University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
AIC
Huskies Head to AIC Tuesday Night
1/10/2022 3:47:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
Media Coverage
Radio: UConn Sports Network from Learfield - ESPN 97.9 / The Varsity Network App - Bob Joyce (pxp), Adam Giardino (color)
Video Stream: FloHockey.TV
Live Stats: AICYellowJackets.com
Twitter: @UConnMHOC
Game Notes: UConn AIC
Ice Chips
The UConn Huskies will head up I-91 north on Tuesday night to take on the AIC Yellow Jackets in a non-conference match-up at the MassMutual Center. Tuesday's game is a rescheduled date from their December 9 postponed contest due to covid related issues with the UConn program. Both UConn and AIC received votes in this week's DCU/USCHO Top-20 National Poll.
This will be the first meeting between the two schools since a 2017-18 early season match-up, a 6-4 win by the Huskies at AIC. The Huskies lead the all-time series, 52-37-12.
Before joining Hockey East in 2014, the Huskies and AIC were members of the MAAC and Atlantic Hockey. Under head coach Mike Cavanaugh, UConn is 4-0-1 against the Yellow Jackets. Since leaving Atlantic Hockey, the Huskies are 4-7-1 against teams from their old league.
AIC comes in having won five-straight and are led by former Husky Brian Rigali who has a team-best 14 points on six goals and eight assists. Rigali, an alternate captain last season, appeared in 121 games as a Husky scoring 16 goals with 18 assists.
UConn comes into Tuesday night's game fresh off a 5-4 win at No. 18 Boston College on Saturday. The Huskies battled back from down 2-0 to win after a thrilling back-and-forth third period with grad student Kevin O'Neil scoring the game-winning goal with 32 seconds left in regulation.
After falling behind 2-0, UConn went to the third period tied at 2-2 thanks to goals by Schandor and Turnbull. Shlaine gave UConn a 3-2 lead early in the period on his third of the season but BC tied it back up at 7:24. The Huskies got the lead back with a Kondelik power play goal with 5:34 left and looked headed for a win before BC's Patrick Giles tied it back up with 54 seconds to play. Out of a time-out, O'Neil created a turnover in the neutral zone and buried the game-winner with 32.2 left on the clock.
Five different Huskies scored in the win with O'Neil, senior Jachym Kondelik and sophomore Artem Shlaine finding the back of the net in their second-straight games. Sophomore Hudson Schandor and senior Carter Turnbull also scored in the win.Â
UConn improved to 6-4-0 in Hockey East with the win, moving into a tie for sixth place with Boston University, both with 17 points. The Huskies will host the Terriers on Friday night at the XL Center, the third match-up between the two schools this season. UConn and BU split their first two meetings, with BU winning in Hartford, 2-1, and the Huskies answering with a 5-1 win in Boston.
Sophomore Ryan Tverberg is the Huskies leading scorer this season, scoring nine goals with eight assists through 16 games. He is a +8 on the season with five multi-point games and had a five-game goal scoring streak as well. He is tied for 11th in Hockey East in scoring, averaging 1.06 points per game. His nine goals is tied for seventh. In 10 Hockey East games, Tverberg has posted a team-best 12 points on seven goals and five assists.
Senior Jachym Kondelik is tied for 17th in Hockey East in scoring with 15 points. Kondelik has five goals and 10 assists, tied for 12th in the league. He is the Huskies leading active career point leader at 86 points (21g/65a).
UConn grad student goaltender Darion Hanson, who transferred in this season from Union, and has started all 16 games and played every minute for the Huskies. On the season, he owns a 2.62 goals against average and a .913 save percentage, sixth among league leaders in both categories. He has played the fifth most minutes in Hockey East and has a 438 saves on the season, fifth best.
Kondelik, senior Marc Gatcomb and junior Vladislav Firstov all have five goals on the season, tied for 27th among league leaders. Gatcomb's 13 points sets a new season-high mark.
Last Meeting vs. AIC
October 13, 2017 @ MassMutual Center - W, 6-4
- UConn's Alexander Payusov recorded his first career hat-trick to lead the Huskies to a 6-4 comeback win over AIC at the MassMutual Center
- The Huskies fell behind 3-0 in the first period but fought all the way back as Payusov scored twice in the second period and then finished off the hat-trick late in the third to ice away the Huskies' 6-4 win.
- UConn was three-for-four on the power play in the win, and outshot the Yellow Jackets 35-25.
- Junior Max Kalter picked-up his first goal on the season, a second period tally to open the UConn scoring. Junior Karl El-Mir provided the game-winner, redirecting a Johnny Austin shot at 16:04 in the third period, UConn's third power play goal of the night. El-Mir had a goal and an assist while Austin finished with a pair of assists.
- After AIC's Darius Davidson gave his team a 4-3 lead in the third, UConn sophomore Wyatt Newpower pulled the game even again with his first on the year, blasting a power play goal at 9:16 to set up the late game heroics. Newpower finished with a goal and an assist.
- UConn's Adam Huska relieved starter Tanner Creel in the first period and made 17 saves to earn the win.
- For AIC, Patrik Demel scored twice and Janis Jaks added a goal, all in the first period. Zackarias Skog made 29 saves in taking the loss. The Yellow Jackets were 1-for-2 on the power play.
