How UConn builds its non-conference schedule

Unlike some of UConn’s most high-profile sports like basketball or football, Mike Cavanaugh and the men’s hockey program don’t get any help from athletic director David Benedict’s office when it comes to putting together the non-conference schedule.

“That comes out of our office,” Cavanaugh said. “Myself and Joe Pereira work on that.”

When those two set out to tackle this task, they start with a general philosophy and structure.

“We normally would like to have Quinnipiac, Yale, and Sacred Heart on our schedule, we always want to play our in-state rivals,” Cavanaugh said. “We always like to take a trip out west, I think that's important. And then we're fortunate we have a lot of really good local teams in the area that we can schedule.”

It doesn’t always work out as planned, though. The only in-state opponent UConn will play outside of Connecticut Ice is Sacred Heart. The Huskies tried to add Quinnipiac as well, though the lack of non-conference play last year ultimately made that unworkable.

“Quinnipiac, we had an issue — it was no one's fault,” Cavanaugh said. “It was just because of last year, they over-scheduled, we over-scheduled so we’re hoping to play them in Connecticut Ice at some point.”

Once the Connecticut Ice bracket is set, it’ll become easier to schedule non-conference matchups with the other in-state opponents.

When the Huskies find out their opening game for this year — let’s say it’s Sacred Heart — then they’ll play Yale in 2023 followed by Quinnipiac in 2024. So next season, UConn knows it has a guaranteed game with Sacred Heart in CT Ice and won’t need to schedule the Pioneers during the regular season. Even still, Cavanaugh doesn’t mind seeing an in-state opponent twice if that’s how the schedule works out.

“It’s not the end of the world to me if we play one of them twice,” he said.

The Huskies also try to find a way to take a trip out of their northeast bubble. This year, it’s a two-game series at Ohio State but in the past, UConn has often played in a tournament — like the Ice Vegas Invitational in 2018-19 or the Desert Hockey Classic in 2016-17.

Last season, the Huskies were supposed to participate in the Holiday Face-Off in Milwaukee, though that didn’t happen because of the pandemic. That would’ve been a good road trip for the program and also its holiday tournament, a staple on the Huskies’ non-conference schedule.

Since 2014, UConn has played in a tournament following the winter break in all but two seasons — including this one. Again, that’s a product of the pandemic. After the Holiday Face-Off was scrapped last year, the organizers weren’t clear about whether or not the tournament would be rescheduled, so Cavanaugh pulled out.

“I didn't know if that was going to move into this year and they were a little bit noncommittal so I just decided we had to get guaranteed games,” he said.

Instead, UConn will travel to play Harvard on Jan. 2 in a one-off matchup, which isn’t a bad consolation.

“That will be a really good test for us,” Cavanaugh said.

The Huskies are also slated to take on Dartmouth, Colgate, and AIC during the non-conference schedule. Although Dartmouth and AIC should be somewhat competitive games, it ultimately comes down to convenience more so than anything else, especially considering the quality of play UConn will face in Hockey East.

“We're fortunate we have a lot of really good local teams in the area that we can schedule,” Cavanaugh said.