The UConn women’s ice hockey team will face off against Holy Cross on Friday and Saturday in a Hockey East clash.
The Huskies are coming off a challenging weekend where they defeated a strong Providence squad, but then fell short the next day 1-0 to a feisty Harvard team. Nevertheless, the Huskies will look to get back on track this weekend as they aim to take both games. The first game will be a home game for Connecticut and in the second, they will make the short bus ride to Worcester to play at Holy Cross.
The Crusaders will come into the game 4-3-1 and will be a good early season test for Connecticut. Holy Cross is led by Emily Crovo and Reghan Chadwick, who each have six points on the season.
The goaltender play has also been solid for Holy Cross as goalie Brooke Loranger has allowed 2.47 goals a game on average. This mark gives her team a strong advantage, though nothing is set in stone. Holy Cross is led by head coach Katie Lachapelle who will look to get her team an upset win against over UConn.
For the Huskies, they are paced by Claire Murdoch, Jada Habisch and Ava Rinker, who all have six points on the young season. The leading goal-getter, Murdoch, will look to continue her hot start to the season and she will look to be set up by the leader in assists on the team, Rinker.
In net, the goalie duo has played an equal split in games as Megan Warrener and Tia Chan both hover just around two goals per game. The Huskies have also been highly successful with penalties this year.
However, the team has run into trouble on the penalty kill, which could hurt them in this series. The most goals UConn has surrendered in a total game was four against Minnesota, but even if the opponents score that marker, the game still would not be out of reach for the Huskies.
Overall, the Huskies are 4-4, which means there’s a lot of room for improvement and room to excel. Connecticut is 3-0 in conference play, which is a good sign; however, they have yet to play any of the traditional Hockey East powerhouses.
This should overall be a good weekend for the Huskies if they stay out of penalty trouble and control the puck. It’s not a race for this team, but more of a marathon as the Huskies will look to sweep Holy Cross this weekend.
Puck drop on Friday is scheduled for 2 p.m. in Storrs, while Saturday’s contests is set for 2 p.m. at Holy Cross.