Kevin Fitzgerald out for the season with knee injury

UConn men’s hockey freshman defenseman Kevin Fitzgerald is out for the entire 2024-25 season after tearing his ACL in practice last week, head coach Mike Cavanaugh told the UConn Hockey Hub. He’ll undergo surgery at a later date.

A native of Bath, Ontario, Fitzgerald spent the last two seasons with the USHL’s Sioux City Muskteers. Listed at 5-foot-10 with a left-handed shot, the freshman was expected to compete for playing time on the back end.

“I'm disappointed,” Cavanaugh said. “I think he's a kid that can help us play with pace from the back end. I think he’s an elite defender. His feet are outstanding and he defends really well. I think that would probably be his game. He's an excellent skater, he gets up and down the ice.”

While Fitzgerald won’t be able to play this season, the coach is hopeful that he can still develop while watching from the sidelines.

“This can be a learning experience,” Cavanaugh said. “It happened to Roman Kinal and I thought Roman became a much better player because of it.”

With Fitzgerald done for the season, the Huskies are down to nine defensemen the rest of the way: Fifth-years John Spetz and Nick Carabin, juniors Tom Messineo and Jack Pascucci, sophomores Viking Gustafsson Nyberg, Owen Simpson and Bauer Swift, then freshmen Kai Janviriya and Trey Scott. Despite being short one of their top freshmen, Cavanaugh feels good about the group.

“I think they're all capable of playing,” he said. “I really do.”