University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
New Hampshire
Huskies Take on New Hampshire This Weekend
1/14/2021 6:45:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
Media Coverage
Video Stream: CollegeSportsLive.com/HockeyEast (pxp) Randy Brochu
Radio (Fri.): UConn Sports Network from Learfield IMG College - ESPN 97-9 FM (pxp) Bob Joyce; (color) Adam Giardino
Audio Stream: TuneIn.com
Live Stats: UConnHuskies.com (Fri.) | UNHWildcats.com (Sat.)
Twitter: @UConnMHOC
Ice Chips
- After postponing last weekend's series against Northeastern, the Huskies return to the ice for a home-and-home series with New Hampshire. UConn will host the Wildcats at Freitas Ice Forum on Friday night and head to the Whittemore Center on Saturday.
- After repeat testing, it has been determined that the positive test within the program announced last week was a false positive. The entire team has continued to test negative and the Huskies have been cleared to return to competition by the team's medical personnel.
- The Huskies were last in action on January 1 and 2 when they faced these same Wildcats. UConn had a four-point weekend against UNH, getting their first road win, 2-1, and losing at home in overtime, 2-1.
- The UConn roster will be bolstered with the return of sophomores Vladislav Firstov and Yan Kuznetsov who have been with Team Russia at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championships since the November. The duo played in the season-opening series with UMass (Nov. 20-21) then departed back to Russia to join the national team. The two and their Russian teammates finished fourth in the tournament.
- Both Firstov and Kuznetsov made history as the first Russian born NCAA student-athletes to make Russia's national team for the annual event. The Huskies previously have had three players appear in the prestigious international tournament under head coach Mike Cavanaugh (Tage Thompson - Team USA/2017*; Adam Huska - Team Slovakia/2016&2017; Jachym Kondelik - Team Czech Republic/2019). *-Won the gold medal
- For the second time this season, UConn junior goaltender Tomas Vomacka was named Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week. The junior netminder stopped 98 of the 101 shots he faced in games against Providence and New Hampshire. He opened the weekend registering his second career shutout, stopping 37 shots in a 2-1 win over No. 15 nationally ranked Providence. He made 30 saves to help the Huskies earn their first road win of the season, 2-1 at New Hampshire. Vomacka finished the week with a 30-save effort in a 2-1 overtime loss at home to the Wildcats.
- On the season, Vomacka has played every minute for the Huskies and owns a 2.52 goals against average and a .923 save percentage. He ranks third in Hockey East in save percentage.
- Sophomore defenseman Roman Kinal got the game-winning goal in the Huskies' 2-1 win at New Hampshire. It was Kinal's second career goal and his first time finding the back of the net since his freshman season during 2018-19. Kinal was forced to miss all of last season due to an injury. He has played in all nine games this season and has three points (1g/2a), eight blocked shots and is a +5 on the year.
- Junior Jonny Evans saw a career-best six-game point streak (3g/5a) come to an end in the overtime loss to UNH. He has tallied at least a point in seven of the nine games this season. Evans leads the team in scoring with nine points (3g/6a) and is tied for sixth in Hockey East in points. Evans came into the season as the Huskies leading career goal scorer and now has 20 goals in 58 career games.
- Junior Jachym Kondelik is on a three-game point streak after recording four assists in UConn's last action. He leads the team with six assists and is tied for fourth in Hockey East. He is UConn's current active scoring leader with 55 points (12g/43a) in 76 games.
- Junior Marc Gatcomb scored his third goal of the season against UNH and it came on the power play. It was UConn's third power play goal on the season and ended a 0-16 streak with the extra skater. The Huskies have struggled on the power play thus far, going just 3-for-42 (.071).
- The Huskies will make a roster addition for the second semester with the addition of freshman forward Ryan Tverberg. Tverberg was announced as signing an NLI with UConn back in November and will enter school for the spring semester. The 5-11 righty shot forward is from Richmond Hill, Ontario and spent the 2019-20 season playing for the Toronto Jr. Canadians of the OJHL and piled up 51 points (26g/25a) in 47 games. In the 2020 NHL Draft, he was taken in the 7th round by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
- In the 2020-21 HEA Preseason Coaches' Poll, the Huskies were picked to finish seventh in this year's polling of the league's head coaches. This will be the Huskies seventh season of play in Hockey East and in five of their first six seasons in the league, the Huskies have outplayed their preseason prediction.
- With the addition of Tverberg, the Husky lineup will feature nine NHL draft picks in 2020-21, a new program-high. That number climbed with the 2020 NHL Draft this fall as sophomore Yan Kuznetsov (Calgary/2nd Rd) and freshmen Artem Shlaine (New Jersey/5th Rd), Nick Capone (Tampa Bay/6th Rd) and Tverberg (Toronto/7th Rd) heard their names called.
This Season vs. UNH
January 1, 2021 - W, 2-1 @ Whittemore Center
- The Huskies got a pair of goals by defensemen Roman Kinal and John Spetz and 30 saves from junior Tomas Vomacka to go on the road and grab a 2-1 win at New Hampshire.
- After falling behind 1-0 in the first period, Spetz got the tying goal at 12:59 of the second period and Kinal notched the game-winner just 1:16 into the third for the Huskies.
- UConn capped off their first road win of the season by killing off a UNH power play with 2:26 left.
- UNH scored on the power play and finished 1-for-4 on the day.
- Kalle Eriksson gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead late in the first period with his first goal on the season. Goaltender Mike Robinson stopped 31 shots in the loss.
January 2, 2021 - L, 2-1 ot @ Freitas Ice Forum
- The Wildcats kept the Huskies from sweeping the series with a 2-1 overtime win in Storrs.
- UNH's Jackson Pierson scored the game-tying goal and then got the game-winner in overtime on the power play.
- The Huskies took four of the six Hockey East points on the weekend with the overtime loss.
- UConn got their first power play goal in four games as junior Marc Gatcomb gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead in the second period. UNH found the equalizer in the third as Pierson scored his first of the day at 12:48 to pull the game even.
- Just 1:01 into the 3x3 overtime, the Huskies took a boarding penalty to give the Wildcats a power play and they took advantage 44 seconds later.
- UNH goaltender Mike Robinson made 36 saves to earn the win.
- UConn finished 1-for-3 on the power play and held a 37-33 shot edge in the loss. Vomacka stopped 31 shots on the night.
