University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Merrimack
Huskies Return to HEA Action at Merrimack Saturday Night
1/11/2019 10:31:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Video: MerrimackAthletics.com
Live Stats: MerrimackAthletics.com
Ice Chips
- The UConn Huskies jump back into Hockey East play on Saturday night with a trip to Lawler Rink to take on the Merrimack Warriors. Heading into the second half, the Huskies sit in 10th place in the conference standings with five points through 12 league games. The Warriors are right in front of the Huskies in ninth with six points.
- This is the 10th meeting between UConn and Merrimack since the Huskies joined Hockey East in 2014-15. The Warriors hold a 3-1-5 record over the Huskies and swept last year's season series, winning 3-2 in overtime in Hartford and 3-0 at home.
- The Huskies are coming off an appearance in the 2019 Ice Vegas Invitational last weekend in Las Vegas where they fell to the No. 17 nationally ranked Western Michigan Broncos, 5-1, but rebounded to knock off St. Lawrence, 6-3.
- After Saturday's trip to Merrimack, the Huskies can look forward to plenty of home cooking down the stretch. UConn will play 10 of their final 13 games at the XL Center to close out the regular season.
- In the win over St. Lawrence last time out, UConn scored six goals on 44 shots, both season-high marks for the Huskies. Six different Huskies found the back of the net with junior Alexander Payusov notching his team-leading 11th on the season and freshman Marc Gatcomb scoring his first collegiate goal. Payusov is tied for second among Hockey East goal scorers.
- Freshman Kale Howarth earned a spot on the Ice Vegas All-Tournament team after scoring a goal with an assist against St. Lawrence while also winning 29 of 37 face-offs. Howarth has come on of late, posting five points (3g/2a) in his last six games.
- Senior Karl El-Mir rides a career-best four-game point streak (2g/2a) into Saturday's game. El-Mir has taken over the team lead with 18 points on 10 goals and eight assists. He is tied for eighth in the league in scoring and tied for fifth in goals. He has scored five goals on the power play this season, tied for tops in Hockey East.
- Freshman Jachym Kondelik returned to the Huskies in Las Vegas after missing just the Yale game thanks to his stint with Team Czech Republic at the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship. Kondelik picked-up right where he left off, recording a goal and an assist over the weekend to raise his season total to 16 points (2g/14a)
- Kondelik is second among Hockey East rookies and tied for seventh in the NCAA in scoring. The UConn freshmen class as a whole leads the team with 49 points (14g/35a) this season.
Last Season vs. Merrimack
January 5, 2018
The Huskies dropped the opening game of a home-and-home series against Merrimack with a 3-2 overtime loss at the XL Center. The Huskies build a 2-1 lead early in the third period but Merrimack stormed back to tie the game with 1:30 left and then won it just 13 seconds into overtime. The Warriors got the tying goal from Jace Henning and Merrimack wasted little time in the extra session. Brett Seney sent the puck in and Marc Biega fired on Adam Huska from the left wing. The rebound found the stick of Sami Tavernier on the right circle who buried it on the open net for the game winner. UConn's Benjamin Freeman and Maxim Letunov handled the scoring for the Huskies. Both teams fired 27 shots on goal with Merrimack going 0-for-3 on the power play and the Huskies scoring on their only extra man chance.
January 12, 2018
Merrimack swept the season series from UConn shutting the Huskies out 3-0 at home in Lawler Rink. After two scoreless periods, Merrimack's Ludvig Larsson ended the drought and produced the game-winner with a power play goal just 1:52 into the third period. Tyler Drevitch followed with his first career goal and classmate Cole McBride added an empty net goal late to close out the scoring. The Warriors held the Huskies to just one shot in the first period and finished the night with a 38-16 advantage on the shot chart. The Huskies came up empty on their only power play chance while goaltender Adam Huska made 35 saves in taking the loss.
Scouting the Warriors
After going winless in nine-straight, the Merrimack Warriors broke a seven-game losing streak on January 5th when they shutout Northeastern, 1-0, at Matthews Arena. On Tuesday night, the Warriors went out and dealt Michigan a 4-2 loss on the road to come into Saturday night winners of two-straight. The Warriors are led by junior Tyler Irvine with 14 points on five goals and nine assists. Junior defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic leads the team in power play points with eight (3g/5a) and also comes in seventh among all Hockey East defenseman in scoring with 11 points on four goals and seven assists. In net, senior Craig Pantano has played the bulk of the minutes and owns a 3.26 goals against average and a .893 save percentage. Of his five wins this season, four have come via shutout, tied for tops in the conference.
