University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Vermont
Huskies Close First Half Hosting Vermont
12/5/2019 3:47:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
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Ice Chips…
The UConn Huskies jump right back into Hockey East action to close out the first half of the season with a two-game series against the Vermont Catamounts at the XL Center.
The Huskies are coming off a two-game sweep of Miami University at home last weekend, 6-4 and 4-3, and are 3-1-2 over their last six games coming into their match-up with the Catamounts.
In Friday's 6-4 win over Miami, UConn scored three unanswered goals in the third period and won for the first time this season when trailing heading into the final 20 minutes of action. The Huskies were 0-15-0 last season when losing heading into the third period.
Since joining Hockey East in 2014-15, the Huskies are 6-8-0 against Vermont and are 4-4-0 at home in the XL Center. UConn has won three of the last four meetings coming in.Â
Senior Benjamin Freeman has recorded at least a point in his last four-games, piling up three goals and three assists. He has now had 11 career multi-point games and the Huskies are 8-2-1 in those games. Freeman (3g/7a) has jumped into the team lead in scoring with Jachym Kondelik (5g/5a) at 10 points apiece.
Juniors Brian Rigali and Zac Robbins are both coming off four points weekends against the Miami RedHawks, each with a goal and three assists. Rigali had a career-best three assists in Friday night's 6-4 comeback win. Robbins scored his first of the season on Saturday while Rigali provided the game-winner against the RedHawks.
Freshman Vladislav Firstov was named the Hockey East Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week on Monday after posting a three-point night (2g/1a) in the Huskies 6-4 win over Miami. It was Firstov's first career multi-goal effort.
In Friday's win, UConn ripped a season-high 48 shots on goal and had 35 on Saturday. Over the whole weekend, the Huskies finished three-for-six on the power play. Over their last three games, UConn has scored four times on 11 power play chances.
The UConn upperclassmen are coming off their most productive weekend on the season. In last weekend's games, the combined eight juniors and seniors put up five goals and 13 assists.
Friday's win raises the Huskies record to 2-5-0 all-time against the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC). The Huskies and RedHawks meet on the ice for the first time this weekend since the 2017-18 season when Miami took two from UConn on their home ice.
UConn nabbed their first two wins at home in the XL Center last weekend and after this weekend and the holiday break will play six of their 18 second half games on their home ice.
Last Season vs. Vermont
November 2, 2018 - W, 1-0 - at Gutterson
UConn goaltender Adam Huska turned away all 39 Vermont shots as the Huskies came away with a 1-0 win in the first game of a weekend series. After a scoreless first period where UConn put 15 shots on Vermont goaltender Stefanos Lekkas, the Huskies finally broke through in the second as Karl El-Mir hit a one-timer on the power play for the game's only score. Huska got better as the game went on, stopping 10 in the first, 15 in the second and 17 in the final period. The UConn penalty kill chipped in as well, killing off a full two minutes of a 5-on-3 advantage for UVM in the third. Lekkas finished the night with 30 stops in taking the loss.
November 3, 2018 - L, 2-1 ot - at Gutterson
The Huskies fell to the Catamounts in overtime, 2-1, to close out the Hockey East road series. The Huskies took a 1-0 lead in the first period as junior Alexander Payusov scored off a feed from senior Karl El-Mir. UConn led 1-0 for 59:48 before Vermont's Liam Coughlin ended their bid for a second-straight shutout win by tying the game. The tying goal came just 22 seconds after the apparent tying goal was overturned on review for UVM having too many men on the ice. The Huskies had a few good looks in the opening minute of overtime but UVM's Lekkas stood tall and with just 0.5 seconds left, Vermont sophomore Ace Cowans scored the game-winning goal to deal the loss to the Huskies. UConn freshman Tomas Vomacka made 28 saves in taking the loss while Lekkas finished with 36 saves in the win.
March 1, 2019 - W, 5-1 - at XL Center
UConn freshman Jonny Evans scored a pair of goals and fellow rookie Ruslan Iskhakov dished out three assists to lead the Huskies to a 5-1 win over UVM at home. Senior Miles Gendron scored the game's first goal and also picked-up an assist in the win. Freshman Kale Howarth and junior Alexander Payusov also scored for the Huskies. UConn finished with a 37-35 edge on shots and scored on their only power play chance of the night. The Huskies killed off all four UVM power plays.  Freshman goaltender Tomas Vomacka picked-up the win, stopping 34 shots to tie his season-high. UVM goaltender Stefanos Lekkas made 32 saves in the loss.
Last Time Out...
- The Huskies picked-up a home sweep over Miami University last weekend, winning 6-4 and 4-3 on the XL Center ice. The UConn power play had a pair of goals while the Huskies rang up a season-high 48 shots.
- On Friday night, UConn scored three unanswered goals in the third period to take the opener. UConn freshmen Vladislav Firstov scored two goals and added an assist, his first career multi-goal game and had a season-best three points.Â
- Junior Brian Rigali posted a career-high three points, all assists, while senior Benjamin Freeman and sophomore Ruslan Iskhakov each had a goal and an assist in the win. Senior Justin Howell scored his first goal on the season. Junior Zac Robbins had a career-high two assists.
- On Saturday, Robbins finished with a goal and an assist to help lead the Huskies to a 4-3 win and sweep over the RedHawks. Robbins scored his first goal on the season and also set-up Rigali for a third period goal.Â
- Senior Alexander Payusov scored in the first period while freshman Yan Kuznetsov provided what was the game-winner on the power play in the third period.
- The Huskies out shot the RedHawks again on Saturday, 35-27, while scoring on their only power play chance of the day.
