Storrs was in a series sweep during the 2020-21 season, shutting out the Huskies in the first game 2-0 and having the edge over them with a 3-2 score the day after.
It won’t be the last time these conference rivals meet this season, with a third game in Burlington, Vt. in mid-February. Connecticut currently leads the overall series with a record of 18-14-7.
Tonight’s game, with puck drop set for 6 p.m., is devoted to Alumni Weekend. Saturday’s game, starting at 3 p.m., is the Skating Strides game, helping raise money for kidney disease.
Both games will be at home at Toscano Family Ice Forum and will be able to stream on ESPN+. Following this series, the Huskies will be set for a home-and-home against Providence College to begin February.