The UConn men’s ice hockey team pleased the home fans at the Toscano Family Ice Forum in Storrs, Connecticut as it secured the eighth seed in the Hockey East with a dominant 5-1 victory over the Vermont Catamounts on Thursday evening. As the eighth seed, the team will now have home ice advantage for the first round of the Hockey East tournament.
The Ice Bus got their offense rolling early in the first period. Sophomore Samu Salminen won a faceoff on the Vermont side of the ice before the puck kicked behind the Catamounts net. Salminen recovered the loose puck and left a drop pass for Matthew Wood, who crashed on the goal and beat Vermont goalie Gabe Carriere for the close score. It was the 12th goal of the season for sophomore Wood.
Connecticut added another score in the 11th minute of the period. Nick Capone beat the Catamount defenders for a look from inside the faceoff circle and narrowly missed the net. Freshman Joey Muldowney corralled the miss from the corner and circled back to center ice before rifling a quick shot from 10 feet inside of the blue line. The puck squeezed by Carriere into the top-left corner of the goal for Muldowney’s third score of the season and elevated the UConn lead to 2-0. The Huskies held the advantage heading into the first period break.
Wood continued to lead the Connecticut offense with yet another goal in the second period. In the eighth minute of the period, Wood brought past the blue line and tried feeding a crashing Ryan Tattle in front of the Catamount goal. The pass was deflected by a Vermont defender, but the puck ricocheted right back to Wood who managed the quick rebound and shot from point-blank range. He beat Carriere for the second time for his 13th goal of the campaign to extend the Husky lead to 3-0.
Vermont would not go away easily. On the subsequent faceoff, the Catamounts’ Joel Määttä recovered the loose puck and crossed a pass to forward Jens Richards immediately in front of UConn goalie Arsenii Sergeev. Sergeev managed to divert Richards’ shot, but as his momentum took him to the ground, he was unable to recompose himself in time before Isak Walther crashed the loose puck and slapped in the rebound. It was the fifth goal of the season for the junior. The puck remained in the center of the ice as the second period died out with UConn holding on to the 3-1 advantage.
The Ice Bus found a response in the sixth minute of the third period. Freshman Oliver Flynn crossed a pass behind the Vermont goal to Tabor Heaslip, who himself turned to find Tristan Fraser inside of the near faceoff circle. Fraser stayed patient as a Catamount defender passed in front of him before firing a shot into open space towards the right post of the goal. It was the seventh goal of the season for Fraser and enabled UConn to another three-goal advantage as the score moved to 4-1.
As time began to wind down, Vermont pulled their goalie in favor of an extra skater. The Huskies were able to take advantage as with just over two minutes remaining in the period, Heaslip tracked down a loose puck heading toward the Catamount goal. He crossed a pass back toward the center of the ice where Muldowney crashed the net and tapped in the close-range shot. His fifth goal of the season gave the Ice Bus a commanding 5-1 lead which became official as the final buzzer sounded.
Despite managing just the one score, Vermont actually outshot UConn 26-25 over the course of the match. Sergeev tallied 25 saves in the net for Connecticut compared to 21 for Vermont’s Carriere. Both teams went 0-3 on their power play chances and each committed three minor penalties. UConn won more faceoffs, 34-28, as well as recorded more blocks, 11-7.
With the victory, Connecticut clinched the eighth seed in Hockey East after entering the contest tied with the Catamounts. The loss sends Vermont down to the conference’s ninth seed, meaning they will return to Storrs for to be hosted by the Huskies for that opening round matchup on Wednesday.