2023-24 UConn men's hockey position preview: Goaltenders

What a difference a year makes. Entering last season, UConn had two complete unknowns at the goaltender position in sophomore Logan Terness (one career start) and freshman Arsenii Sergeev. Now, the Huskies have two experienced options in the sophomore, Sergeev, along with Clarkson transfer Ethan Haider.

The transfer portal ended up benefitting UConn in both directions. When Terness — who had the talent to be one of the top goaltenders in the nation but struggled to get out of his own head when things went sideways — left, the Huskies were able to upgrade with a three-year starter in Haider.

“Everybody gets caught up with the transfer portal, whether it's good or whether it's bad. I don't think it's either,” head coach Mike Cavanaugh said. “I was happy with what we did this year in the transfer portal. We were able to use it to our benefit where we had two players leave and we were able to bring in two guys with some experience.”

In three seasons at Clarkson, the 6-foot-2 Haider owned a 2.36 GAA and .910 save percentage in 80 games, including a 2.51 GAA and .906 save percentage in 35 starts this past year.

Haider won’t just provide competition for Sergeev in practice, though. He’s more than capable of earning the starting job outright.

“He's gonna have a chance to be a pretty good goaltender for us,” Cavanaugh said.

As for Sergeev, he returns after a strong freshman season that saw him post a 2.61 GAA and .912 save percentage in 20 appearances while getting the nod in both UConn’s games at CT Ice as well as the team’s lone postseason contest against UMass Lowell.

Sergeev’s best attribute is his athleticism, but it can also be his biggest weakness.

“When Arsenii gets in trouble, he relies too much on his athletic ability and gets sliding as opposed to getting to pucks on his feet,” Cavanaugh said.

When Sergeev’s on his game, there’s no puck he can’t stop. There were plenty of occasions when he made a jaw-dropping, SportsCenter Top 10-worthy save last season, but he’s also prone to allowing soft goals. That problem reared its head in the quarterfinal matchup when he allowed the opening score off a pass through his crease and then dropped an easy shot that resulted in the second goal.

“He's certainly skilled and talented. It's about playing a very efficient goal. He's gotta be efficient in goal,” Cavanaugh said.

Senior Matt Pasquale will serve as a third-stringer. Though he’s never appeared in a game in three and a half seasons, he’s well-regarded within the program.

“Matty Pasquale is one of our locker room leaders,” Cavanaugh said. “He's been here for four years. He's very well respected, he's got a great work ethic and I think he runs the team court when they have it.”

UConn is expected to split the opening weekend at Colgate between Haider and Sergeev, though there hasn’t been a decision made about who will get the nod in the opener. Beyond that? It’ll depend on performance.

Regardless of how the starts are divided up, the Huskies should have a reliable option between the pipes so long as everyone stays healthy.