UConn beats Vermont in overtime thriller, 6-5

UConn men’s hockey came out on top in a 6-5 overtime thriller against the Vermont Catamounts on Sunday night at Toscano Family Ice Forum.

The Huskies went down 2-0 early but battled back to re-take the lead, then went ahead late in the third period only to give up a tying goal with 0.3 left. They spent most of overtime on the penalty kill but got back to even strength before Tristan Fraser scored a game-winning goal.

Ethan Gardula (2), Kaden Shahan, Ethan Whitcomb and Tabor Heaslip also found the back of the net for UConn. The Huskies tied the special teams battle 2-2 with a power play goal and the OT winner. In goal, Tyler Muszelik stopped 23 of 28 shots.

With the win, UConn splits the points with UVM on the weekend.

The Huskies got off to a disastrous start, falling behind 2-0 in just 2:25. First, Muszelik tried to play the puck from behind the net but passed it straight to Vermont’s Mateo Dixon. He passed it off to Isak Walther, who scored. 22 seconds later, they couldn’t get a bouncing puck away from the net and Daniel Sambuco tucked it in to double the advantage.

The deficit didn’t rattle the Huskies, though. They kept playing and slowly chipped away at the deficit. Gardula finished a rebound on the back post to get it within one, then chopped a floating puck in just a few minutes later to even the score.

From there, UConn got its first power play of the day. Despite coming in with an 0-22 streak entering the game, the man-advantage unit capitalize when Jake Richard found Kaden Shahan on the back post for an easy score.

The Huskies recovered from the early hole to take a 3-2 lead into the first intermission.

In the middle stanza, UVM tied it on the power play. UConn lost track of Blake Steenerson on the back post and he tapped to puck in to make it a 3-3 game.

Early in the third, the Huskies went back ahead when Whitcomb picked up a loose puck from the corner, deked past a defender and sent a back-handed shot in. The lead wouldn’t last long, though. Five minutes later, the Catamounts scored on a quick shot off the draw to push the score to 4-4 with 13 minutes left.

The visitors got a prime opportunity to go back ahead when they got a power play with 6:46 left but Heaslip had other ideas. After Vermont lost the puck on the blue line, the junior jumped out on a breakaway and scored a shorthanded goal to put UConn in the driver’s seat, 5-4.

The Huskies wouldn’t hold on, though. With 1:19 remaining, Viking Gustafsson Nyberg got called for a major kneeing penalty and game misconduct, which gave the Catamounts on the power play for the rest of regulation. UConn couldn’t get the puck clear but survived until the final seconds. The Huskies tried to cover the puck but it snuck out and found Colin Kessler, who tied the game with 0.3 remaining.

In overtime, UConn still had 3:41 left on the Gustafsson Nyberg penalty. Thanks to the crossbar and a big stop from Muszelik, the Huskies killed it off and got back to even strength.

Soon after, Fraser took the puck to the top of the circles and let a shot fly, which beat UVM goalie Axel Mungbo five-hole to give the Huskies the gritty victory.

With the win, UConn improves to 5-3-1 overall and 2-2-1 in Hockey East play. Next, it’ll begin a home-and-home series with Merrimack.

News for humans, by humans.

• Today's news.

• Edited to be unbiased as humanly possible.

• Every morning, we triple-check headlines, stories, and sources for bias.

• All by hand with no algorithms.

Sign up now!