University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies Host Griffs At Freitas
2/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Feb. 5, 2010
STORRS, Conn. - The University of Connecticut men's hockey team finishes out their season series with Canisius on Friday and Saturday, February 5 and 6 at 7:05 p.m. at the Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum. The two teams met earlier in the year as the Huskies went 0-1-1 on the weekend tying a season high four goals to eke out the tie.
The Griffs enter this game with a 11-11-4 overall record, 9-8-3 in conference play.
UConn is led by freshmen Sean Ambrosie and Alex Gerke and junior assistant captain Andrew Olson. Ambrosie is the first Husky to crack double digits on the season on six goals and seven assists while defenseman Gerke has eight points on four goals and four assists and Olson also has double digit points on five goals and five assists.
FOLLOW THE GAME: Gametracker will be available for both of the games this weekend and fans that are unable to attend can view the games on the B2Networks.
SCOUTING CANISIUS: The Griffs have compiled an 11-11-4 record this season, 9-8-3 in Atlantic Hockey action. They haven't won a game in the last three meetings going 0-1-2 during that time period. In the month of January, Canisius forged a 2-3-2 record with their only wins coming against Bentley on the road and home against Army.
Canisius' last games were also played against Sacred Heart where they went 0-1-1 on the weekend against the Pioneers during the weekend of January 22 and 23. The Griffs had a bye weekend last week.
SERIES PAST: Canisius has the 23-16-5 advantage in the series with a 5-3-1 record in the last 10 games between the two teams. Since both teams joined the Atlantic Hockey Association in 2004, the Huskies have gone 4-12-1 against the Griffs with the lone tie coming earlier this season. At home the Huskies are 9-11-1 against Canisius with a 2-2 record dating back to 2006.
The two teams have battled in the last 10 meetings as five out of the last 10 games have been sent into overtime as the Huskies earned a 1-3-1 record in those games.
HUSKIES LAST TIME OUT: The Huskies competed in three games this week, starting the week off at Princeton in their final non-conference game of the year. On Monday night, UConn faced off in what would be a 8-1 loss for the Huskies against their third ECAC opponent of the season. Dan Naurato recorded the Huskies' lone goal of the night, of the shorthanded variety, and was aided by Sean Ambrosie.
The Huskies buckled down for their weekend series with Sacred Heart, battling to a 4-3 overtime loss on Friday and a 3-2 loss on Saturday night.
On Friday, the Huskies were the first to get on the board as Justin Hernandez (Farmington Hills, Mich.) recorded his third goal of the season with some help from Andrew Olson (Alexandria, Minn.) and Jason Krispel (Cypress, Calif.). Sacred Heart rebounded scoring two goals before the end of the first to enter the middle period of play with a one-goal advantage. In the second, the Huskies tied things up after killing back-to-back penalties that saw a five-on-three SHU advantage. This time Michael Coppola (Old Brookville, N.Y.) knocked in the goal for the Huskies with some assistance from Tom Janosz (Elma, N.Y.) and Chris Waterstradt (Tulsa, Okla.). SHU took the lead once again before the end of the period, but in the third the Huskies bounced back as both Waterstradt and Krispel notched their second points of the game, Waterstradt on the game-tying goal and Krispel with his second assist of the night forcing overtime. Just 1:45 into the overtime period, the Pioneers pressure was too much as SHU went on to score the game winning goal.
On Saturday, SHU was the first team to get on the board, but on their first shot on goal of the night the Huskies tied things up at one-all. Hernandez recorded the first UConn goal of the game for the second-straight night as Janosz aided for the second game in a row as well. SHU went ahead in the second period but the Huskies battled in the third to tie everything up at two as Sean Ambrosie (Moorhead, Minn.) recorded his team leading sixth goal of the year with some help from Marcello Ranallo (Burnaby, B.C.) and Waterstradt. But at the end of the third, just one second after the Huskies killed off a Sacred Heart power play, the Pioneers knocked in the gamewinner.
Over the course of the weekend, Garrett Bartus (St. Charles, Ill.) made 59 saves for the Huskies recording a .894 save percentage.
HELPING TO WIN: Sophomore Dan Naurato has recorded an assist in the Huskies' last two victories 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.
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
TWO 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 298-326-60 record, 66-95-18 in Atlantic Hockey play.
SPREAD OFFENSE: This season, 23 different Huskies have already tallied a point, 18 of those players have scored a goal and 18 players have tacked on an assist.
Of the 23 point-getters, 15 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 129 games in his career and if he participates in each of the next seven regular season games will 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 - 94 career games
- Jeff Sapieha - 94 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 (4-0-1).
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 0-16-2 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 13 (six goals, seven assists) followed by defenseman Alex Gerke who has eight points on the year (four goals, four assists.) Forward Jim Gallagher has seven points on the year coming on two goals and five assists.
Tom Janosz, a defenseman, has played in all 27 games on the season recording a goal and three assists while forward Evan Carriere has seen his share of time on the front line playing in 18 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.
OLSON's OFFENSE: Junior assistant captain Andrew Olson (Alexandria, Minn.) is back at it as one of the Atlantic Hockey's top scorers. Through 22 games this season Olson had notched five goals and five assists.
ALL-AROUND AMBROSIE: Freshman Sean Ambrosie (Moorhead, Minn.) is a leader on both the UConn hockey team and in the rankings. Ambrosie has recorded five goals and seven assists on the year.
BEYOND THE BLUE LINE: Freshman Alex Gerke (Tomah, Wisc.) ranks third on the team in points scored this season with eight, Gerke is also a top-defenseman on the team. He has tallied four goals and four 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 has taken advantage of UConn's man-down opportunities this season taking part in two of the Huskies' three 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.
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/AT HOME: 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.
