This weekend marks the end of the regular season for the Connecticut Huskies as they’re set to take on the Boston University Terriers.
BU comes off a solid weekend performance, going on the road and taking games from both Vermont and Merrimack. In total, the Terriers only trailed their opponents for a single minute during their games when Vermont took a one goal lead in Friday’s matchup. Junior Ani Fitzgerald tied the game 53 seconds later, and then the Terriers poured it on. Boston University scored three more times to secure the 4-1 win over the Catamounts. Against Merrimack, the Terriers offense continued to click on all cylinders, scoring four against the Warriors. Sophomore Clara Yuhn and Senior Tamara Giaquinto scored two goals each, with Giaquinto’s coming off of two power play opportunities. Goalie Callie Shanahan made 19 saves enroute to her second shutout of the season.
UConn played Merrimack the night before BU and took care of business as well. The Huskies capitalized on three power play opportunities to jump out to a 3-1 lead before piling on two more late in the third period. Their 5-1 win against the Warriors secured the season sweep of the year and was the largest margin of victory of any of their three games against Merrimack. Saturday against Vermont, however, saw UConn is a position they haven’t been in most of the year. Vermont catapulted in front early, going up two to none. The Huskies just couldn’t break their way into this game following a great performance by Vermont’s goalie Jessie McPherson who made 33 saves. Vermont went on and scored later in the third on a power play to secure the 3-0 win. For the Huskies, it marked their first regulation loss since Jan. 6against Minnesota, and first regulation conference loss since Oct. 20 against New Hampshire. UConn looks to build back some momentum from that loss heading into Friday.
In their lone matchup this year, UConn came out on top with a victory at home. After the Huskies went up two halfway through the first period, the Terriers clawed their way back and tied the game. UConn then responded with three unanswered goals to secure the 5-2, each goal coming from a different player (Campbell, Tormala, Grimley, Peterson, Josifovic).
UConn is sitting atop of the conference with a 17-4-4 record in Hockey East play (20-7-5 overall). Their 55 points gives them a five-point advantage over second place Northeastern, who plays two games against Vermont this weekend. If Northeastern wins both their games this weekend (six points), they’ll still be second as long as UConn secures a single point (an overtime or shootout loss) against Boston University since Connecticut leads the season series with Northeastern two to one.
Puck drop for Friday’s nights matchup is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Boston while Saturday’s home game for the Huskies is set for 3 p.m. Both games can be streamed live on ESPN+. Saturday’s game at Toscano also marks senior night for the Huskies, with the following players to be honored: Ainsley Svetek, Claire Peterson, Coryn Tormala, Camryn Wong, Jada Habisch and Kathyrn Stockdale.