University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Providence
Hockey East Quarterfinal - Huskies and Friars Battle in Storrs on SNY
3/12/2021 5:55:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
Media Coverage:
TV: SNY | (pxp) Randy Brochu; (color) Bob Crawford
Video Stream: SportsLive
Radio: 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
Twitter: @UConnMHOC
Game Notes: UConn Providence
Ice Chips…
- The UConn Huskies are the No. 4 seed in the Hockey East postseason and will play host to No. 5 seed and No. 17 nationally ranked Providence on Sunday afternoon in a quarterfinal match-up live on SNY. This will mark the Huskies first ever home quarterfinal game in Hockey East. It will also mark the first postseason games played at the Freitas Ice Forum since head coach Mike Cavanaugh's first season in 2013-14, a quarterfinal loss in the Atlantic Hockey playoffs to Robert Morris.
- The Huskies return to the Hockey East postseason for the first time since the 2017-18 season when they lost in the quarterfinals at Boston University. UConn missed the postseason in 2018-19 and were the No. 5 seed and headed to Maine last year before the pandemic cut the season short.
- Only three current Huskies have playoff experience in seniors Adam Karashik, Brian Rigali and Zac Robbins. The three played in both games of the BU series their rookie seasons with Rigali recording an assist.
- The Huskies finished the season with a 10-10-2 overall record for fourth in the standings, marking their best-ever finish in Hockey East. UConn finished fifth twice, in 2017-18 and 2019-20.
- This will be the fourth match-up between the Huskies and Friars this season after UConn came away with a 5-3 win at home in the regular season finale last Friday. Juniors Jachym Kondelik and Jonny Evans each had four-point nights to pace the Huskies. After not scoring in the season's first 21 games, Kondelik recorded his first career hat-trick in the first period, all on the power play. For his efforts he was named this week's Hockey East Co-Player of the Week, sharing the award with BC's Matt Boldy. Evans posted his league-best 14th goal of the season in the win.
- Hockey East began handing out some post season awards this week and three Huskies came home with some honors. Jonny Evans becomes the first Husky in program history to earn a spot on the Hockey East First Team All-Stars. In addition, he was named the league's Scoring Champion and took a share of the PNC Bank Three Stars Award.
- Evans is leading the conference in scoring with 28 points on a league best 14 goals to go with 14 assists on the season. He is tied for eighth in the nation in points, averaging 1.27 per game, and his 14 goals are tied for seventh nationally. He scored at least a point in 17 of the Huskies 22 games and posted seven multi-point efforts. He had two game-winners, two power play goals and a short handed goal as well. Evans was twice named the Hockey East Player of the Week during the season. He is also a candidate for the 2021 Hobey Baker Award.
- Juniors Jachym Kondelik and Tomas Vomacka both were named Hockey East Third Team All-Stars.
- Kondelik led Hockey East in assists during the regular season and finished the season with 21 points in 22 games, scoring three goals and dishing out 18 assists. He was tied for eighth nationally averaging 0.82 assists per game. Kondelik recorded his first career hat-trick in the regular season finale, his first goals of the season, to help the Huskies secure the No. 4 seed in the postseason, their highest ever finish in Hockey East. On face-offs, Kondelik was 12th in Hockey East winning .552 percent (255-207) on the year.
- Vomacka, a Hockey East All-Rookie team pick in 2018-19, played the most minutes of any goaltender in the league this season and earned a spot on the third team. Vomacka started all 22 games, logged 1333:43 minutes and earned 10 wins with a shutout. He made the most saves of any goalie in the league as well, stopping 622 shots. Vomacka posted a 2.70 goals against average with a .912 save percentage. In the national rankings, Vomacka was fourth in minutes played but led the country in playing the highest percentage of his team's minutes (99.5%). His 622 saves also ranked fourth in the nation.
- A pair of Huskies will carry three-game point streaks in to the post season in junior Marc Gatcomb and freshman Hudson Schandor. Gatcomb and Schandor both have two goals and three assists over his last three. Schandor is coming off a three point night against Providence where he scored his sixth goal of the season and leads all UConn rookies in scoring. He is tied for fourth among Hockey East rookies in scoring.
This Season vs. Providence
December 28, 2020 - W, 2-0 @ Freitas Ice Forum
- UConn junior goaltender Tomas Vomacka turned away all 37 shots he faced as the Huskies posted a 2-0 shutout win over No. 15 nationally ranked Providence at the Mark Edwards Freitas Ice Forum.
- It was the second shutout win of Vomacka's career.
- The Huskies got the game-winning goal from senior captain Adam Karashik who scored his first goal since his freshman season, a span of 80 games. Junior Jonny Evans had a goal and an assist in the win.
- The Friars outshot the Huskies 37-33 and goaltender Jaxson Stauber had 31 saves in the loss.
February 12, 2021 - L, 4-0 @ Schneider Arena
- The No. 16 Friars got 20 saves from sophomore goaltender Jaxson Stauber on the way to posting 4-0 win over the visiting No. 20 UConn Huskies at Schneider Arena.
- The Huskies were shutout for the first time this season and were held to a season-low 20 shots on the night.
- Providence junior Tyce Thompson scored a pair of goals and added an assist in the win. Thompson and Patrick Moynihan both scored in the first period to give the Friars a 2-0 lead they would never give up.
- UConn was 0-for-6 on the power play on the night. Junior Tomas Vomacka made 28 saves for the Huskies in the loss.
March 5, 2021 - W, 5-3 @ Freitas Ice Forum
- UConn junior Jachym Kondelik recorded his first career hat-trick to lead the Huskies to a 5-3 win over No. 15 Providence Friday at the Freitas Ice Forum. Kondelik scored all three of his goals on the power play and in the first period.
- UConn bolted out to a 4-0 lead after the first period thanks to Kondelik's natural hat-trick and freshman Hudson Schandor's sixth goal of the season. The Huskies made it 5-0 early in the second period as junior Jonny Evans scored his team-leading 14th goal of the season.
- Providence scored three-straight in the opening 6:23 of the third period but the Huskies dug in defensively and held the Friars at bay the rest of the way.
- Junior Tomas Vomacka made 42 saves while PC's Jaxson Stauber stopped 40 shots.
