Weekly Roundup: Freshmen forwards beginning to emerge

Both Chase Bradley and Sasha Teleguine have impressed in the last few games.

December 01, 2021

Welcome to the UConn Hockey Hub newsletter, which catches you up on all the stories, trends, and anything else you might have missed, along with some quick takes and leftover notes from the weekend.

Weekend Notebook

Freshmen forwards beginning to emerge

Statistically, UConn’s freshmen forwards haven’t done much this season with Chase Bradley and Sasha Teleguine combining for just one goal and four assists.

But over the last few weeks, both players have begun to emerge. In the Huskies’ win over UMass Lowell, Bradley had one of the best games of his young career and didn’t even record a shot on goal. Instead, he did all the little things like forechecking, winning puck battles and putting himself in the right spot.

“Chase is just a horse,” Mike Cavanaugh said. “He gets up and down the ice. He finishes checks. He's got an excellent stick, he breaks plays up.”

Bradley, a seventh-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings in 2020, was UConn’s top 2021 recruit. Although he was invisible early in the season, Bradley has begun to find his role for the Huskies over the last few weekends, even if that’s not showing up in the box score. Cavanaugh believes that will come eventually, though.

“He's got some offensive ability,” Cavanaugh said. “I don't think he's even tapped that potentially yet, but that's coming.”

During the preseason, Teleguine looked like he’d be an immediate impact player with his speed and skill, though that hasn’t panned out yet. Each week, he’s fighting for a spot on the line sheet and has already been a healthy scratch four times this season.

On Saturday, Teleguine recorded his second assist of the year and flashed throughout the game despite taking zero shots on goal. Afterwards, Marc Gatcomb went out of his way to highlight the freshman.

“I think one guy [that] stuck out is Sasha,” Gatcomb said. “He was playing great all game.”

The senior didn’t stop there, though. When he was asked how much Teleguine has developed since the start of camp, Gatcomb instead chose to compare the freshman to one of the most talented players in program history.

“He's by far the fastest guy on the team. He flies around,” Gatcomb said. “Once he gets a little maturity, he will be unbelievable. I mean, he has all the skills to be the best player on the ice. He reminds me a lot of Ruslan (Iskhakov) how he skates, his vision, his skill. He's gonna be a special player.”

That’s incredibly high praise for Teleguine, especially coming from someone like Gatcomb, who’s seen a lot during his four years at UConn.

With how much talent there is around them at forward, neither player needs to produce a lot of points. While that would be a major boost to the Huskies’ offense, the two freshmen just need to continue playing well. If they can do that, UConn will be a difficult team to slow down.

Shlaine, Schandor finally find the back of the net

Not only did UConn break out offensively in the win over Colgate, both Artem Shlaine and Hudson Schandor scored their first goals of the season.

“To get some guys off the schneid…I think certainly helps their mental process,” Cavanaugh said.

Schandor had been doing his best Jachym Kondelik impression with no goals and eight assists entering Saturday, but beat the goalie five-hole to notch his first score of the year. He also added an assist in the win, making him the fourth Husky with double-digit points this season.

Meanwhile, Shlaine needed 16 games to get his first goal as a freshman and it took him 14 games to get his first as a sophomore. Despite the lack of scoring, Shlaine is consistently dangerous for UConn but needs to improve his shooting to light the lamp more often. His shots are frequently easy for opposing goaltenders to stop and are often right in the bread basket, which doesn’t allow for any rebounds or second-chance opportunities. If Shlaine can be a better shooter, he could quickly become one of the Huskies’ top scorers.

Links

Play of the week

Three stars

First star: Marc Gatcomb

Not only did Gatcomb predict the offensive outburst, he kicked it off with UConn’s opening goal and followed it up with an assist on Schandor’s score. Gatcomb continues to be one of the Huskies’ best players and stepped up in Jonny Evans’ absence.

His five goals are tied with Vladislav Firstov for second on the team while his 12 points are tied for second with Kondelik. Gatcomb also leads the team with 46 shots.

Second star: Artem Shlaine

Gatcomb’s first goal came courtesy of Shlaine. The sophomore pinned the puck in the corner along the boards and then kicked it back to Gatcomb. Later, Shlaine sent a beautiful pass that set up a one-timer from Nick Capone before scoring one of his own two minutes later. Now, Shlaine will try to turn his breakout performance into consistent production.

Third star: Harrison Rees

Who would’ve guessed that Harrison Rees and Ryan Wheeler would be UConn’s best defensive pairing?

Rees scored his third goal of the season on Saturday, giving him more than all but five other Huskies including Jonny Evans and Carter Turnbull. The junior is also the first player over 20 blocks with 22 and has three more than Wheeler.

Rees continues to be a steady, all-around defenseman for UConn.

“Harry's another one who really kind of shines in the dark,” Gatcomb said. “He does a lot of little things that you may not see as an average viewer but he’s really key to our defense this year.”