University of Connecticut Athletics
Huskies Head Out To RIT For AHA Quarterfinals
3/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
March 10, 2010
STORRS, Conn. - After defeating Bentley 2-1 in the Atlantic Hockey play in game, the University of Connecticut men's hockey team travels to RIT for the AHA Quarterfinals. The two teams will meet in a best-of-three series to take place on Friday, Saturday and possible Sunday night at 7:05 p.m.
This is the first time that these two teams will meet up in the postseason. RIT currently holds the series lead at 12-6-1.
The Huskies are coming off of their Atlantic Hockey play in game where they took on Bentley on the road and defeated the Falcons with ease thanks to two, two-point efforts by Justin Hernandez and Andrew Olson. Hernandez netted the gamewinner in the first period for the Huskies as UConn hung on for the victory.
Six Huskies have reached double figures on the year for points recorded, led by Andrew Olson (Alexandria, Minn.) with 18 points on eight goals and 10 assists. He is followed right behind by Sean Ambrosie (Moorhead, Minn.) who has recorded 17 points on the season via six goals and 11 assists and both Jason Krispel (Cypress, Calif.) who has 13 points on three goals and 10 assists and Justin Hernandez (Farmington Hills, Mich.) who also has 13 points but on eight goals and five assists.
In net for the Huskies is Garrett Bartus, who joined the team halfway through the season. Bartus has compiled a 3.20 GAA, already making an unbelievable 468 saves in 18 games for a save percentage of .898.
The Tigers are led by Andrew Favot who has recorded 37 points this year on 11 goals and 26 assists. Favot has notched 18 of those points over the last 12 games. Following right behind Favot is Cameron Burt who has tallied 13 goals and 23 assists this year for 36 points. Burt has also come on strong at the end of the season recording 18 points in the last NINE games.
Jared DeMichiel has seen the majority of the time in goal for the Tigers playing over 1846 minutes, recording a 2.11 GAA and 746 saves for a save percentage of .920.
FOLLOW THE GAME: Live Stats for the game will be available via the RIT Athletics website and fans that are unable to attend can view the game on the B2Networks or if you are in the RIT area, Friday and Saturday's games will be aired live on Time Warner Cable Sports channel 98, with Gene Battaglia and John Ditullio bringing you the action. If RIT plays on Sunday, the game will be aired on Time Warner Cable Sports channel 26.
SCOUTING RIT: The Tigers are currently on a six-game win streak to end their season, sweeping Army, Air Force and Canisius. They have yet to play a game in the month of March after receiving a bye in the tournament last weekend.
RIT ended its regular season with AHA records of 22 conference wins and 45 points. Last season, RIT and Air Force recorded a then record 20 wins and 42 points. The Tigers also tied a conference record by allowing just 51 goals, or 1.82 goals per game. Jared DeMichiel set a conference record with 21 wins.
SERIES PAST: The two teams have met 19 times in their 25 year series. Overall RIT holds the 12-6-1 advantage in the series also posting a 7-4-1 record since joining Division I and Atlantic Hockey.
The two teams have already met four times this year with the Tigers winning three of the four games. However, the Huskies won the final game of the season series on January 16 ending RIT's 13-game AHA unbeaten streak.
VS. RIT IN THE POSTSEASON: This is the first time that the Huskies and the Tigers have met in the postseason.
HUSKIES LAST TIME OUT: The Huskies traveled to Bentley this past weekend for their Atlantic Hockey first round game against the Falcons. UConn jumped out to an early 1-0 lead behind the goal of Andrew Olson and trailed for just 33 seconds in the entire game defeating the Falcons 2-1. Olson netted the early goal for the Huskies with some help from Justin Hernandez at 3:05 in the first period.
The Falcons evened things out at 14:23 but just 33 seconds later the Huskies regained the lead and kept the 2-1 advantage for the remainder of the game. Hernandez netted the gamewinner for the Huskies, his eighth goal of the year and second gamewinner. He was helped out by Olson and Tom Janosz.
The Husky defense was strong throughout the entire game squelching many Bentley scoring opportunities and killing of six penalties.
Garrett Bartus was outstanding in goal for the Huskies stopping all but one shot on the night making 27 saves, including a few gamechanging ones, in 60 minutes of play.
HUSKIES LAST TIME OUT: After their AHA First Round victory, the Huskies swept the Atlantic Hockey awards as Justin Hernandez was named Co-Player of the Week and Garrett Bartus earned both Goaltender and Rookie of the Week honors.
Hernandez had a hand in both of UConn's goals in the 2-1 AHA First Round upset victory on the road at Bentley on Saturday. Hernandez aided on the opening goal of the game to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead. Later, Hernandez recorded the gamewinner at 14:56 in the first period. The goal was his eighth of the season and his second gamewinner of the year.
Bartus earned his fifth career victory in UConn's 2-1 upset in the First Round of the Atlantic Hockey Playoffs. The freshman goaltender allowed just one goal on the night making 27 saves, including five during power play opportunities. He finished the night with a 1.00 GAA and a .964 save percentage.
300!: Head Coach Bruce Marshall, in his 22nd year at the helm of the UConn Hockey program earned his 300th career victory on February 27, 2010. Marshall is the 43rd Division I Men's Hockey Coach to reach the 300 wins plateau and the 62nd NCAA hockey coach to do so. Marshall is the only coach to reach the milestone, so far, during the 2009-10 season.
Marshall currently holds a 301-334-60 record, 68-103-18 in Atlantic Hockey play. He currently ranks 11th on the Winningest Active Coaches by Victory List behind Don Cahoon (UMass).
HELPING TO WIN: Sophomore Dan Naurato has recorded an assist in three of the Huskies' last five 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(S): With its win at Army on January 23, the UConn men's hockey team earned its first and only road victory during the regular season. The Huskies earned their five other victories at home against AIC, RIT, Bentley and Mercyhurst.
The Huskies added to their road victory total on Saturday, March 6 with a 2-1 victory at Bentley, just their second road win of the year.
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 34 goals registered in just under three years of play.
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 10 to his total this year totaling 42 for his career, currently ninth on the All-Time List. All 10 of his assists have come in Atlantic Hockey play, which ranks 43rd in the conference.
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
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 138 games in his career ranking second all-time among UConn hockey players. If Coppola plays in each of the Huskies games this weekend, he will hold the record for most games played at UConn.
Andrew Olson played in his 100th career game on Saturday, Jan. 30 against Sacred Heart and the duo of Jason Krispel and Jeff Sapieha joined Olson and Coppola on Feb. 27 playing in their 100th career game against Mercyhurst. This weekend, Justin Hernandez and Stevie Bergin could hit the century mark, both players are sitting on 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 (6-0-1).
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 1-24-2 on the year earning their first victory of this variety against Mercyhurst on Feb. 27.
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 is second on the team in points recorded this season with 17 (six goals, 11 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 35 games on the season recording a goal and five assists, including an assist of the gamewinner at Bentley in the AHA First Round, while forward Evan Carriere has seen his share of time on the front line playing in 26 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. After the Huskies postseason game at Bentley, Olson had notched eight goals which ranks 47th in Atlantic Hockey. All seven of his goals have come in AHA play which ranks 40th in the league.
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 11 assists on the year.
BEYOND THE BLUE LINE: Freshman Alex Gerke (Tomah, Wisc.) ranks second among freshmen 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.
