After over six months without regular season UConn hockey, the UConn women’s team will hit the ice tonight against St. Cloud State.
UConn enters the regular season ranked seventh in the USCHO poll. It comes off a 3-2 exhibition loss against the Quinnipiac Bobcats at home where the Huskies played well but fell short in the end.
The St. Cloud State Huskies enter the season unranked, receiving just two votes. The team finished with a dismal 12-23-2 record last year in head coach Mira Jalosuo’s first season at the helm. Jalosuo will look to build on the season and return the team to its prior success.
This series marks UConn’s first return to St. Cloud State since the two met in the beginning of the 2017-18 season. They’ve met twice in Connecticut, with last year’s two-game set at Toscano Ice Forum ending in a series split in which both teams won a game 2-1. UConn leads the all-time series 5-3.
Livvy Dewar is the only UConn Husky who recorded a point in that series and is still on the team, with the rest graduating after last year.
The new blood on UConn’s roster looked good in the exhibition game, but freshman Laurie Aubin especially shined, plotting the team’s first goal of the night last Saturday. It’s very early in her collegiate career, but Aubin could be a player to watch heading into her first regular season game.
Taylor Belchetz seems to be the favorite in net for Connecticut, but the position is overall a mystery even less than a day away. All three netminders saw action last weekend, but Belchetz opening the game could indicate that head coach Chris Mackenzie may be leaning towards her.
St. Cloud State will hit the ice for their first game this year, as they did not play any exhibition games. Senior duo Alice Sauriol and Sofianna Sundelin headline the forward core as the key setup and score system last year and now. St. Cloud’s large freshman class plus their one transfer also creates a cloud of unknowing for opponents, as a third of the roster has never been seen at this level before. UConn could be getting a taste of its own medicine when it comes to the opposing netminder, as junior Emilia Krykkö will be tough to get one by. Krykkö posted a .933 save percentage last year despite the team’s overall poor performance and should only improve as time goes on.
The two Huskies will hit the ice tonight at 8 p.m. and tomorrow at 3 p.m. Both games can be watched on B1G+.