University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Northeastern
Huskies Home Friday Night Hosting No. 12 Northeastern
1/2/2020 3:08:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
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|  GAME NOTES |  UConn Game Notes   Northeastern Game Notes |
Ice Chips…
The UConn Huskies return home to the XL Center and to Hockey East play as they host the No. 12 nationally ranked Northeastern Huskies on Friday night.Â
After dropping their first 10 meetings in the all-time series with Northeastern, UConn has won three of their last four against the Huskies. Since joining Hockey East in 2014-15, UConn is 3-9-0 against Northeastern, including a loss in the first round of the 2017 league playoffs.
The Huskies are coming off a weekend at the Ledyard Classic at Dartmouth where they earned a 2-2 tie against St. Lawrence and fell 4-3 to the host Big Green in the tournament title game.
UConn enters Friday's match-up at 4-4-2 in Hockey East and tied for sixth in the standings with 10 points. Northeastern comes in at 6-4-1, tied for second with 13 points.
UConn ended the first half of the season playing their best hockey, winners of four-straight and 5-1-2 over their last eight games before the break. The Huskies finished the first semester with their most wins in the first half since going 8-11-2 in 2017-18 into the break.
The Huskies will get another shot an in-season tournament title when they play in the inaugural Connecticut Ice Festival at the end of January with state rivals Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart and Yale. Â UConn won a tournament trophy under head coach Mike Cavanaugh when they defeated St. Cloud State and Brown to claim the 2016 Desert Hockey Classic at Arizona State.
In Sunday's loss to Dartmouth, sophomore Carter Turnbull scored twice in the third period to stake the Huskies to a 3-1 lead. It was Turnbull's second multi-goal game this season. On the year, he has 10 points on six goals and four assists, eclipsing his rookie year point production (2-5-7). His six goals are tied for the team lead with classmate Jachym Kondelik and he is a +6 on the season, tops on the team.
Senior Benjamin Freeman is tied for the team lead with 13 points (3g/10a) and has had at least a point in seven of his last eight games (3g/6a). Freeman's 10 assists leads the Huskies.
Freeman is also one of the top face-off men in Hockey East, ranking fifth with a .592 win percentage (174-120).
Junior goaltender Bradley Stone got his first collegiate start in last Saturday's match-up with St. Lawrence. Stone turned in 21 saves as the Huskies tied the Saints 2-2 but he made seven saves during a nine-round shoot-out in order to give UConn a tournament win and chance to play for the Ledyard Classic title.
Last Season vs. Northeastern
November 9, 2018 - L, 3-2 - at Matthews Arena
The UConn Huskies fell at Northeastern, 3-2, in their first meeting in the early part of last season on the road in Boston. UConn freshman Roman Kinal scored his first collegiate goal and collected an assist in the loss while senior Max Kalter scored the Huskies other goal. Trailing 1-0 after the first period, Northeastern's Jeremy Davies tied the game up at 9:07 in the second on a power play goal. UConn took a 2-1 lead into the third period but NU tied the game on a 5-on-3 chance at 11:17 in the third on a Zach Solow goal and Brandon Hawkins provided the game-winner with just over a minute left. Junior goaltender Adam Huska made 36 saves, including 17 in the third period while NU's goaltender Cayden Primeau made 22 saves to earn the win.
February 7, 2019 - W, 3-2 ot - At XL Center
In the return match-up at home in February, junior Alexander Payusov scored the game-winning goal 1:05 into overtime to send the Huskies to a 3-2 upset of No. 13 Northeastern. UConn tied the game with just 1:09 left in the third period to force overtime. The win ended a 12-game winless drought in Hockey East play. UConn freshman Jackym Kondelik had a goal and an assist in the win while senior Karl El-Mir had a career-best three point night on three assists. Kondelik's goal opened the scoring and gave UConn a 1-0 first period lead. Northeastern goals by Zach Solow in the second and Eric Williams early in the third put UConn in a 2-1 hole heading into the closing minutes of play. UConn pulled the goaltender in the closing minute and a half and sophomore Brian Rigali delivered, getting a tip on a Ruslan Iskhakov shot in front of NU goaltender Cayden Primeau. UConn freshman goaltender Tomas Vomacka came up with 31 saves to earn his first career Hockey East win in net.
Last Time Out...
- The Huskies went 0-1-1 in the Ledyard Classic at Dartmouth last weekend. On Saturday, UConn skated to a 2-2 tie with St. Lawrence and earned a tournament win thanks to a 2-1 win in a nine-round shoot-out with the Saints. In Sunday's championship game, the Huskies fell to host Dartmouth, 4-3.
- Against SLU, senior Alexander Payusov scored the game-tying goal with 0.3 seconds left in regulation to lift the Huskies to a 2-2 tie with the Saints. The Huskies were without their starting goaltender Tomas Vomacka due to illness so junior Bradley Stone got his first collegiate start for UConn and came up with a tremendous performance. Stone turned in 21 saves and came up with seven stops during the nine-round shoot-out to lead the Huskies.
- Senior Wyatt Newpower scored the Huskies' first goal of the night, tying the game up 1-1 in the second period. The Saints looked headed for victory before Payusov got the game tied with the extra attacker on the ice in the closing seconds. The Huskies held a 41-23 shot advantage on the night.
- In the shoot-out, sophomore Carter Turnbull ended it in the ninth round, giving the Huskies a 2-1 win for tournament scoring purposes.
- In Sunday's loss to Dartmouth, Turnbull scored twice in the third period but the Big Green erased a two-goal deficit to come away with a 4-3 win and the trophy.
- Dartmouth's Quin Foreman scored a pair for the Big Green including the game-winner with 3:34 left in the third period to earn tournament MVP honors. UConn's Turnbull and Payusov earned spots on the all-tournament team.
- After a scoreless first period, the two teams traded second period goals to set up a wild third period finish. Turnbull scored twice in the span of 42 seconds to give the Huskies a 3-1 lead.
- Sophomore Ruslan Iskhakov scored a his first career shorthanded goal in the second period, his fifth goal on the season.Â
- The Huskies outshot Dartmouth, 44-27, while both teams were 1-for-5 on the power play.
