Huskies Host Maine for Weekend Series

Media Coverage

TV: CW20 (Saturday) | (pxp) Randy Brochu (color) Katelyn Parker

Video Stream: CollegeSportsLive.com/Hockey East

Radio: UConn Sports Network from Learfield IMG College - ESPN 97-9 FM (Friday) | (pxp) Bob Joyce; (color) Adam Giardino

Audio Stream: TuneIn.com

Live Stats: UConnHuskies.com - Friday Saturday

Twitter: @UConnMHOC

Ice Chips

UConn will be home in Storrs to play host to the Maine Black Bears for a pair of Hockey East games this weekend at the Freitas Ice Forum. Saturday's match-up will be televised in Connecticut on CW20.
This will be the first meetings this season between the Huskies and Black Bears. UConn took two-of-three games from Maine last year including handing the Black Bears their only home loss of the season. The two teams were slated to face-off in the Hockey East quarterfinals before the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the postseason. The Huskies are 4-1-1 against Maine in their last six meetings.
Entering this weekend's games, the Huskies sit in fourth place in the most up to date Hockey East Power Index standings. UConn is fourth at 52.12, ahead of Providence in fifth (51.02) and Northeastern in sixth (50.84). Maine enters the weekend set in ninth place at 43.93 in the power index.
The Huskies are looking to snap a three-game skid after falling to Boston University at home in overtime last time out, 3-2. UConn has played seven overtime games this season, tied with New Hampshire for the most in Hockey East. The Huskies are 1-4 in overtime games and twice have gone to a shoot-out, winning both.
In the BU loss, UConn junior Carter Turnbull scored his ninth goal on the season while senior Brian Rigali notched his third, snapping a seven-game scoreless drought.
The Huskies will be without junior forward Kale Howarth on Friday against Maine. Howarth will serve a one-game suspension from Hockey East stemming from his major penalty assessed in the loss to BU. He will be eligible to return to the lineup for Saturday's match-up.
Junior Jonny Evans has been named a candidate for the 2021 Hobey Baker Award, given annually to college hockey's top player. Fan-voting online is now open thru March 7 at HobeyBaker.com/vote. Evans has a pair of Hockey East Player of the Week awards this year and his 22 points (12g/10a) is tied for second in the league. His 12 goals is leading the conference and is tied for eighth nationally.
Junior goaltender Tomas Vomacka has played every minute for the Huskies as well as the most minutes by any Hockey East goaltender this season. He has made 543 saves, the most by any goalie in the league and ranks fourth in save percentage at .916 percent. His 2.60 goals against average is fifth among league leaders. Vomacka was named to the 2021 Mike Richter Award Watch List last week. This year's list consists of 35 goalies from across college hockey. The Mike Richter Award is given annually to the top goalie in men's NCAA Division I hockey since 2014.
Junior Jachym Kondelik has 16 assists on the year, tied for the lead in Hockey East and is tied for 10th nationally, averaging 0.84 assists per game.
Rookie defenseman John Spetz was the runner-up for Hockey East Rookie of the Month in January. Spetz had seven points in January on two goals and five assists. He also had 24 blocked shots during the month. On the season, he is tied for eighth in the league in rookie scoring (3g/7a) and is tied for ninth among all the league's defensemen in scoring. His 46 blocked shots leads Hockey East. He is averaging 2.56 per game, ranking eighth nationally.
Freshman Artem Shlaine saw his season-long point streak end at seven games (1g/7a) in the 4-0 loss at Providence. Shlaine's streak was the longest by a Husky this season. Shlaine is among the conference leaders in face-off percentage, winning 60.0 percent (129-86) on the year. He is tied for 10th in the nation.
Junior Carter Turnbull is tied for fifth in Hockey East with four power play goals.

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Players Mentioned

Jonny Evans

Kale Howarth

Jachym Kondelik

Brian Rigali

Artem Shlaine

John Spetz

Carter Turnbull

Tomas Vomacka

University of Connecticut Athletics