UConn men’s hockey will spend their Halloween weekend in North Andover, Mass. for a two-game road series against Merrimack College.
Connecticut (3-3) split its home and home against Boston University last weekend, winning 5-4 in overtime on Thursday before getting beat 6-3 in Boston on Saturday.
This will be the second Hockey East series for the Ice Bus and its first time playing Merrimack since the Hockey East Championship. The two squads played in a classic on March 21, with the Warriors winning their first Hockey East Championship and becoming the first ever eight seed to win it all.
Merrimack is 4-1-1 in the young season and is fresh off a sweep of Notre Dame in South Bend.
Linards Feldbergs has been phenomenal to start his collegiate career in net. The Latvian goalkeeper was named Hockey East Defender of the Week last week thanks to stopping 62 of 66 shots against Notre Dame. Feldbergs has 138 saves in his first five starts of the season.
Filled with returning players, the Warriors are poised to make another run in Hockey East. Their top goal scorers after six games are Nick Pierre, Ty Daneault and Caelen Fitzpatrick, each of whom has scored at least four goals. Fitzpatrick scored the game- winning goal against UConn last March, and Pierre scored 13 goals last season. Daneault was lower in the rotation in his junior year, but the senior has scored or assisted a goal in four of six games this season.
UConn returned a ton of starters but lost goalie Tyler Muszelik to the Florida Panthers. Luckily for the Ice Bus, Kam Hendrickson has slid in smoothly to the starting goaltender position. Hendrickson has saved 115 of 122 shots during the season, and the Huskies are 3-0 when he is between the pipes.
He is yet to play two games in a row, and it is unclear whether head coach Mike Cavanaugh will make the call for Hendrickson to start both games or not. If Hendrickson does not start both tilts, expect Veeti Louhivaara to start a game in net.
Like Merrimack, UConn returned a lot of its skaters from last season, including Kaden Shahan and Joey Muldowney. Shahan has been on a heater to start the season, with five goals already including three against Boston University last weekend. The junior had nine goals and 11 assists last season, including one against Merrimack.
Muldowney is off to a slow start this season, but last Thursday he reminded everyone why he is a future NHL player.
After allowing two goals in the final minutes of action, the Ice Bus found itself in overtime against a formidable BU team with all the momentum. Muldowney received a pass from Jack Murtagh and ripped a game-winning goal in OT. The clutch gene is there for the forward, and it will be necessary against this Warriors team.
In a close series, UConn is 13-15-5 all-time against Merrimack. Despite the Hockey East Championship loss, the Huskies were 3-0 in the regular season against the Warriors. Both squads are 5-5 against each other in their last 10 matchups.
The puck will be dropped at 7 p.m. on Friday and 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Both games will be played at Lawler Arena in North Andover.