UConn likely to start the season with a rotation at goaltender

With less than three weeks until the start of the regular season, UConn men’s hockey head coach Mike Cavanaugh isn’t ready to reveal his plan for the goaltender position just yet.

“I don't want to commit to a rotation or to one guy or this guy,” he said on Tuesday.

For the second straight season, the Huskies have two clear options to start: Sophomore Arsenii Sergeev and Clarkson transfer Ethan Haider. Both have plenty of experience — Sergeev started 18 games for UConn last season including the two during CT Ice and the lone postseason contest while Haider has played in 80 collegiate games in his career.

Last year, the Huskies had to choose between Logan Terness and Sergeev, who had combined to play in a single game at the collegiate level at the time.

Ultimately, Cavanaugh rotated Terness and Sergeev every other game so that neither started multiple contests in a single weekend until CT Ice in late January. While the coach declined to say whether he’ll utilize a similar system this year, he did hint that the two goalies would split time at the start of the season.

“I certainly think that both are gonna get an opportunity early in the year to play hockey games,” Cavanaugh said. “Then as the season goes on, you gotta take it on a game-by-game basis. I hope I rotate them because that means they’re both playing great.”

On the depth chart behind Sergeev and Haider is senior Matt Pasquale, who hasn’t appeared in a game for the Huskies in his career. In years past, Cavanaugh would’ve insisted that Pasquale was also competing for the starting role but on Tuesday, the coach admitted that the North Reading, Massachusetts native is the team’s third goalie.

While Pasquale’s unlikely to see action, Cavanaugh made a point to highlight his impact on the squad.

“Matty Pasquale is one of our locker room leaders,” the coach explained. “He's been here for four years. He's very well respected, he's got a great work ethic and I think he runs the team court when they have it.”

Nickname necessity

Under Cavanaugh, UConn’s most notable recruiting pipelines have been Russia and British Columbia. But a new one has opened up recently: people named Jake. The Huskies have five on the roster — Jake Black, Jake Flynn, Jake Richard, Jake Percival, and Jake Veilleux.

That can result in some minor confusion, like when Cavanaugh was asked a question about Jake Flynn’s development that didn’t include his last name.

“Jake Flynn? I have five Jakes,” the coach said with a laugh. “I can put a whole line of Jakes out there. I might do that one game this year.”

Luckily, hockey’s propensity for nicknames prevented any problems from arising. Jake Flynn is Flynny, Jack Black is JB, Jake Richard is Richy and Jake Veilleux is Louie.

“We're pretty good at coming up with nicknames for the guys,” Flynn said. “Feel like ‘Jake’ hasn't been said too much.”

Flynn has it tougher than the rest of his fellow Jakes, though. Not only does he share his first name with four teammates, but there’s also another Flynn on the team: freshman forward Oliver Flynn.

“That’s the problem now,” Jake Flynn joked.

Once again, nicknames come to the rescue: Oliver Flynn is known as Ollie.

“Most of the guys have different nicknames. It's kind of a hockey thing so it's good that way,” Harrison Rees said.

Practice report

UConn spent Tuesday’s practice session working on its forecheck, angling, and offensive zone play, none of which provided much of an opportunity for evaluation.

The good news? The Huskies had near-perfect attendance with only freshman defenseman Bauer Swift absent for unknown reasons. The other 27 players on the roster were all full participants.