University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
UMass Lowell
Huskies Face No. 12 River Hawks with Home Ice on the Line
3/5/2020 3:16:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
| RADIO | UConn Sports Network from Learfield IMG College (ESPN 97.9 FM; WILI 1400 AM / 95.3 FM) |
| VIDEO | CBS All-Access |
| AUDIO | TuneIn.com |
| LIVE STATS | GoRiverHawks.com |
| @UConnMHOC #IceBus #BleedBlue | |
| GAME NOTES | UConn Notes UMass Lowell Notes |
Ice Chips…
The UConn Huskies will close out the regular season on Friday night with a trip up to the Tsongas Center to face the No. 12 nationally ranked UMass Lowell River Hawks.
The Huskies are coming off a Hockey East series split last week with Massachusetts where UConn clinched a spot in the post season after missing the tournament last year. The Huskies' playoff seeding is still to be decided with a home ice playoff series still up for grabs. If UConn gets a win or a tie on Friday night against the River Hawks, they will host a playoff series at the XL Center next weekend. For the other UConn playoff scenarios, turn to page four in the notes.
This is the third meeting this season between the Huskies and River Hawks. UConn earned a 3-3 tie at home and won 2-1 on the road in a weekend series back in November with UMass Lowell. Since joining Hockey East in 2014-15, the Huskies are 5-6-2 against the River Hawks. UConn is 3-3-0 at Tsongas Center.
UConn grabbed their 12th Hockey East win last Friday with a 3-2 win over the Minutemen. Their 12 wins and 26 points are the most for the program since joining the conference in 2014-15. The Huskies enter the weekend fourth in the Hockey East standings and can finish as high as third and as low as sixth. UConn's best-ever finish was tied for fifth in 2017-18.
The Huskies have seven players who have scored 20 or more points this season, the highest number in the Coach Cavanaugh era and the most since the 2010-11 season.
Senior Benjamin Freeman has taken over the team-lead in scoring with career-best 29 points on the year on seven goals and 21 assists. Over the month of February, seven games, Freeman led the team and was fourth in Hockey East with 13 points (3g/10a).
Senior defenseman Wyatt Newpower is fifth among Hockey East blue-liners with a career-best 22 points (3g/19a). He leads the Huskies as a +24 on the season, ranking sixth nationally. Newpower has the most points by a Husky defenseman since 2015-16 when then freshman Joseph Masonius had 21 points (6g/15a). Prior to that, defensman Alex Gerke had a 25 point (6g/19a) season in 2011-12.
Sophomore Carter Turnbull scored his 12th goal of the season last weekend, matching senior Alexander Payusov for the team lead. Turnbull is second on the club with 24 points (12g/12a), blowing past his rookie season totals where he had seven points (2g/5a) in 32 games.
Freshman Vladislav Firstov has 23 points on 11 goals and 12 assists and was named the Pro-Ambitions Rookie of the Month for January after posting nine points over eight games including two game-winners. He ranks sixth among Hockey East rookies in scoring and fourth in goals scored.
Sophomore Jachym Kondelik has 22 points (8g/14a) while Payusov (12g/9a) and sophomore Ruslan Iskhakov (9g/12a) have 21 points each. Of Payusov's 12 goals, seven have come over the last seven games.
This Season vs. UMass Lowell
November 15, 2019 - T, 3-3 OT at XL Center
The UConn Huskies used a strong defensive performance to come away with a 3-3 tie with No. 12 nationally ranked UMass Lowell at the XL Center in Hartford in the first of three meetings this season. The Huskies allowed just 15 shots on goal and got a pair of power play goals to come away with a point in the opening game of a weekend Hockey East series. The Huskies finished the night 2-for-4 on the power play, getting extra man goals from senior Alexander Payusov and sophomore Kale Howarth. Sophomore Marc Gatcomb chipped in with his third on the season to round out the UConn scoring. The River Hawks also scored twice on the power play with Connor Sodergren notching his first goal of the season and Colin O'Neill also getting in on the action. With the Huskies leading 3-2 late in the second period, UML's Matt Brown provided the game-tying goal with 44 seconds left in the period. Goaltender Tyler Wall made 29 saves for the River Hawks.
November 16, 2019 - W, 2-1 at Tsongas Center
UConn got goals from senior Wyatt Newpower and junior Brian Rigali and a 29 save night from sophomore Tomas Vomacka to go on the road and upset the No. 12 River Hawks, 2-1, at Tsongas Arena, taking three points on the weekend. After a scoreless first period, Newpower gave the Huskeis a 1-0 lead in the second and Rigali pushed it to 2-0 midway through the final period. Defensively, the Huskies were locked in on keeping UMass Lowell off the board until late in the third while blocking 24 shots. The River Hawks got a late power play in the third and pulled the goaltender for a 6-on-4 advantage. Jon McDonald delivered with 1:01 left to cut the lead to 2-1 but UConn settled in over the final minute and put the game away. UML had a 30-28 edge on shots while goaltender Tyler Wall made 26 saves.
Hockey East Playoff Picture...
The Huskies head into the regular season finale with playoff scenarios that can have them seeded anywhere from No.3 to No.6 in the tournament. Here are the scenarios:
- Seeded #3 with a win.
- Seeded #4 with a tie.
- Seeded #4 with a loss, a Maine loss or tie, and three points or less for Boston University.
- Seeded #5 with a loss, a Maine loss or tie, and four points for Boston University.
- Seeded #5 with a loss, a Maine win, and three points or less for Boston University.
- Seeded #6 with a loss, four points for Boston University, and a Maine win.
Last Time Out...
- The Huskies split a weekend series with the No. 8 nationally ranked UMass Minutemen last week, winning 3-2 on their home ice in the XL Center and falling 4-3 on the road in Amherst.
- On Friday, sophomore Marc Gatcomb tied the game up with 1:31 left and classmate Kale Howarth buried the game-winner with 8.7 on the clock to lift the Huskies to a 3-2 win in front of 6,666 fans at XL Center.
- After a scoreless first period, freshman Carter Berger gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead in the second. UMass got two goals from junior John Leonard to take a 2-1 lead in the third, setting up the late game heroics.
- Berger finished the night with a goal and two assists, a new career-high.
- UConn's defense limited UMass to just 23 shots on the night and sophomore goaltender Tomas Vomacka made 21 saves. UMass goalie Filip Lindberg stopped 35 shots.
- On Saturday, the Huskies fell a goal short, 4-3, at the Mullins Center to split the weekend series.
- UMass got a pair of goals from sophomore Marc Del Gaizo. UMass, who never trailed, broke a 2-2 tie on a Bobby Trivigno goal at 12:58 of the third. Leonard followed with his 27th goal of the season for a 4-2 lead.
- The Huskies got goals from sophomores Jonny Evans and Carter Turnbull and freshman Jake Flynn in the loss. Seniors Wyatt Newpower and Benjamin Freeman each had two assists on the night.
- UMass goaltender Matt Murray stopped 31 shots to get the win while the Minutemen went 1-for-2 on the power play. The Huskies were 0-for-5 on the night. Vomacka stopped 34 shots.
