The Forecheck: Dawn of Tage

Welcome to the UConn Hockey Hub newsletter, which catches you up on all the stories, trends, and anything else you might have missed, along with some quick takes and leftover notes from the weekend.

The Dawn of Tage

Last week, UConn men’s hockey coach Mike Cavanaugh was out to dinner with friends when he felt his phone starting to blow up in his pocket. Not wanting to be rude, he didn’t look until he went off to the bathroom.

“I had 16 or 17 text messages: ‘Are you watching this?’ ‘Tage has a chance to break the record!’ I had no idea what the hell was going on,” Cavanaugh said.

He quickly figured it out: Tage Thompson, the program’s sole NHL player at the moment, put up five goals in two periods against the Columbus Blue Jackets and finished with a six-point night.

“It's remarkable,” Cavanaugh said. “Talk about consistency. He's been so consistent all season long and we're watching, right in front of our eyes, Tage turning into a bonafide superstar in the NHL. It's fun to watch.”

Thompson is coming off a breakout campaign in which he racked up 38 goals and 30 assists for the Buffalo Sabres after totaling just 18 goals and 35 assists in his first four seasons combined.

He earned a seven-year, $50 million contract extension — one many called a risk since his shooting percentage shot up from 6.9 percent to 15 percent, which is often a sign of unsustainable production. Instead, Thompson has 23 goals and 21 assists in just 29 games this season and has raised his shooting percentage to 17 percent.

Now, the contract is being lauded as a steal for Buffalo and there’s an overload of stories on the budding superstar:

• Breaking down Tage Thompson’s 5-goal performance in Sabres’ dominant win (The Athletic)

• On the day after, Tage Thompson reflects on historic night but focuses more on what's next for Sabres (Buffalo News)

• The Sabres’ Tage Thompson is ‘a man now’ and has unlocked his potential (The Athletic)

• Dave Andreychuk on Tage Thompson joining him in Sabres 5-goal history: ‘He’s special’ (The Athletic)

• Tage Thompson and the 5 incorrect lessons that bad NHL GMs will learn from him (The Athletic) — “Maybe Tage Thompson is just a hockey unicorn, one that can’t be explained, only enjoyed.”

There’s also been plenty of buzz on Twitter about Thompson’s performance.

UConn might only have one player in the NHL (for now — Matthew Wood and Ryan Tverberg look like candidates to join him in the future), but with the way Thompson has played the last two seasons, it has a legitimate superstar at the next level — something not every program can say.

Week in review

From the UConn Hockey Hub:

• UConn women's hockey coach Chris MacKenzie signs contract extension

• Stout defense carried UConn women's hockey to a strong first half

• UConn limps into winter break with an all-too-familiar loss to BU

From The UConn Blog:

• No. 8 UConn men’s hockey downed by No. 7 BU, 3-2

• Photo gallery: BU Terriers @ UConn men’s hockey

Last week’s Forecheck:

• Huston Karpman makes debut in UConn’s loss to Merrimack

Three stars

One game, one loss means nobody gets a star.

Ice-cold capture

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