University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
New Hampshire
Weekend Series with UNH Opens Hockey East Stretch Run
1/30/2020 10:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
| Â Â TV | Â Â NESN (Saturday) |
| Â Â RADIO |
  UConn Sports Network from Learfield IMG College (Saturday)   (ESPN 97.9 FM; WILI 1400 AM / 95.3 FM) |
| Â Â WATCH | Â CBS All-Access |
| Â Â LISTEN | Â Â TuneIn.com |
| Â Â LIVE STATS | Â Â UNHWildcats.com (Fri.) / UConnHuskies.com (Sat.) |
|   TWITTER |   @UConnMHOC  #IceBus #BleedBlue |
|   GAME NOTES |   UConn Game Notes  UNH Game Notes |
Ice Chips
The UConn Huskies enter the stretch run of the Hockey East schedule with a home-and-home series against the New Hampshire Wildcats this weekend. The Huskies head to the Whittemore Center on Friday night and host UNH at the XL Center on Saturday afternoon for a match-up live on NESNplus.
Since joining Hockey East in 2014-15, UConn is a 6-6-1 against New Hampshire, including 3-1-1 on their home ice in Hartford. The two teams met once in the postseason, a 2015 opening round match-up won by the Wildcats at the Whittemore Center.
The Huskies have nine Hockey East match-ups remaining on their regular season slate, six coming on the road over the final month. UConn is 3-4-2 in conference games at home and 3-3-0 on the road this season.
UConn comes into this weekend series tied for eighth place in the Hockey East standings but sitting just six points out of first place. The Huskies are tied with Maine, each with 14 points, and a point behind UNH and Northeastern in sixth. UMass is at the top heading into weekend play with 20 points.
The Huskies return to Hockey East play coming off playing in the inaugural Connecticut Ice tournament last weekend at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport. The Huskies lost a pair of tough one-goal games, falling to No. 17 Quinnipiac and to Yale, both by 3-2 scores.
Sophomore Carter Turnbull had another strong weekend for UConn, scoring a goal in both games and pulling into a tie with freshman Vladislav Firstov for the team lead in goals at nine each. Turnbull has 14 points (9g/5a) this season, doubling his offensive production from his freshman year (2g/5a).Â
The UConn lineup has nine Huskies who have double-digit points this season and eight different players have scored five or more goals on the year. Another Husky who has made an offensive leap this season is sophomore Marc Gatcomb who has six goals and three assists after scoring a goal in 31 games last year.
Senior defenseman Wyatt Newpower had a pair of assists over the CT Ice weekend and has 11 on the season, matching his career high set last year. Newpower is 12th among league defenseman in scoring with 13 points (2g/11a) on the year.
Senior Benjamin Freeman is ranked fourth in Hockey East and 10th nationally in face-off percentage, winning .605 (260-170) of his face-offs on the year. Freeman leads the league with 260 face-off wins.
Husky defensemen junior Adam Karashik and senior Wyatt Newpower are among the top shot blockers in Hockey East this season. Karashik is third in the league with 38 blocks, a 1.73 pg average. Newpower is sixth having blocked 31 shots (1.35 pg).
Last Season vs. New Hampshire
January 25, 2019 - T, 2-2 at XL Center
UConn junior Alexander Payusov scored a pair of goals as the Huskies came away with a 2-2 tie with New Hampshire in the Hockey East series opener from the XL Center. UNH's Max Gildon gave his team a 1-0 lead after the first before consecutive Payusov goals early in the second and then third period put the Huskies in front 2-1. New Hampshire's Jackson Pierson scored the game-tying goal at 7:30 in the third to help produce the final result. Both teams scored on the power play with the Huskies going 1-for-5 and UNH going 1-for-4. Junior goaltender Adam Huska stopped 29 while UNH goaltender Mike Robinson stopped 23
January 26, 2019 - L, 6-0 at Whittemore Center
UNH goaltender Mike Robinson stopped all 36 shots he faced and six different Wildcats scored goals to deal the Huskies a 6-0 loss at the Whittemore Center. UNH got a goal and an assist on the night from both freshman Angus Crookshank and sophomore Patrick Grasso. Also scoring for the Wildcats was juniors Brendan van Riemsdyk and Liam Blackburn and sophomores Charlie Kelleher and Joe Sacco. The Huskies finished with a 36-31 shot advantage but were 0-for-4 on the power play. The Wildcats scored twice in five power play chances. Junior goaltender Adam Huska stopped 25 shots in taking the loss.
Last Time Out...
- UConn took part in the first-ever Connecticut Ice tournament at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, falling to No. 17 Quinnipiac, 3-2, and to Yale, 3-2.
- On Saturday, the Huskies got first period goals from sophomores Ruslan Iskahkov and Carter Turnbull and went to the first break tied up at 2-2.Â
- QU senior captain Nick Jermain punched in the game-winner at 7:57 of the second period and the Bobcat defense locked in the rest of the way, holding the Huskies to five shots in the second and seven in the third.Â
- UConn's Tomas Vomacka made 22 saves in the loss. The Huskies were 0-for-3 on the power play.
- On Sunday, the Huskies outshot Yale, 44-24 but came up one goal short for the second-straight day, falling to the Bulldogs.
- The Bulldogs got a 42-save night from senior goaltender Corbin Kaczperski to lead the way.
- Sophomore Marc Gatcomb gave UConn a 1-0 lead in the second but Yale would answer with three-straight. Sophomore Carter Turnbull scored his second goal on the weekend, pulling the Huskies within 3-2 in the third period.
- The Huskies outshot Yale 17-6 in the third and were able to get a power play with 1:31 left in regulation for a two-man advantage with an empty net, but couldn't find the tying goal. The Huskies finished 0-for-2 on the power play.
