10 predictions for UConn men's hockey's 2023-24 season

On Saturday, UConn men’s hockey will begin the 2023-24 season with a two-game series at Colgate. The Huskies are in the midst of their best stretch in program history, having finished fourth or fifth in Hockey East during five of the last six seasons while pulling off back-to-back 20-win campaigns for the first time ever.

Expectations are high in Storrs — both internally and externally — with an NCAA Tournament appearance at the top of the list. They also have plenty of talent, with Matthew Wood — the program’s highest draft pick ever — back for a sophomore season along with a host of other stars at every position.

So what’s to come of the new campaign? We made 10 predictions ahead of the opener:

Hockey East finish: Third

UConn should be better than last season, but that won’t show up in the Hockey East standings. After three consecutive fourth-place finishes, the Huskies will move up one spot. BU is the heavy, heavy favorite in the league and should claim the regular season crown while Merrimack finished above UConn last year and returns almost everyone.

Top goalscorer: Matthew Wood

Wood had an impressive freshman year in which he led the Huskies with 34 points as a freshman, but he did it as one cog in the team’s offensive machine. Now, he’ll be expected to be the centerpiece of UConn’s offense, a task he’s more than suited to handle. Wood will score plenty on the power play with his booming one-timer but he’ll score plenty in an assortment of ways from a variety of places on the ice.

Top assister: Matthew Wood (again)

Of Wood’s 34 points, 23 came via the assist. While his shot (justifiably) gets most of the attention, he’s also a skilled playmaker. With defenses likely to key in on Wood, he’ll have plenty of chances to set up his linemates for grade-A scoring chances.

Behind Wood, Hudson Schandor should be the second favorite to lead UConn in assists. He piled up 21 last season and has only gotten better each year in his collegiate career. Schandor might not get as much recognition as some of his teammates, but he’s quietly one of the Huskies’ best players.

Breakout player: Samu Salminen

As a freshman, Salminen didn’t arrive in Storrs until late October due to a visa issue and still put up nine goals and eight assists in 27 games. He’s been with the team for almost a year now and actually got to participate in the preseason. That, combined with the typical leap from freshman to sophomore year, should make Salminen one of UConn’s top forwards.

Best defenseman: Andrew Lucas

This isn’t a hard one. Lucas had the most productive season of any defenseman under Cavanaugh and completely transformed the team’s power play. He’s comfortably the best offensive defenseman UConn’s had in Hockey East and he’s good on the defensive end of the ice, too. The Huskies have a solid group of blue liners top-to-bottom, but Lucas is a cut above the rest.

Best newcomer: Jake Richard

UConn doesn’t have many newcomers to begin with and only a handful are expected to play significant roles. Forward Ryan Mahshie (RPI) and goalie Ethan Haider (Clarkson) will both be key players, but freshman forward Jake Richard has the makings of a future star for the Huskies.

A Buffalo Sabres draft pick, Richard has a unique combination of size, skill and goal-scoring ability but is also more likely to make a difference on defense than Mahshie. Haider might be UConn’s most important offseason addition — he allows UConn to not be completely reliant on Arsenii Sergeev after Logan Terness’ transfer — but will likely split time.

Richard is already impressing, too.

“I think he’s a player that's going to surprise some people this year,” Mike Cavanaugh said of the freshman.

Goaltender with the most starts: Arsenii Sergeev

For now, it seems like UConn will rotate its goaltenders just like last year — at least early in the season. But the Huskies ultimately turned to Sergeev for CT Ice and the Hockey East Playoffs last season, so a decision will come eventually. Considering the sophomore’s experience in the program as well as his massive ceiling, he’s the favorite to eventually be UConn’s No. 1 goalie.

UConn wins CT Ice

No disrespect to Sacred Heart or Yale, but UConn and Quinnipiac feel destined to meet in the CT Ice championship game for the third consecutive tournament. The Huskies have gone down both times but now that they’re on their home ice at the XL Center and have a roster that can realistically compete with the Bobcats (instead of trying to pull off an upset), this feels like the year that Mike Cavanaugh and Co. finally raise the trophy.

UConn makes first NCAA Tournament appearance

Over the past three seasons, UConn has finished either 20th or 21st in Pairwise, the metric that determines the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies have been knocking on the door of the program’s first-ever appearance but have come up just short — last year, they likely needed to win just a few more games to get in.

This season, UConn has most of its major contributors back, a balanced roster and the experienced it lacked a year ago. The Huskies have steadily been on the rise since they first joined Hockey East 10 seasons ago but are still looking for the major breakthrough. They have all the pieces to be among the final 16 in March. Now, it’s about execution.

UConn wins games in both Hockey East and NCAA Tournaments

In 2022, UConn came within a goal of winning the Hockey East Tournament but couldn’t replicate that major one year later and flamed out in the quarterfinals. The Huskies will get back to the TD Garden this year — that should be the baseline expectation for any season that includes a bye into the quarterfinals — and will advance in the NCAA Tournament before the season ends in the regional finals.

UConn should have a team good enough to make some noise in Hockey East and win a tournament game, but it’s a cut below being an elite, Frozen Four contender like BU or Quinnipiac.