The UConn men’s ice hockey team bounced back in the second game of their two-game set with the College of the Holy Cross on Saturday to split the weekend series.
Last year, the Crusaders swept the Huskies in their first matchup in a decade. The teams traveled back and forth in this series, playing a game in each of their home venues. Coming into the series, Holy Cross owned a superior 12-10 all-time record over UConn.
On Friday, the Crusaders earned a hard-fought victory in a back-and-forth affair in game one in Worcester, Mass. from their home venue of Hart Center Rink.
The Huskies struck first in the contest as third-year Tristan Fraser wrapped around the net whilst getting pressed to the boards, sneaking a pass to third-year Ryan Tattle who ripped it into the back of the net. UConn led with 17:42 to play in the first and held it for the remainder of the period. Third-year goalie Tyler Muszelik made four saves in the first to maintain the Husky lead.
Holy Cross was able to find their stride in the second period, scoring two goals on separate power plays. The first came after a minor penalty was called on UConn fifth-year John Spetz in the opening faceoff, allowing third-year Matt Deboer to tie the game for Holy Cross less than a minute into the period. The Crusaders second goal came after another UConn penalty with 8:52 left in the period. This time, it was first-year Owen Kim scoring his first career goal off an assist from Timothy Heinke and Matt Shatsky. UConn regained their momentum later in the period as Owen Simpson snatched a pass out of the air and found UConn’s leading goal scorer, Jake Richard. Richard set up in front of the net and flicked in the equalizer to tie the game at two apiece.
In the third period, Holy Cross scored for the third time on the power play. Penalties from Tom Messineo and Jake Percival gave the Crusaders a 5-3 advantage, which allowed Liam McLinskey to grab the lead for Holy Cross with less than 10 minutes to play in the game. The Huskies didn’t go down without a fight. After the puck was knocked loose, Tattle recovered the puck and passed it up the ice to Richard, who found himself alone in front of the goalie to net his second goal of the game and tie the score 3-3 with eight minutes to go. In an unfortunate chain of events for UConn, a Holy Cross shot on goal missed high and ricocheted off the glass into Muszeliks’ back. The puck fell to the ice just outside the crease where it was scooped up by Michael Abgrall who shoveled it into the back of the net before Muszelik could recover, sealing the win for the Crusaders.
UConn failed to capitalize on all six of their power play chances in the contest. Adversely, Holy Cross converted on three of their five power play opportunities, which aided them in edging out their 4-3 game one victory over the Huskies.
Game two was played on Saturday, the teams met in Hartford, Conn., at the XL Center.
This time it was Holy Cross who grabbed the first lead. Halfway through the first period, Jack Seymour won a tussle for the puck in the corner, pushing it to Jack Stockfish who sent one more pass to first-year Ben LeFranc, scoring his first career goal. The excitement was short lived for the Crusaders as UConn answered with a goal of their own just a minute later. Richard claimed the puck behind the net and fed it to second-year Joey Muldowney, nailing his first goal of the season.
The beginning of the second period resembled a brawl more closely than it did a hockey game. Both teams were exchanging big hits with multiple players earning time in the penalty box. In his first career game, first-year defender Trey Scott received the puck behind the face-off circle and fired a rocket that found its way past the goalie’s glove and into the top left corner of the goal to give UConn their first lead of the game.
The Huskies held on to their lead on the back of an impressive performance in net from Muszelik. The transfer acquisition made 11 saves in the game to anchor UConn’s defense. UConn kept the Crusaders out of the goal on all five of their power plays, something they struggled with in the previous night’s game.
With 3:12 remaining in the final period, in a last-ditch effort to tie the game, Holy Cross pulled their goalie. Third-year Tabor Heaslip punctuated the Huskies victory with less than a minute to go. After emerging from a group of three Crusaders with the puck and heaving a shot into the open goal, Heaslip made it a 3-1 final score.
It was a good win for the Huskies to maintain a winning record. However, UConn continued to struggle with a man up, not scoring in any of their four power play up opportunities. This set UConn back to 1-16 on the season with a man advantage.
The Ice Bus will hit the road to Boston, Mass., on Friday, where they will meet Boston University. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be UConn’s first Hockey East Conference game of the year.