In their final game in front of the home fans at the Toscano Ice Forum in Storrs, Connecticut, the University of Connecticut men’s ice hockey team defeated the Vermont Catamounts by a 4-1 score Wednesday evening, advancing to the second round of the Hockey East tournament.
After No. 6 New Hampshire defeated No. 11 UMass Lowell and No. 7 Northeastern conquered No. 10 Merrimack to make up the remaining games of the opening round, the No. 8 Huskies as the lowest remaining seed will advance to play the top-seeded Boston College Eagles on Saturday.
The Catamounts and the Huskies went back-and-forth exchanging looks through the early portions of the first period, putting nearly identical numbers of shots on goal up until the final few minutes. The game’s first penalty came with just over five minutes remaining in the period when a Vermont defender disrupted a potential scoring opportunity by UConn’s Matthew Wood. The penalty proved costly as with the advantage of the extra skater, Wood was able to sink a rifling shot from inside of the left faceoff circle, just to the left of Vermont goalie Gabe Carriere. Wood’s 14th goal and 25th point of the campaign sent the Toscano fans into a frenzy. The opening period came to a conclusion with the Ice Bus holding the 1-0 advantage.
Vermont answered quickly soon after the second period commenced. Just over two minutes after action resumed, the Catamounts’ Thomas Sinclair recovered the puck behind his own net and gathered a head of steam as he brought the puck past center ice and into the UConn zone. He fired a wicked shot from beyond the left faceoff circle and bested Connecticut goalie Arsenii Sergeev, netting his fifth goal and ninth point of the season and knotting the game at one-all. The Catamounts had a chance to take their first lead after going on the power play shortly after, but the Huskies killed the advantage. Play remained in the center of the ice for a majority of the period and the intermission horn sounded with both teams having put 17 shots on goal and the score tied 1-1.
It was all UConn as the third period reached its later stages. After Vermont and the Huskies exchanged looks to no prevail for the first 13 minutes of the period, the Huskies were rewarded with a power play following a Catamounts penalty. Andrew Lucas made Vermont pay when he casually drifted from the right faceoff circle back to center ice and then fired a line-drive shot from straight on the goal. He snuck the puck past Carriere’s right side for his fifth goal and 11th point of the season to give the Ice Bus a lead that they would not relinquish.
Two minutes later, after Wood crashed the Vermont goal and put pressure on Carriere, Harrison Rees swept in to knock home a rebound shot to net UConn their third goal of the contest. On the play, Rees was able to redirect the puck out of midair after Wood’s initial attempt was blocked and ricocheted off of the ice. For Rees, it was his third goal and sixth point on the year. The Catamounts pulled their goalie for the final few minutes of the contest in hopes of making a last minute comeback, though the plan backfired when Ryan Tattle broke loose for an open look and managed to squeeze the puck past the goal line for yet another score despite defenders taking swings at his legs from behind. His fifth goal and 12th point of the season put the cherry on top of what amounted to a sweet 4-1 win for Connecticut.
UConn and Vermont each attempted 27 shots throughout the contest but the Huskies managed to separate themselves with their performance on the power play: the team managed to go 2-3 with an extra skater while the Catamounts were 0-3 on the power play. Sergeev racked in 26 saves throughout the game while Carriere managed 24 of his own despite the loss. The Ice Bus dominated on faceoffs, winning 42 to 20 for the away team. In addition, the Huskies were able to record eight blocks to two for Vermont.
Round two against No. 1 Boston College is set for Saturday at the Conte Forum in Boston, Massachusetts as the Ice Bus looks to keep the momentum going for what they hope is a deep playoff run.