UConn lands '06 goaltender Veeti Louhivaara

UConn men’s hockey landed its replacement for Tyler Muszelik between the pipes, picking up a commitment from ‘06 goaltender Veeti Louhivaara. A native of Jyväskylä, Finland, he’s listed at 6-4, 207 pounds and catches with his left hand.

The New Jersey Devils selected Louhivaara in the fifth round, 146th overall, of the 2024 NHL Draft. He arrived stateside in December and joined the USHL’s Chicago Steel, where he owns a 3.02 GAA and .904 save percentage in 14 starts.

Louhivaara should join the Huskies next season, where he’ll compete with current freshman Kam Hendrickson for the starting job.

From EliteProspects’ 2024 NHL Draft Guide:

“Veeti Louhivaara is an exciting Finnish netminder, who is blessed with an ideal frame. He's a clean skater, with good balance and strong pushes. Louhivaara is also adept at moving from post-to-post, and can stretch all the way across while down in the butterfly with ease.”

UConn continues to tap into its burgeoning pipeline out of Scandinavia with the addition of Louhivaara. The net-minder is the program’s sixth player or commitment who’s either from the region or played there, joining Viking Gustafsson Nyberg, Filip Sitar, Elias Straume Vatne, Carl-Otto Magnusson and Darels Uljanskis.