UConn men's hockey blows out Union, 5-0

UConn men’s hockey broke out of its funk with a dominant 5-0 win over the Union Garnet Chargers on Saturday. The Huskies got three goals in the second period from Matthew Wood, Chase Bradley, and Tristan Fraser then capped the victory with goals from Ryan Mahshie and Fraser (again) in the third.

UConn out-shot Union 69-22 — its most shots on goal since putting 61 on net in a loss to Northeastern back in February 2021 — and totaled 101 attempts. Ethan Haider recorded his first shutout for the Huskies and the eighth of his career.

UConn dominated the opening 20 minutes despite going into the first intermission scoreless. The Huskies had 44 attempts and out-shot Union 30-5 but couldn’t get one through. UConn hit the post three times before its first goal while Kyle Chauvette made a handful of impressive saves as well.

The breakthrough finally came courtesy of Wood. Hudson Schandor won a face-off in the offensive zone and the sophomore skated in and sniped a shot top-shelf to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.

In the second period, the luck finally turned in UConn’s direction. Samu Salminen sent a looping puck over the goalie, which landed on the back side of the net. Bradley skated in and poked it home to double the lead.

After that, the dam finally broke. Just over a minute later, Fraser re-directed a shot from Tabor Heaslip past Chauvette to give the Huskies a commanding 3-0 lead.

In the third period, Union thought it scored twice only for both to be waved off. First, the puck went under the side of the net then later, the Garnet Chargers were whistled for goaltender interference.

After two close calls, UConn put the game away for good.

Mahshie recorded his first goal for the Huskies by knocking in a loose puck on the goal line while the final strike came with just over a minute left. Fraser skated in on a 2v1 and when the defenseman took away the pass, he ripped a shot glove-side for his second goal of the night.

The 5-0 scoreline held as the final to snap UConn’s three-game losing skid. Tabor Heaslip recorded a pair of assists while Schandor had eight shots on target and an assist.

With the victory, the Huskies improved to 2-3-1 on the season. Next, they’ll begin Hockey East play with a trip to UMass Lowell on Friday.