University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Maine
Huskies Travel to Maine for Weekend Series
2/13/2020 11:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
| TV | WFVX Fox-Bangor, WPME (Friday); NESN (Saturday) |
| VIDEO STREAM | CBS All-Access |
| LIVE STATS | GoBlackBears.com |
| @UConnMHOC #IceBus #BleedBlue | |
| GAME NOTES | UConn Notes Maine Notes |
Ice Chips...
After a week off, UConn returns to the ice this weekend for a two-game series on the road against the No. 17 nationally ranked Maine Black Bears. Saturday night's game will be carried live on NESN.
The Huskies and Black Bears met back on January 15, a 3-2 UConn comeback win at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
The Huskies hold a 6-4-4 lead in the all-time series with Maine with six games going to overtime. The Huskies are 6-2-3 against the Black Bears since becoming a member of Hockey East in 2014-15 and UConn is 3-2-2 all-time at Alfond Arena.
Last time out, the Huskies got a sweep over New Hampshire with matching 7-4 victories in the home-and-home series. The 14-goal weekend was the most goals posted in consecutive games under head coach Mike Cavanaugh and the most since the Huskies posted 17 in two-straight in wins over Niagara (8-5) and Sacred Heart (9-3) in 2010-11.
UConn enters the weekend tied Providence for seventh place in the Hockey East standings with 18 points. The two are a point behind UNH and Boston University in fifth. The Black Bears, winners of five-straight, are tied for third with Boston College with 20 points.
Freshman Vladislav Firstov is the Huskies' leading scorer with 22 points coming on 11 goals and 11 assists. Firstov was named the Pro-Ambitions Rookie of the Month for January after posting nine points over eight games, scoring five goals and passing out five assists. He had two game-winners and was a +11.
Firstov has captured three Hockey East rookie of the week honors this season. He is currently fifth among league rookies in scoring and his 11 goals is tied for second among freshmen goal scorers in Hockey East. Nationally, he is tied for 11th in scoring and fourth in goals among all rookies.
Sophomore Jonny Evans recorded his second hat-trick this season in the road win at UNH, previously scoring three in a 7-4 win over Vermont at home. The sophomore is the only player in the country to record a pair of hat-tricks this season. He now has 17 points (8g/9a) on the year.
The UConn lineup has 11 Huskies who have double digit points with three players hitting the 20-point mark on the year in Firstov (11g/11a) and sophomore Jachym Kondelik (8g/12a) and Ruslan Iskahkov (9g/12a). In additions, eight different players have scored five or more goals.
Senior defenseman Wyatt Newpower is riding a career-best five game point streak (1g/7a). Newpower matched his career-high with three assists in the home win over UNH and now has a career-best 17 points (3g/14a). He is tied for eighth among league defenseman in scoring.
Senior Benjamin Freeman is ranked third in Hockey East in face-off percentage, winning .590 (282-196) of his face-offs on the year. Freeman leads the league with 282 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 43 blocks, a 1.65 pg average. Newpower is ninth having blocked 35 shots (1.30 pg).
Last Meeting vs. Maine
January 15, 2020 - W, 3-2 at Webster Bank Arena
UConn freshman Vladislav Firstov scored the game-winning goal in the third period to cap off three unanswered for the Huskies as they came back to post a 3-2 win over the Maine Black Bears at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport in the first of three meetings this season. The win snapped a four-game slide and a five-game winless streak for the Huskies. UConn fell behind 2-0 in the first period before sophomore Carter Turnbull got the UConn comeback started late in the period with his seventh goal on the season. Senior Alexander Payusov tied the game up early in the second period and Firstov gave the Huskies the go-ahead goal early in the third while sophomore goaltender Tomas Vomacka made it stand up with 37 saves on the night. Maine got a power play goal from Jakub Sirota and took a 2-0 lead on a Tim Doherty goal just 1:05 later. Goaltender Jeremy Swayman stopped 23 shots in the loss.
Last Time Out...
- The Huskies swept a home-and-home Hockey East series with New Hampshire, winning by matching 7-4 scores two weeks ago.
- On Friday at UNH, sophomore Jonny Evans recorded his second hat-trick of the season to lead the Huskies to a 7-4 road win at the Whittemore Center.
- Evans posted a career-best five points, adding two assists to his point totals. UConn freshman Vladislav Firstov had a career-high four points while sophomore Jachym Kondelik had a career-high three assists in the win.
- The Huskies jumped out to a 3-0 lead just over five minutes into the game but the Wildcats used three-straight power play goals to pull the game even in the second period. UConn tacked on two goals late in the second period and never looked trailed again on the way to the win.
- Sophomore goaltender Tomas Vomacka came up with 42 saves in the win, stopping 20 in the second and 13 in the third.
- On Saturday at home, the Huskies put another seven goals on the board to sweep the Wildcats in front of 8,211 fans at the XL Center.
- UConn senior Alexander Payusov and Kondelik each had a pair of goals while senior Wyatt Newpower matched his career-high with three assists to pace the Huskies offense.
- UConn trailed 2-1 in the first period but tied it just before heading to the locker room for the first intermission and from there it was all Huskies as they dominated the second period with three goals and built a 6-2 lead in the third.
- In all, 12 different Huskies registered a point in the win. UConn's Vomacka made 38 saves to earn his 11th win on the year.
