Way-too-early predictions for UConn's biggest position battles

With UConn men’s hockey’s preseason starting on Tuesday, we wanted to make some predictions about the team before we got a chance to see them in person.

Forwards

The situation: UConn has 15 forwards for 12 spots on the four lines.

Locks: Barring a surprise, 10 players are locks to dress every game, assuming they’re healthy: Jonny Evans, Marc Gatcomb, Jachym Kondelik, Kevin O’Neil, Carter Turnbull, Vladislav Firstov, Nick Capone, Hudson Schandor, Artem Shlaine, and Ryan Tverberg have all proven themselves at the college level.

The battle: That leaves five players competing for two spots: John Wojciechowski, Cassidy Bowes, Gavin Puskar, Chase Bradley, and Sasha Teleguine.

Prediction: Bradley is UConn’s most highly-touted freshman forward — the staff views him as an instant-impact player who will play at the next level and Mike Cavanaugh compared him to Nick Capone. It’d be a surprise if he wasn’t in the lineup each game.

It feels safe to rule out Wojciechowski considering he’s played in just four games in three years. Although Teleguine is another well-regarded freshman forward who can supposedly fly and Puskar showed potential in limited action last season, we’ll give the nod to Bowes for the final spot. He played well in 11 games as a freshman and should only be better with one season under his belt.

Ultimately, it’s possible the 12th forward is a revolving door depending on both matchups and each player’s current form.

Defensemen

The situation: UConn has nine defensemen for six spots.

Locks: Jake Flynn is the only returning defenseman who played in every game last year, while Carter Berger, Roman Kinal, and John Spetz are both staples on the blue line. It’d also be hard to imagine Jarrod Gourley not playing a major role as a transfer from Arizona State.

The battle: Last season, UConn dressed seven defensemen every game by utilizing the extra skater spot. For the sake of this exercise, we’re only trying to fill the six pairings. That means Ryan Wheeler, Harrison Rees, Aidan Metcalfe, and Jake Veilleux competing for one position. Metcalfe and Veilleux are freshmen brought in for depth, so it’s unlikely they’ll factor in. We’ll go with Wheeler since he’s the senior, though the Huskies will probably just use the extra skater to dress seven defensemen again, meaning both will play.

Goaltender

The situation: UConn has to replace Tomas Vomacka, who played every minute of the season last year.

The battle: Union transfer Darion Hanson, junior Ryan Keane, sophomore Matt Pasquale, and freshman Logan Terness will compete for the starting job.

Prediction: Although Keane and Pasquale have spent the most time with the Huskies, it would take a massive upset for either of them to become the starter. Cavanaugh called this an open competition between all four players, but this is really a battle between the experienced Hanson and the high-upside Terness.

Hanson has already played three years of college hockey, so not much can surprise him. It also helps that he posted good numbers despite playing for some bad Union teams. The biggest knock of Hanson is that he didn’t play at all last season, so he might have to knock off some rust.

While Cavanaugh has shown he’s not afraid to put a first-year net-minder between the pipes (i.e Adam Huska and Vomacka), Terness would still have a steep learning curve if he was thrown into the fire.

Ultimately, Hanson probably wins out due to his experience but the goaltender battle will likely continue throughout the entire season. Even if Hanson starts against Sacred Heart, Terness may still end up as the No. 1 by the end of the year or at least get a few starts across the season.