The No. 7 UConn men’s hockey team fell to No. 4 Maine in the Hockey East Championship game by a final of 5-2 at TD Garden in Boston, MA. Junior Tabor Heaslip scored the two lone goals for the Huskies.
It was all defense in the first period with both goaltenders shining. Junior Tyler Muszelik was in goal for the Huskies and sophomore Albin Boija was in goal for Maine. Late in the first period, Maine opened up the scoring as a two on one rush beat Muszelik for the first goal of the game. Shortly after, Maine added to their lead as they skated the full length of ice to beat Muszelik again. Looking to find the equalizer and not to get into too deep of a hole early in the game, Huskies created scoring opportunities in the first period but were unsuccessful. UConn entered the period break trailing Maine by two goals.
Following a 2-0 deficit, the Huskies looked to find their way back into the game. After generating scoring chances against the Black Bear’s defense, Boija held his ground for Maine and did not let UConn find the back of the net. With no more scoring in the second period, UConn entered the period break still down 2-0.
In the third period, Muszelik saved the first first attempt of Maine trying to extend their lead, but the puck was then deflected in the air to Maine’s Harrison Scott who got it passed skater traffic and passed Muszelik for the Black Bear’s third goal of the game.
Midway through the final frame, UConn got on the board after Heaslip won the faceoff then was left alone in front of the net to score. The Huskies cut Maine’s lead to two with a 3-1 score. But, the Black Bears scored again with 10 minutes left in the game to extend their lead back to three goals. Late in the period, freshman Filip Sitar found the back of the net, but after a review of the play, it was determined by the referees that the Huskies were offside and the goal was disallowed. However, the Huskies got right back to it in an attempt to make a comeback. Heaslip attacked again to score his second goal of the night for the Huskies with five minutes remaining. It looked as if the Huskies had a small chance to shock TD Garden, still trailing 4-2. In the final minutes, the Huskies pulled Muszelik from the goal in favor of an extra skater. But unfortunately for UConn, Maine scored an empty net goal to extend their lead to three which proved to be too much to recover from. Maine sealed the 5-2 win over UConn and secured the 2025 Hockey East Championship win.
“I’d certainly like to start by thanking Hockey East, I thought they put on a tremendous tournament this weekend,” said Head Coach Mike Cavanaugh.
“I thought the games were really well refereed, the whole red carpet thing was a great touch. It was just a first-class tournament with great crowds” – “They [Maine] deserved to win tonight, I thought they played better than we did and congratulations to them.”
“We had a tough start I thought, but I thought we got it back in the second period and were playing a lot better and we had some chances. But it was one of those nights when you had a grade A, we missed the net. It just wasn’t really our night but I think it’s a great learning experning, said Cavanugh.”
“Like I told the kids there, last time we were in this position, our season was over, and that’s not the case this year. I think it’s something we can learn from and when you compete in this league and you can compete for a championship, I think you can compete against anybody in the country. I told our players that we just got to regroup and refocus and get back at it next week,” Cavanugh explained after UConn’s 5-2 loss over Maine in the Hockey East Championship at TD Garden.
As Coach Cavanaugh said, the Huskies season is not over yet as they earned their program’s first ever bid in the NCAA Tournament which was announced on Sunday, March 23 on the Selection Show. The UConn men’s hockey team will be making their first NCAA Tournament appearance as they will travel down to the Allentown Regional in Pennsylvania to take on in-state rival, No. 11 Quinnipiac in the opening round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament on the road to the Frozen Four in St. Louis, MO. Puck drop in Allentown, PA at the PPL Center is set for 5:00 p.m. and will be available to be streamed live on ESPNU.