University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Boston College
Huskies Ready for No. 1 Boston College
1/21/2021 11:13:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Media Coverage
TV (Sat.): CW20 (pxp) Randy Brochu (color) Bob Crawford
Radio (Fri.): UConn Sports Network from Learfield IMG College - ESPN 97-9 FM. (pxp) Bob Joyce; (color) Adam Giardino
Video Stream: CollegeSportsLive.com/HockeyEast
Audio Stream: TuneIn.com
Live Stats: BCEagles.com (Fri.) | UConnHuskies.com (Sat.)
Twitter: @UConnMHOC
Game Notes: UConn Boston College
Ice Chips...
- For the first time in program history, the UConn Huskies will face the No. 1 ranked team in the country when they take on the Boston College Eagles in a home-and-home series this weekend. The Huskies will head to BC on Friday afternoon at 4 pm and then host the Eagles on Saturday afternoon at Freitas Ice Forum. Saturday's game will be televised live at 4 pm in Connecticut on Fox affiliate CW20.
- The Huskies and Eagles have already faced-off this season, splitting a pair of games back in December. BC posted a 4-3 overtime win at home and the Huskies rebounded with a 3-1 win at home to finish the weekend by taking four of six points.
- In their first meetings both teams were without key players who where playing at the IIHF World Junior Championship. UConn was without sophomore forward Vladislav Firstov and sophomore defensemen Yan Kuzentsov while BC was missing sophomore goaltender Spencer Knight and sophomore forwards Matt Boldy and Alex Newhook and sophomore defenseman Drew Helleson.
- UConn is coming off a pair of wins over New Hampshire last week where they scored a combined 14 goals and took five of six points. The Huskies posted a 6-5 overtime win at home and put together an 8-3 win on the road at the Whittemore Center. UConn has won three games against UNH this season. Their 14 goals on the weekend were their most in back-to-back Hockey East games since doing it last season against UNH in matching 7-4 wins.
- UConn head coach Mike Cavanaugh is closing in on 100 career victories, heading into the weekend at 98 wins over his eight seasons with the Huskies.
- Junior Jonny Evans was named the Hockey East Player of the Week on Monday. Evans finished the two-game series with UNH with three goals and an assist. Evans scored a goal and assisted on another as the Huskies posted a 6-5 overtime win over UNH at home on Friday afternoon. In Saturday's 8-3 win, Evans scored twice, his sixth career multi-goal game, including his first power play goal of the season.
- On the season, Evans has scored a point in nine of the Huskies 11 games this season and leads the team in scoring with 13 points and in goals with six. He is tied for third in the league in goals scored.
- The Huskies welcomed back sophomores Vladislav Firstov and Yan Kuznetsov last weekend and the duo both contributed to the Huskies' sweep. Firstov and Kuznetsov played in the season-opening series with UMass (Nov. 20-21) then departed back to Russia to join the national team for the IIHF World Junior Championship. Over the two games, Firstov posted five points, scoring two goals and two assists in the 6-5 overtime win over UNH. Kuznetsov picked-up an assist in the 8-3 win on the road.
- The UConn power play entered last weekend's series with UNH just 3-for-42 (.071) through the season's first nine games. The Huskies broke out for six power play goals in the two game set with UNH. In Saturday's 8-3 win, UConn scored four power play goals for the first time since a 5-2 win over Boston University in 2015-16.
- Junior Jachym Kondelik had a five-point weekend against UNH, dishing out five assists. He will enter this weekend riding a five-game point streak and has 11 assists on the season. He is second in Hockey East in assists and averaging 1.00 assists per game.
- UConn's newest roster addition, freshman Ryan Tverberg made his season debut in last weekend's series with UNH. Tverberg scored his first career goal and also had an assist in the 8-3 win on the road at UNH. Tverberg signed an NLI with UConn back in November and enrolled in school for the spring semester.
- Junior assistant captain Carter Turnbull ended a four-game drought without scoring a goal by recording his first career hat-trick, including the overtime game-winner, in UConn's 6-5 win over UNH last Friday. Turnbull has five goals and three assists on the season.
- Junior defensman Ryan Wheeler scored his first collegiate goal in last Saturday's 8-3 win over the Wildcats. It was in Wheeler's 64th career game that he registered his first goal. Classmate Jake Flynn dished out a new career-high three assists in the road win at UNH.
- 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. BC...
December 11, 2020 - L, 4-3 ot @ Kelley Rink
- UConn scored a pair of third period goals to tie the game and force overtime at No. 2 nationally ranked Boston College but the Eagles came up with the game-winner in the extra session to grab the extra point.
- BC's Marshall Warren put home a rebound at 3:13 in the overtime to keep the Eagles undefeated.
- UConn went to the third period facing a 3-1 deficit but rallied with a power play goal from freshman John Spetz and a goal from junior Kale Howarth to send the game to overtime.
- The two teams played to a 1-1 first period with BC's Colby Amborsio scoring his fourth of the season and UConn's Marc Gatcomb scoring his first of the year. BC got two from Logan Hutsko in the second.
- UConn junior goaltender Tomas Vomacka stopped 32 shots in the loss. BC rookie goaltender Henry Wilder made his first career start and got his first win, posting 30 saves.
December 12, 2020 - W, 3-1 @ Freitas Ice Forum
- The Huskies used a three-goal second period to fuel a 3-1 upset win over the No. 2 nationally ranked Boston College Eagles at the Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum.
- UConn snapped a six-game slide in the all-time series with BC and beat their highest ranked opponent for the second time in program history (W, 4-2 vs. No. 2 UMass/Mar. 8, 2019).
- After a scoreless first period, the Huskies scored three goals in a span of 4:14 in the second period to seize control of the game. Juniors Jonny Evans and Marc Gatcomb and freshman Nick Capone provided all the UConn scoring during the spurt.
- Junior Tomas Vomacka stopped 27 shots to earn the win.
- Boston College, who suffered their first loss on the season, got on the board in the third period with a power play goal from Trevor Kuntar. Freshman goaltender Henry Wilder made 39 saves in the loss.
