Learning from its mistakes, UConn redeems itself by closing out win over UMass

On Friday night, UConn men’s hockey found itself mere seconds away from a hard-earned road victory at UMass, only to allow a game-tying goal with 17.6 remaining. The Huskies had to settle for a tie and shootout loss.

The hockey gods decided to run it back in the second game of the weekend series on Saturday. Once again, UConn faced a 5-on-6 situation while holding a 3-2 lead deep in the third period against the Minutemen.

This time, the Huskies redeemed themselves. They locked down defensively and finished the job to come away with the victory.

“I was happy the game ended the way it did because I wanted another chance to have a 5-on-6,” head coach Mike Cavanaugh said postgame. “We made some structural mistakes last night after watching the film, but tonight we were really strong there. So it was a fitting way to end.”

UConn’s close out didn’t begin when UMass pulled the goalie with 1:26 remaining, though. Instead, the Huskies discussed what went wrong the previous night and what needed to be fixed during a locker room meeting on Saturday morning.

“We knew we had them on the ropes and we gave them a present yesterday,” Jake Percival said. “Today we showed what we needed to do yesterday.”

Considering how young UConn is — there were six freshmen and four sophomores in the lineup this weekend — mistakes are bound to happen. That’s what happened with the late goal on Friday night.

“We just made some structural mistakes in the 5-on-6 and it cost us,” Cavanaugh said.

The key is learning from those mistakes and not allowing them to happen again. The Huskies passed that test with flying colors — as they’ve done all season long.

“It was something that we watched a lot of film on today and we didn't make those same mistakes tonight,” Cavanaugh said. “They're a fun group to coach. There's a lot of young kids and they're eager to learn and they're open to constructive criticism and getting better.”

“We're building as a team and growing,” Percival said.

The Shift

In the second period, UConn put together a best stretch of play that ranks among the best ever under Cavanaugh.

Subscribe to Premium to read the rest.