Tabor Heaslip named Hockey East Best Defensive Forward

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UConn’s Tabor Heaslip was named the 2026 Hockey East Best Defensive Forward along with Maine’s Owen Fowler on Wednesday. The senior captain is the second Husky to take home the hardware, joining Jachym Kondelik (2021-22).

“I'm really excited to hear about that,” head coach Mike Cavanaugh said on Wednesday after finding out the news live on his weekly call with reporters. “He has been a rockstar captain for us this year. He's the heart and soul of our team… Very, very happy for him.”

Heaslip is UConn’s top penalty-killing forward along with Jake Percival. Among forwards, he leads UConn and ranks fourth in Hockey East with 33 blocked shots. Heaslip has taken just five penalties all season long and has a shorthanded goal to his name, too. Overall, he has six goals and 10 assists.

“He's first over the boards on the penalty kill,” Cavanaugh said. “His line has been playing exceptionally well and they draw our tough matchups usually. We play them against another team's top line an awful lot, and he's had a fantastic year, not only chipping in offensively. I think he's + 10 on the year. If you're +10, playing against the other team's top line all the time, that's a credit [to him] — and he loves it. He loves that challenge, game-in and game-out.”

Elsewhere in the Hockey East honors, the Huskies didn’t land anyone on the eight-player All-Rookie Team. While Alexandre Blais (6-13—19), Carlin Dezainde (9-7—16), Anthony Allain-Samaké (0-7—7) and Brendan Dunphy (2-4—6) all had good seasons, they couldn’t crack the list with a particularly strong freshman class in Hockey East. 11 first-years recorded at least 20 points this season.

The league will release its All-Star Teams on Friday and announce the finalists for Player, Rookie and Coach of the Year on Monday.

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