University of Connecticut Athletics
Women's Ice Hockey Regular Season Gets Started This Weekend
10/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
Oct. 1, 2009
STORRS, Conn. - The regular season gets underway for the University of Connecticut women's ice hockey team with a pair of games on the road this weekend. For the first time since the 2005-06 season, the Huskies open the year on the road and a 2 p.m. game at New Hampshire on Saturday marks the first time in program history that they will do so on the road against a Hockey East opponent. Not to mention a pair of opponents as Sunday's game is a 2 p.m. face-off at Northeastern.
The all-time series lead goes to the defending Hockey East Champions, the Wildcats who advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament last season. UNH was selected fifth in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Women's College Hockey Preseason Poll on Tuesday. Boston College (sixth) and Boston University (10th) were the other Hockey East institutions to earn a spot in the top-10 while Providence College pulled in a pair of votes.
UNH returns 11 letterwinners from the Hockey East regular season and tournament title team of 2008-09. In exhibition play on Sept. 26, the Wildcats surpassed the Durham Junior Lightning in a 13-0 game at the Whittemore Center.
Northeastern faced the Dawson College Blues and the McGill Martlets in exhibition action to prepare for the regular season. The Huskies of Northeastern won a 2-1 decision over the Blues on Sept. 26 and followed with a 3-1 loss to McGill. The regular season starts for Northeastern on Saturday when the Huskies host Union at Matthews Arena at 2 p.m.
Last season, under first-year head coach Dave Flint, Northeastern won five more games than the previous season (12 wins) and qualified for the Hockey East Tournament for the first time since the 2003-04 season. The Huskies open the year with six of seven of their first games at Matthews Arena where eight newcomers will join a squad that returns five of the six regular defensive starters from a season ago.
The Connecticut Huskies tied the Wildcats in their first meeting last season and fell in the final two games in February. UConn was shutout it is first game against Northeastern in 2008-09 only to follow with a pair of shutout victories against the Huskies in its home-and-away series in January.
In its lone exhibition game of the preseason, six different Connecticut players scored in the 6-0 victory over Dawson College on Sept. 25 at Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum. Among those able to get on the board for the Huskies were freshmen Kelly Horan (Methuen, Mass.) and Elisabeth Stathopulos (Toronto, Ont.). In addition, sophomore Rebecca Hewett (Oak Bluff, Man.) finished the game with four assists.
UConn's season starts on Saturday at 2 p.m. at New Hampshire and will take on Northeastern at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
