The Forecheck: Remembering Andrew Raycroft's time at UConn

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Remembering Andrew Raycroft's time at UConn

After Andrew Raycroft’s career as an NHL goalie — including a stretch with the Boston Bruins — he knew wanted to stay in the game. First, he tried his hand at coaching and landed a gig with Hockey East’s newest program: UConn.

During the Huskies’ first three years in the league, Raycroft served as the Huskies’ volunteer goaltending coach. In that time, Rob Nichols became a cult legend for the way he kept the Huskies afloat against superior opponents and recorded eight shutouts along the way. All other UConn goaltenders have combined for seven shutouts over the last seven years.

Raycroft also worked with Adam Huska for one season, who put up the best save percentage (.916) of his UConn career that year. Huska eventually made it to the NHL, albeit for one game.

Despite having significantly less talent than most of its conference foes, the Huskies never finished worse than ninth in Hockey East thanks in large part to their goaltenders, and Raycroft deserves plenty of credit for that.

“He was awesome when he was here,” head coach Mike Cavanaugh said.

Raycroft left the program after the 2016-17 season in part due to the commute. Despite working in Storrs multiple times per week, he still lived in the Boston area. Ultimately, that drive became too much — especially for a job where he didn’t get paid as his kids grew older.

“I understand,” Cavanaugh said about Raycroft’s departure. “He lives in Boston. That's a long way.”

On Sunday, the former goalie coach had a chance to return to Storrs in a different role — as the color analyst alongside John Buccigross for ESPNU’s broadcast of the Huskies’ win over Harvard. Cavanaugh gave him a tour of the new building before the game and had a chance to see Raycroft’s family for the first time in a while.

“It was good to see his kids and jeez — his kids were tiny here,” Cavanaugh said. “It's been almost eight years since he's been here.”

The two have kept in touch and try to meet up at some point every summer. Cavanaugh certainly still sees Raycroft plenty — just not in person. The former Bruin has spent the last few years as a studio analyst at NESN breaking down his old team so when Cavanaugh flips a game on, Raycroft is often on his TV.

“He's doing an unbelievable job on the telecast. I watch him with the Bruins all the time now,” Cavanaugh said.

Throughout UConn’s Hockey East tenure, the team has always had strong goaltending, from Nichols to Huska to Tomas Vomacka, Darion Hanson, Logan Terness, and now Arsenii Sergeev and Ethan Haider. Raycroft helped set the standard at the start during his brief but impactful time with the Huskies.

Headlines

• Bracketology: Midseason check-in

• UConn men's hockey downs Harvard, 4-2

• A 'Jake trick' carries UConn to victory over Harvard

• Matthew Wood among Canada's point leaders at World Juniors

• Notebook: Matthew Wood questionable for Friday's game at UMass

Three stars

First star: The Jakes

Jake Richard, Jake Black, and Jake Percival all scored in the win over Harvard, while Jake Flynn had the primary assist on the empty-netter. If Jake Veilleux were healthy enough to play, who knows what would’ve happened?

Second star: Tom Messineo

Messineo has quietly become one of UConn’s top defensemen this season and on Sunday, he had the points to prove it. The blue liner had the primary assist on the Huskies’ first two goals — he got the puck to the net to Richard, who tipped it in, then sent a shot through traffic that deflected off Black and went in.

Third star: Chase Bradley

With a goal and an assist, Bradley tied Matthew Wood for the team lead in goals with seven and surpassed the sophomore for the top spot in points with 13. Bradley needs just three more goals to match his total from last season.

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The week ahead

UConn women’s hockey returns to action with a two-game road trip to No. 2 Minnesota while UConn men’s hockey will take on No. 13 UMass on Friday in Amherst.