UConn men's hockey swept by UMass

For the first time all season, UConn men’s hockey failed to take a single point in a Hockey East series with the No. 12 UMass Minutemen taking a 3-1 win at the Mullins Center on Saturday night to complete a weekend sweep.

Ryan Tattle scored the Huskies’ lone goal in the two-game set with a one-timer in the second period. In goal, Ethan Haider did all he could in the loss, stopping 21 of the 24 of the shots he faced.

UConn didn’t have a power play but went 3/3 on the penalty kill.

UMass thought it opened the scoring a few minutes in, but the Huskies challenged for goaltender interference and won, which wiped the goal off the board. It didn’t matter, though. The Minutemen came back a few minutes later and officially took a lead when UConn left Cam O’Neill wide-open in front of net and he re-directed it in to make it 1-0.

In the second period, UMass made it 2-0 when Aydar Suniev got behind the defense and sniped a shot off the rush.

The Huskies finally scored their first goal of the weekend when Tattle blasted a one-timer in the slot off a pass from Matthew Wood, but the Minutemen answered back less than two minutes later when Cole O’Hara scored from the top of the circles on a shot that Haider never saw.

The first penalties were finally called late in the second. The Huskies were set to go on the power play but Nick Capone got called for roughing at the whistle, which wiped out the advantage before it began.

UConn never seriously threatened a comeback in the third. Despite a 37-27 edge in shots in the game, the Huskies took two penalties in the final stanza and never came close to goal to cut the deficit in half, let alone two to pull even.

After UConn won a challenge that wiped off a UMass goal for offsides with 2:55 left, it pulled the goalie. The extra skater didn’t ultimately make a difference, though. The Huskies never scored and fell by a final of 3-1.

The loss drops UConn to 12-15-2 on the season and 7-11-1 in Hockey East. The Huskies will have next weekend off before returning with a home-and-home series against No. 3 BU on Friday, Feb. 23.