The UConn men’s hockey team captured their first ever NCAA Frozen Four Tournament win after defeating No. 11 Quinnipiac in the first round of the Allentown Regional. The scorers of the night for the Ice Bus were graduate student Hugh Larkin, freshman Ethan Gardula, junior Tristan Fraser and sophomore Joey Muldowney. Freshman goaltender Callum Tung made 21 saves in the net against in-state rival Quinnipiac.
The Huskies got the game started early in the first period generating multiple scoring chances. From the get-go, UConn prevented Quinnipiac from gaining any momentum on the offensive side of the ice which eventually carried over to their defensive game as well. The Huskies first-ever goal of the NCAA Tournament came from Larkin. The graduate student forward collected the puck in the center of the ice and launched it bar down and past Quinnipiac’s goaltender Dylan Silverstein. UConn was up on Quinnipiac 1-0. Shortly after, Huskies quickly doubled their lead as Gardula gathered up the puck in a turnover in the offensive end and went forehand, then backhand to beat Silverstein again for the Huskies second goal of the period. Tung made four saves as UConn entered the first period break leading Quinnipiac 2-0.
In the second period, UConn looked to extend their lead, but Quinnipiac’s defense and goaltender prevented them from scoring. Midway through the period, the Bobcats collected the puck in their defensive zone and found the net on a 2-on-1 rush to cut the Huskies lead to one. Late in the period, UConn attacked again as they continued to add pressure to Quinnipiac’s defense which led to Fraser finding the net. The puck bounced to the junior forward and Fraser was able to fire it past Silverstein. The Huskies headed into the period break with a 3-1 over the Bobcats.
Tung held down the fort for the Huskies, but Quinnipiac did not go down without a fight. The Bobcats’ best scoring chance of the game was when Quinnipiac fired the puck from the point that bounced off the crossbar and slid behind Tung; however, sophomore Viking Gustafsson Nyberg was there to reach his stick behind Tung to clear the puck off the goal line and preserve the Huskies two-goal lead. After that slick save from Gustafsson Nyberg and Tung, the Bobcats had another opportunity, as a penalty was called on the Huskies to give Quinnipiac the man advantage. But like it has been all season long, UConn’s penalty kill success continued and they killed their third penalty of the game over Quinnipiac. The Huskies defense persevered and as the time on the clock started running out, Quinnipiac pulled Silverstein out of the net in favor of the extra skater in hopes of finding the two equalizer goals. Muldowney scored on the empty net which sealed the deal for the Huskies in their first NCAA Tournament victory. No. 7 UConn defeated No. 11 Quinnipiac with a final score of 4-1 in the first round of the Allentown Regional.
“We’re pretty excited to be moving on for sure,” said head coach Mike Cavanaugh following the win. “That’s a real battle-tested program [Quinnipiac] over there, they’ve been coming to these tournaments for a long time now and Rand’s [Pecknold] built a really really impressive program and for us to play as well as we did tonight, was really proud of our guys and proud of our team. It was a really good win for us and as I said, we’re excited to be moving on to Sunday.”
“I feel like we were really prepared mentally as a group and in a game like this, where like you just said it’s a first tournament experience, I feel like that’s half the battle is the mental battle,” said team captain Hudson Schandor. “You know, this group did such a great job of just focusing and buying into the right things before the game and I think it translated really well into that first period and onwards.”
This NCAA matchup was Schandor’s first game back from an injury that caused him to miss both the Hockey East semi-final and championship game which definitely hurt the Huskies in terms of where to look for leadership. Schandor was back on the ice for the first round of the NCAA tournament and could not be happier to be back in the battle with the team.
“Being back out there with these guys is the best thing I’ve got going. I love these guys, and you know, going to war with them every day is special. It’s something I would not trade for the world. So, to get back out there with these guys on a stage like this, it was special tonight.”
After the victory, the Huskies awaited their opponents with the second matchup of the night between No. 4 Maine and No. 12 Penn State. The game ended with the No. 4 seed in the region, Penn State, taking the upset win over Maine which set the stage for the Allentown Regional Finals.
UConn will advance in the 2025 NCAA Frozen Four Tournament and will face No. 12 Penn State in the Allentown Regional Championship on Sunday, March 30. Puck drop is set for 4:30 p.m. in Allentown, Pa. The game will be available to stream live on ESPN2 and on the radio at UConn Sports Network from Learfield – FOX Sports 97.9 FM.