The UConn men’s hockey team will wrap up their regular season with a mid-week matchup against Vermont. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 7.
The Huskies have not seen Vermont since the beginning of the season, and this will be the third match between the schools. The last time these two teams played each other was in November of this season and it was a weekend series split. That series as a whole saw a combined 12 goals.
“Even when we played them back there in October, I was very impressed with what Steve had done with the program,” said head coach Mike Cavanaugh at Wednesday’s media availability. “They skate really well, they’ve got good size, they play hard, [Gabe] Carriere has always been an excellent goaltender. It showed with their progress this year. Made a huge jump in the standings under his leadership. It’s going to be a great test for us tomorrow night.”
Vermont is entertaining this matchup with a 13-16-3 overall record and 7-12-3 in Hockey East action. They are coming off a split series with No. 9 Maine. The Catamounts took home the win on Friday night and dropped the series finale on Saturday both played at Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington, Vt. This single game against the Huskies on Thursday will not be the last game of the season for the Catamounts as they have one more matchup on their schedule to face off against No. 2 Boston University on Saturday in Massachusetts.
As for UConn, they are coming off a 1-1 weekend against Northeastern. The Huskies got the win in game one on Friday evening in Boston and dropped game two against Northeastern at home on Saturday. Matthew Wood had one of his best weekends in a UConn uniform last weekend against Northeastern; the sophomore scored a hat trick on Friday night leading the Huskies to a victory over Northeastern. Sophomore Ryan Tattle assisted on all three goals scored by Wood.
The current playoff seedings are up for grabs. The Huskies and the Catamounts are currently tied for eighth place, so home ice for the first round of Hockey East playoffs is still to be determined. If UConn wins, they will host the opening playoff game.
The Huskies have seen a lot of luck with number two recently. When scoring two goals or fewer against Hockey East opponents, UConn is tied with UMass to lead the conference with five total wins. Despite their struggles to be able to score goals this season, the Huskies are seeing some light in the tunnel that Cavanaugh is a fan of.
“I think it’s been frustrating,” said Cavanaugh. “But it’s one of those things that you can’t dwell on and you can’t make it the focal point of your season. You have to understand that you’ve gotta keep grinding and you’ve got to keep playing well and creating chances and bear down when you have those chances.”
“The one area where I feel better about our team is, in the past few games I feel like we haven’t missed the net as much as Grade A opportunities,” Cavanaugh said. “I think that was really a recurring theme for us — It’s an area that I think we keep focusing on I think goals will come.”
Recently, the sophomore class for the Huskies have been putting the pieces together. The second-year players have been on the rise with Jake Percival and Tattle seeing an uptick in goals, while Tristan Fraser, Tabor Heaslip and Tom Messineo have continued to make their impact on the other side of the ice to set up opportunities for their teammates to score goals.
The Huskies are set to wrap up their regular season slate against the Vermont Catamounts with a single game on Thursday, March 6. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. at Toscano Family Ice Forum. The game will be available to be streamed on ESPN+ for “Game Show Night” in Storrs, Conn.