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Weekly Roundup: Mike Cavanaugh is happy at UConn
Plus other news and notes from the groundbreaking ceremony last Saturday.
After signing a five-year extension that will keep him at UConn through the 2025-26 season, Mike Cavanaugh is thrilled to be staying in Storrs for years to come.
“I don't really want to go anywhere else,” he said at the groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday. “I've enjoyed my time here. My family's become acclimated to the area, the hockey community here is second to none.”
With Cavanaugh set to enter his ninth season with the Huskies, the program is finally beginning to mature. The team has finished fifth or better in three of the last four seasons in Hockey East and as Cavanaugh reminded everyone at the groundbreaking, only three programs have consistently finished higher than UConn in that timeframe.
Though the lack of playoffs wins are an issue — and will remain one — Cavanaugh has turned UConn into a competitive team in Hockey East. While the program has higher aspirations down the road, UConn athletic director David Benedict believes Cavanaugh has surpassed the current set of expectations.
“He's competing beyond what we really have here as far as resources and so when you see coaches that have the ability to overachieve, it says something,” Benedict said.
As the sun begins to set on #IceBus 2.0, the next step for the program will be to compete for the Hockey East Championship and become an NCAA Tournament team on a consistent basis.
“[The Connecticut hockey community has] supported us through those tough times and I'm looking forward to the days where we're raising a trophy and this whole crowd’s there as well,” Cavanaugh said.
No firm date on roster finalization
With the NCAA lifting its recruiting dead period on June 1 for the first time since the pandemic began, UConn’s staff will finally be allowed out on the road to try to fill the two open spots on the roster: One defenseman and one forward.
That’s the plan for now, at least. Though the Huskies don’t expect to have any more departures from the roster, they can never be sure.
“Geno (Auriemma) and I were golfing and he says ‘At what date can you know that your team's all coming back?’ I go, ‘I don't. Not until classes begin,’” Cavanaugh said. “I've been in that situation before, we're in August and an NHL team wants to sign a player and it happens you can't blame that kid when that happens. That's their dream. We'll never get in the way of a player's dreams so if that happens, it happens.”
If a player does leave for the pros late in the summer, Cavanaugh mentioned that it’d be “really hard” to try to replace them. In that situation, they’d likely bring in one of their already-committed players or just carry one less player at whatever position it is.
Tribute to UConn’s past hockey facilities
During the groundbreaking ceremony, Benedict took a moment to reflect on both Freitas Ice Forum and the old outdoor ice rink where the Huskies played during their Division III days.
“The Freitas Ice Forum was a major upgrade from the outdoor rank which many of you were talking about earlier, that I'm sure so many people here remember,” he said.
Later, UConn women’s hockey coach Chris MacKenzie asked for a show of hands to see who skated at the outdoor rink.
“You’re dating yourselves,” he quipped to those with hands raised.
Other notes from the groundbreaking
During MacKenzie’s speech, he also gave a shoutout to some of the players in attendance, including Lexi Lersch, who played for the Huskies from 2013-17 and holds the program record for the most penalty minutes.“I'd like someone to name the penalty box after her in the new rink because of all the time she spent there,” MacKenzie said.
UConn rising senior Camryn Wong will have a chance to play in the 2022 Winter Olympics with Team China.
Apparently, UConn had trouble getting mail to Freitas Ice Forum, something Benedict eventually resolved.“David and I have a strong relationship,” Cavanaugh said. “The thing I find most impressive is that when he says something's gonna get done, it gets done whether it's helping me get the mailman to come to us — which never happened for years. He got that done.”