The official start of the season for the UConn men’s hockey team is just two weeks away. After the program reached new heights last year, making the NCAA Frozen Four Tournament and recording their first ever tournament win, the Huskies are turning the page to a new season.
“We’re excited to be back,” said head coach Mike Cavanaugh. “After finishing the way we did last year I think there’s a lot of excitement in the room. There’s probably some unfinished business we have. The one thing that we’ve been able to do is turn the page. If anyone understands, I do, that last year has no bearing on what this team’s going to do. We have great leadership coming back, we have goaltending coming back, we’ve got some experience on defense. It’s a new season and we’re going to have to play very well to be successful in this league.”
“Obviously a program best in what we did last year, in achieving the NCAA tournament and getting our first win there,” said senior captain Tabor Heaslip. “At the end of the day, that’s in the rear view now and we have a different group this year. Fortunately, a lot of the guys are returning but there’s still going to be different pieces that we want to imply and rope in these newer guys into our culture and what we believe in and what’s going to end up giving us success down the road. Kind of just focusing on creating that brotherhood again in that room and building pieces off of last year. Just focused on what’s ahead of us and what’s to come.”
Last season’s captains Hudson Schandor and John Spetz made their mark on what it means to be a UConn Husky and the leadership that comes along with it. This year’s group of captains with seniors Heaslip, Ryan Tattle and junior Joey Muldowney plan to pick right up where they left off.
“It’s kind of an ongoing process of growing and developing and becoming a better leader,” said Tattle. “I think about things from the captains I’ve had my freshman and sophomore years. You’ve got to learn and grow from that to try to be the best leader for your teammates.”
“I think last year I did a lot of observing Hudson and John,” said Muldowney. “Kind of just nitpicking what parts of their leadership I want to portray and what I had the ability to portray out to everybody – I think I bring a lot of what Hudson had, and just kind of hearing people out, always being a guy that someone could talk to, looking at things from everyone’s perspective.”
Last season, Muldowney inked his name in the UConn record books last season across multiple stat lines. The Buffalo native holds the program record for most goals in a single season with 29, most points in a single season with 47 and most hat tricks with three. After setting all-time UConn records, Muldowney is ready for a new season and looks to grow his game in broader areas.
“I mean I think there’s always room for improvement,” said Muldowney. “You know, 28 to 29 goals, that’s a lot of goals in college hockey. I can’t put too much pressure on myself, I try not to. I think I kind of look like ‘this year let’s try to be a good leader, try to be a good captain, let’s try to maybe get more assists, try and make more plays, stuff like that. Just try to round out my game in all areas and kind of carry that into the pro level for the following years to come.”
The Ice Bus welcomed seven newcomers to this year’s roster; Kambryn Hendrickson, Alexandre Blais, Carlin Dezainde, Anthony Allain-Samake, Brendan Dunphy, Joseph Odyniec and Ryan Sanborn. All the freshmen join the Huskies with a plethora of hockey experience and different personalities that will bring a lot of talent to the table for the Ice Bus this season.
“They’re all great guys,” explained Heaslip. “It’s just been awesome. It brings me back a little bit whenever I come in my freshman year. You know, I think they’ve done a good job using their resources and everything that we have here and especially leaning on us just kind of asking and just absorbing everything. They’re just being sponges in this training camp process and during the summer as well. They’ve all been great.”
Last week, the league announced The Hockey East Preseason Coaches’ Poll ranked the Huskies at No. 3 in the Hockey East conference. On the national scale, USCHO ranked Connecticut at No. 10 in the D1 Men’s Ice Hockey Preseason poll. While preseason rankings are worth noting, keeping the mentality and edge of having something to prove in the world of college hockey is more valuable to the Huskies. UConn is staying level-headed and will continue to keep the standard that they’ve had set all along through a balance of leadership and brotherhood.
“You know, we’re trying to go into every game with just the same mindset,” described Muldowney. We have our saying ‘respect all but fear none.’ You treat every team in our conference, especially the Hockey East, with respect and just know that on any given night any team can beat you. That’s just how it works in college hockey. I think we’ve just been trying to keep a level head of knowing that we are going to get the best now that we kind of set that standard last year.”
The Ice Bus is locked and loaded for the new season of college hockey that is right around the corner. The Huskies will open the 2025-26 season on the road out west to Colorado Springs for a two-game set against non-conference opponent Colorado College.