UConn men's hockey lands two future defensemen

UConn men’s hockey added two pieces to its future defensive corps recently: ‘04 Trey Scott and ‘07 Anthony Allain-Samaké.

Scott is a native of Lunenburg, Massachusetts who currently plays for the USHL’s Omaha Lancers. Listed at 5-9, 179 pounds with a right-handed shot, Scott will likely arrive in Storrs next fall.

As a 12-year-old, he played in the International Q Tournament, or the Quebec International Pee-Wee tournament, considered to be the Little League World Series of hockey. Over 1,100 players who have participated ended up in the NHL over the tournament’s 60+ year history, including Wayne Gretzky, Ron Francis, Guy Lafleur, Denis Savard, Steve Yzerman, and Mario Lemieux, to name a few.

Last season, Scott spent most of the year with the NAHL’s Maryland Black Bears where he had five goals and 22 assists in 43 games. He joined the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms for four games at the end of the campaign.

Meanwhile, Allain-Samaké is a 6-foot, 165-pound left-shot defenseman out of Gatineau, Quebec. He is currently UConn’s youngest commitment by more than a year, having been born on Sept. 10, 2007.

Despite being taken in the second round of the QMJHL — a major junior league — Allain-Samaké decided to take the collegiate route, so he’s in his first season of juniors with the NCDC’s New Jersey Rockets. The best estimate for his arrival in Storrs is the fall of 2026.

“I started to talk with UConn at the BJB Shootout, and then I went to visit the campus. It was just a perfect fit, I liked the campus, and the offer was great, too,” Allain-Samaké told NCDCHockey.com. “The campus is nice and close in, and it’s a good place to focus on hockey and academics. I loved the coaching staff, they were very professional. College hockey is more of an older league, and I think if you’re not ready to go pro when you’re 20 – and I do want to go pro someday –  you can go another year or however many years while you are in college.”

As a 15-year-old in 2022 on the U15 AAA Gatineau Intrepide, Allain-Samaké and a teammate were subjected to racial attacks — some of which came from teammates. He spoke out against the abuse and as a result, six players were suspended following an investigation by the club. He returned to the team for provincial championships but eventually transferred to the Ottawa Senators U18 AAA squad.

In February of this year, Allain-Samaké received a tour of the Ottawa Senators’ locker room and he dropped the ceremonial first puck before a game as the team celebrated Black History Month.

“Don’t be afraid to speak up,” he told the Ottawa Sun afterward. “You can’t keep it to yourself. I think the mentality of hockey (in the past), it has been like, keep it to yourself or don’t say anything about something that is wrong.”