University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies Wrap Up Season Against Mercyhurst At Freitas
2/25/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Feb. 25, 2010
STORRS, Conn. - The University of Connecticut men's hockey team wraps up its regular season this weekend at the Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum against Mercyhurst. The two seniors on this year's team will be celebrated on Saturday night with a senior ceremony prior to the game.
Michael Coppola (Old Brookville, N.Y.) and Brendan Olinyk (Wisconsin Rapids, Wisc.) have both been a part of the team since the 2006-07 season playing in 142 games helping the team to the Atlantic Hockey postseason in each of their years as a Husky.
Mercyhurst enters this game with a 14-17-3 overall record, 14-9-3 in conference play.
UConn is led by freshmen Sean Ambrosie and Alex Gerke and junior assistant captain Andrew Olson. Ambrosie was the first Husky to crack double digits on the season and now has six goals and 10 assists while defenseman Gerke has 10 points on four goals and six assists and Olson also has double digit points on seven goals and seven assists.
In net for the Huskies is Garrett Bartus, who joined the team halfway through the season. Bartus has compiled a 3.29 GAA already making an unbelievable 408 saves in 15 games.
Mercyhurst is led by Brandon Coccimiglio and Mike Gurtler who both have 27 points on the year. Coccimiglio's points come on 14 goals and 13 assists while Gurtler has notched 12 goals and 15 assists on the year. Also joining the two leaders in the 20-point club are Grant Blakey and Scott Pitt who each have recorded 24 points on the year.
Between the pipes, Ryan Zapolski has played and started almost every game for the Lakers going 14-14-3 on the year in over 1,865 minutes. He has recorded a 2.77 GAA and a .918 save percentage allowing just 86 goals while making 961 saves, just 39 shy of the 1,000 mark.
FOLLOW THE GAME: Gametracker will be available for both games on the weekend and fans that are unable to attend can view the game on the B2Networks and via WHUS.org
SCOUTING MERCYHURST: The Lakers were the final team the Huskies played in their first half of the season where they went 0-2 dropping 5-0 and 3-1 decisions to the Lakers. Since playing the Huskies, Mercyhurst has gone 6-8-2 overall and 6-4-2 in conference play. The Lakers six wins came with a sweep over Army, and victories against Bentley, Canisius and Army.
SERIES PAST: UConn and Mercyhurst have met 35 times in the past as the Lakers hold a 27-8-2 advantage. Since the two teams joined the Atlantic Hockey Association, the Huskies have recorded half of their series wins and ties, but Mercyhurst still leads the series 18-4-1.
Last year, UConn dropped each of its games against Mercyhurst by a combined 26-9 score, but in the 2007-08 season the Lakers were winless against UConn as the Huskies posted a 1-0-1 record.
HUSKIES LAST TIME OUT: After 10 days off, the Huskies returned to the ice for a home-and-home series with Bentley on Friday. Three Huskies recorded a multi-point effort via a goal and an assist. Justin Hernandez, one of those Huskies scored the first goal of the night for UConn early into the first period. Bentley was able to tie things up at the halfway point, but before the end of the first, Brad Cooper tallied the would-be gamewinner for UConn on a power play goal at 19:28 to give UConn the lead entering the second period. In the second, the Huskies continued to add to their lead as Andrew Olson and Chris Waterstradt each notched their second point of the night. Waterstradt's goal came on a shorthanded opportunity, the Huskies fourth shorthanded goal of the year as UConn cruised to a 4-1 victory over the Falcons.
On Saturday, UConn finished out the second half of their home-and-home series on the road at Bentley. The Huskies jumped out to an early lead for the third straight game, but this time after Bentley tied the game up in the first, they went on to score three-straight goals to enter the final period of play with a two-goal advantage. UConn would not be deterred though as Hernandez recorded his third point of the weekend bringing the Huskies within one, but Bentley sealed the victory with a power play goal at 15:27. Ten different Huskies recorded a point on the weekend with four finishing the series with a multi point effort.
Garrett Bartus finished the weekend with a 2.53 GAA and a .868 save percentage in just over 118 minutes of play.
HELPING TO WIN: Sophomore Dan Naurato has recorded an assist in the Huskies' last three victories, twice on the game-winning goal. In the win over RIT, Naurato had two assists in the game including the game-winning assist. In UConn's win at Army, Naurato notched his lone assist of the game on the game-winner while against Bentley, Naurato aided on a shorthanded goal, his second shorthanded point of the year.
STREAK ENDERS: With their third victory of the season on Saturday, January 16, the Huskies put to an end RIT's 13-game AHA unbeaten streak. During that time, the Tigers were 12-0-1 in a streak that ironically began against the Huskies on October 30.
ROAD VICTORY: With its win at Army on January 23, the UConn men's hockey team earned its first road victory of the season. The Huskies earned their three other victories at home against AIC and RIT.
A WEEKEND OF FIRSTS: In the weekend series with RIT on January 15 and 16, the Huskies recorded a number of firsts
- Freshman Tom Janosz recorded his first goal of his collegiate career
- Sophomore Josh Bernard knocked in his first goal of the season
- Sophomore Daniel Naurato had his first multi-point effort of the season with two assists
- UConn earned their first win since Nov. 7, 2009
ONE AWAY FROM 300: Head Coach Bruce Marshall, in his 22nd year at the helm of the UConn Hockey program is closing in on winning his 300th game. Marshall currently holds a 299-333-60 record, 67-102-18 in Atlantic Hockey play.
SPREAD OFFENSE: This season, 23 different Huskies have already tallied a point, 19 of those players have scored a goal and 20 players have tacked on an assist.
Of the 23 point-getters, 17 have recorded multiple points this season.
CENTURY MARK: Senior Michael Coppola is the lone Husky to enter the 2009-10 season having played in over 100 games. Currently Coppola has played in 135 games in his career and if he participates in each of the next four regular season games will rank third all-time among UConn hockey players. Andrew Olson played in his 100th career game on Saturday, Jan. 30 against Sacred Heart.
Potentially joining Coppola and Olson as athletes to hit the century mark this season will be:
- Jason Krispel - 99 career games
- Jeff Sapieha - 99 career games
TO BE IN THE LEAD: When UConn is in the lead after the second period, they have not lost a game this season (5-0-1).
The Huskies were up after the middle period in all three victories this season.
When UConn trails, or is tied, after the second period they are 0-24-2 on the year.
THE CLASS OF 2009: Of the 10 freshman that joined the Huskies this season, seven of them have played consistently. [Miles Winter is sitting out the season after transferring from Quinnipiac, while Matt Grogan will be joining him.]
Forward Sean Ambrosie leads the team in points recorded this season with 16 (six goals, 10 assists) followed by defenseman Alex Gerke who has 10 points on the year (four goals, six assists.) Forward Jim Gallagher has eight points on the year coming on two goals and six assists.
Tom Janosz, a defenseman, has played in all 32 games on the season recording a goal and four assists while forward Evan Carriere has seen his share of time on the front line playing in 23 games this year, recording two assists.
In goal, Jeff Larson played in 15 games turning in a 2-9-2 record and making 397 saves on the season for a 3.46 GAA before leaving the team for personal reasons.
Garrett Bartus has taken over for Larson in the second half of the season and has already filled in nicely between the pipes setting a new UConn Division I Single Game Saves Record making 57 saves against Air Force on January 9.
KRISPEL ASSISTS: Jason Krispel is quickly working his way up the UConn Record Books on the Division I Career Assists list. After a successful 2008-09 campaign where he registered 25 assists (2nd all time UConn DI Single Season Assists), Krispel has added nine to his total this year totaling 41 for his career, currently 10th on the All-Time List. All nine of his assists have come in Atlantic Hockey play, which ranks 42nd in the conference.
OLSON's OFFENSE: Junior assistant captain Andrew Olson (Alexandria, Minn.) is back at it as one of the Atlantic Hockey's top scorers. Through 32 games this season Olson had notched seven goals which ranks 43rd in Atlantic Hockey. All seven of his goals have come in AHA play which ranks 34th in the league.
RECORD GOAL SCORER: Olson has already netted his way into the UConn record books in just his junior season. The assistant captain ranks seventh overall on the Division I Career Goals List with 33 goals registered in just under three years of play.
ALL-AROUND AMBROSIE: Freshman Sean Ambrosie (Moorhead, Minn.) is a leader on both the UConn hockey team and in the rankings. Ambrosie has recorded six goals and 10 assists on the year.
BEYOND THE BLUE LINE: Freshman Alex Gerke (Tomah, Wisc.) ranks third on the team in points scored this season with 10; Gerke is also a top-defenseman on the team. He has tallied four goals and six assists this season which puts him among the leagues best as one of the top scoring defensemen in the league and one of the top scoring freshman as well.
SETTING RECORDS: In just his third game in a UConn uniform, freshman Garrett Bartus (St. Charles, Ill.) set the new UConn Division I Single Game Saves Record making 57 saves in 59 chances in a game at Air Force on Jan. 9, 2010.
TAKING ADVANTAGE: Senior Michael Coppola and sophomore Dan Naurato have taken advantage of UConn's man-down opportunities this season taking part in all of the Huskies' four shorthanded goals in 2009-10.
Coppola scored UConn's first shorthanded goal of the year against Canisius on Nov. 14 and dished out an assist on Brad Cooper's shorthanded goal against Air Force on Jan. 8.
Daniel Naurato notched the other shorthander for the Huskies this year at Princeton and aided on Waterstradt's SH goal against Bentley (Feb. 19).
SAVE MACHINE: Rookie Jeff Larson set a career high on Friday, November 20 against Air Force. The Falcons took 51 shots on goal on the night and Larson allowed just two to get by him for making 49 saves which is good enough for fifth on the UConn All-Time Division I Single Game Saves List. He ended the game with a save percentage of .960.
Larson made 397 saves this season in just 15 games averaging just over 26 saves per game before leaving the team for personal reasons. The amount of saves that Larson made in his 15-game career was one of the highest in Atlantic Hockey as-well-as the country.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK (PART II): For the second time this season, a UConn freshman has earned Rookie of the Week honors. This time it was goaltender Larson who was honored after earning the first two wins of his collegiate career against American International.
Larson allowed just two goals on the weekend for an outstanding 1.00 GAA. He played all 120 minutes between the pipes making 48 saves for a career best .960 save percentage.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: After his performance against Ferris State, University of Connecticut freshman Sean Ambrosie (Moorhead, Minn.) earned AHA Rookie of the week honors.
Ambrosie recorded two points on the weekend tallying his first collegiate goal and assist in the series against Ferris State. Ambrosie earned his first assist of the season on Daniel Naurato's goal in game one that gave the Huskies a 1-0 advantage over their CCHA opponent. He notched the first goal of his career in game two. His goal was the only one of the game for the Huskies and came in the second period.
HUSKIES IN NOVEMBER: The Huskies posted a 2-4-2 record in November. The series' with AIC and Air Force were the lone home games of the fall season for the Huskies.
UConn won both of their games against AIC earning their first victories of the season to begin the 11th month of the year earning a 0-1-1 record against Air Force to have a 2-1-1 record at home during the fall season.
The Huskies had their best win percentage of the year in the month of November coming in with a .375 win percentage. The month of January was second best for the Huskies who opened their second half of the season with a .278 win percentage.
