How UConn flipped a bad start into blowout win

Through the first nine minutes on Friday night, UConn men’s hockey were trending towards a blowout loss. Boston University played up to its No. 4 ranking in the USCHO Poll, dominating possession, flashing their immense talent and making the Huskies look like they didn’t belong on the same ice sheet.

The Terriers scored two quick goals in the span of 1:46 and seemed inevitable, especially after UConn took an unsportsmanlike penalty

“We were ready to play, clearly,” BU coach Jay Pandolfo said postgame. “Get a 2-0 lead in the first 10-12 minutes of the first period. We're all over them, playing the game the way we talked about playing it.”

The Huskies had no answers in the early going.

“We had a feeling that BU was going to come out that way and I don't think we necessarily handled their start right,” UConn head coach Mike Cavanaugh explained. “I didn't think we were managing the puck well. And when you don't manage the puck well against a team like that with high-end players, it ends up in the back of your net.”

Then the whole game flipped. After falling behind 2-0 thanks to some ugly play, UConn responded by scoring eight of the next ten goals en route to an 8-2 rout of the Terriers.

“When you play in this league, that's going to happen,” Cavanaugh said. “That's a great hockey team over there. At times, they're going to carry the play and you have to weather storms and be able to counter punch. I thought we were able to do that.”

“We weren't really playing our brand of hockey and that's what allowed them to get on us early,” Carlin Dezainde said. “So once we found our groove, that's when everything started to change.”

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