Heroic goal by Hudson Schandor helps send UConn back to Boston

Hudson Schandor’s night appeared to be over.

After getting tangled up with a linesman and a pair of Providence Friars on a face-off, the fifth-year captain exited with a lower body injury and didn’t return for the rest of the first period. As the team came out from the intermission, Schandor tested it on the ice, but ultimately decided he couldn’t continue.

For the opening 10 minutes of the second period, Schandor watched from the bench as UConn tried to find a tying goal down 1-0. He made a brief cameo during a power play but visibly struggled to skate and quickly came off.

Late in the stanza, Schandor gave it one last go. After the Huskies’ forecheck quickly won back the puck off a draw in the o-zone. Joey Muldowney centered a pass from the boards that Jake Richard re-directed right to a wide-open Schandor at the top of the circles.

Despite being on one leg, he did his best Kirk Gibson impression and lasered a shot far-post to tie the game at 1-1.

“There's a reason why he's our captain,” fellow fifth-year John Spetz said. “The hockey gods were watching tonight.”

That was Schandor’s last shift of the night. He watched the remaining 23:25 from the bench as Muldowney put UConn ahead 2-1 just 20 seconds into the third period, Tyler Muszelik preserved the lead with big-time saves and an empty-netter sealed a 3-1 victory over Providence.

Despite the injury, Schandor truly did all he could to help the Huskies get back to the Hockey East semifinals at TD Garden for a second time in program history.

“Huddy goes down early in the first period, he tries to come back and play in the second — and he scores on the [second] shift he plays — but he just couldn't go,” head coach Mike Cavanaugh said.

Before Schandor’s score, UConn looked to be in trouble. The team’s dominant power play unit — which had scored in 10 straight games — gave up a shorthanded goal less than four minutes in that put the Friars ahead, 1-0. The Huskies then spent much of the remaining period in their own zone.

In the second, UConn started to pile up chances but still couldn’t find the breakthrough. As the clock melted, the Huskies drifted closer and closer towards a dreaded position: Trailing after 40 minutes. While not quite a death-knell, they were just 1-4-1 when down entering the third period on the current campaign and had won just four games in 36 such opportunities over the last four seasons.

UConn never wavered in its determination — but it needed a spark.

“We were ready to win this game from the start,” Spetz said. “There wasn't a second where we were backing up. We were confident that we were going to come back and get that next one.”

Someone had to turn that belief into a reality. Who better than the fifth-year captain?

“Huddy’s goal was obviously where it turned,” Spetz said. “When that goal went in, it was time for us to turn it up.”

From there, UConn came alive. It racked up the attempts over the final three minutes and kept it going through the intermission. Just 20 ticks into the third period, Richard threaded a perfect pass to Muldowney on the back post, who blasted a one-timer home to give the Huskies the lead.

“It was an unbelievable pass by Jake Richard,” Cavanaugh said. “I mean, that was a high-end pass and Joey finished it.”

UConn didn’t just roll the rest of the way, though. Providence fought back and had its chances — it just couldn’t get another by Muszelik in net. After the junior gave up a goal on the first shot he saw — not that he had any chance to stop it — he locked it down from there and turned away the next 32 shots.

“He's a big-time person and big-time people do big-time things,” Spetz said. “So he played a great, great game and shut it down in the third period.”

Muszelik’s best save came with 7:42 remaining. Nick Poisson looked to have an open chance on the back side, only for Muszelik to deny him with a spectacular pad save. As the Friars grew more desperate in search of an equalizer, he remained calm and composed between the pipes.

“Tyler Muszelik was nails in net,” Cavanaugh said. “He's a really good goalie… He made big saves tonight when he had to.”

While there were external questions as to who UConn’s starting goaltender should be in the playoffs, the coach didn’t think twice about going with Muszelik. After all, it was his turn in the rotation.

“Not in my mind, no,” Cavanaugh said when asked if he had any doubts about who to start. “We've been rotating for a while and it seems to be working. So I don't want to over coach or overthink it.”

Yet as good as Muszelik was, he was only called to make 10 saves in the third period. When the Huskies pulled ahead, they didn’t sit back and try to win it by parking the bus. Instead, they remained on the front foot.

“We talk about that all the time,” Cavanaugh said. “Don't sit back, play on your toes. We want to pressure.”

With three minutes to go, UConn sent its kid line — freshmen Ethan Whitcomb, Ethan Gardula and Kaden Shahan — over the boards. They proceeded to lock Providence in its own zone, thus draining the time that the visitors could pull the goalie and play with the extra attacker.

“Our freshman line goes out there with about three minutes to go and didn't let Providence get out of the zone. They were incredible. By the time they got to pull the goal, there was only a minute left,” Cavanaugh said. “That was a really big shift for us in the game late.”

Even with the 6-on-5 advantage, the Friars never threatened. Eventually, Muldowney knocked the puck out of the zone and all the way down the ice into the empty net to seal the victory. Toscano Family Ice Forum erupted into a state of delirium.

“It was a great, great atmosphere,” Spetz said. “The ceiling just ripped off the place.”

After the game, the Dropkick Murphy’s song “Shippin’ Up To Boston” fittingly blared from the locker room. For the second time ever, UConn will play in the Hockey East Semifinals at TD Garden. Schandor and Spetz went as sophomores in 2021-22 and will try to avenge their overtime loss to UMass in the final.

But more importantly, a new generation of Huskies will get their first taste.

“In order to establish excellence in a program, you can't just go once every four years,” Cavanaugh said. “You've got to continually go so people have experience playing in that big venue with the bright lights on that stage.”

It all started with Schandor’s heroic goal. He had already cemented his place as UConn’s Hockey East Era leader in points (career) and assists (season and career). Had he decided not to push through the injury, nobody would’ve batted an eye. Instead, Schandor now has a signature moment to go along with all the numbers.

“He's a gamer and he's going to go down as one of the greatest players we've had here,” Cavanaugh said.

Schandor’s status

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