Weekly Roundup: UConn hangs with No. 1 BC

The Huskies only took two of six points from the Eagles but they certainly weren't outmatched.

January 26, 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.

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Weekend Thoughts

  • UConn and Boston College played four times this season and the two teams split the points evenly. That is a massive win for the Huskies no matter what.

  • BC’s Spencer Knight is just ridiculous in goal. Mike Cavanaugh thinks he might be the best goaltender Jerry York’s ever had at BC — which is high praise considering Cav spent 18 years with the Eagles.

  • I also think UConn scoring five goals against the Eagles is more impressive than the 14 against UNH. Not only did the Huskies have to work to get past Knight, but BC’s defense is also fast and attacks the puck well.

  • Friday night’s two-goal comeback in the final three minutes to earn (what amounts to the same result as) a win probably ranks among the top games in UConn’s Hockey East history. The Huskies’ first win against BC remains at the top with the BU comeback in 2017-18, the win over No. 2 UMass on senior night in 2018-19, the comeback against the Minutemen last season, and the win at home against the Eagles earlier this season are also on that list.

  • The new points/record system just doesn’t add up. Even though a regulation win counts for three points and an overtime win only counts for two, yet those two results are both tallied in the win column. But a shootout win, which also counts for two points — the same as an overtime win — is only a tie? That doesn’t make sense.

  • Geno Auriemma joining the broadcast on Saturday for a few minutes was incredible entertainment. I knew he was good friends with Cav but I’m interested to ask him this week if he had been to a UConn men’s hockey game before. He was really into it and genuinely seemed to be enjoying himself.

  • It’s also cool that York secured his 1,100th career win with Auriemma in the house, especially considering Auriemma himself reached that mark last Tuesday.

  • While on the topic of Geno, he mentioned that if Cav’s teams only ever played top-five opponents, they’d win almost every game. He’s not wrong — UConn’s always played well against really good teams, even since the early days of Hockey East.

  • However, I think letdown potential is a worry. The Huskies played really well against BC and have claimed 51.3 percent of possible points despite a schedule packed with ranked teams. But if UConn is matched up with Maine or Merrimack this weekend, will it maintain this high level or will it play down to the opponent? That is a major question for this team to answer still.

  • Having said that, I’m not sure there’s a more #IceBus thing than having to prove you can beat bad teams. Incredibly on-brand for the program.

Links

News

  • UConn picked up 19 extra votes in the USCHO top 20 poll. The Huskies are now up to 21 votes, good 24th in the country.

  • No UConn players earned any weekly Hockey East honors.

Three stars

Each week, we’ll highlight UConn’s top performers from the weekend.

First star: Jonny Evans

Evans claims the first star after scoring the game-tying goal with a minute left on Friday night and burying his chance in the shootout. He continues to be UConn’s best player and is 14 points with seven goals and seven assists on the year.

Second star: Tomas Vomacka

Vomacka couldn’t quite out-duel Knight this weekend but he came close. He stopped 65 of the 71 shots he faced and made some of his best saves of the season on Saturday.

Vomacka’s goals against average is down to 2.80, which would be the ninth-best in program history. As long as UConn doesn’t play BC or UMass again, that number should only continue to drop.

Third star: Vladislav Firstov

Firstov had a quiet weekend (for his standards) with just one assist. However, that assist led to Evans’ game-tying goal on Friday and was called a “pro pass” by Cavanaugh.

Firstov also scored UConn’s opening goal on the shootout — a critical play even if it doesn’t end up on his final line.

Scoreboard

Friday, Jan. 22

Men’s:Providence 0(1), UMass 0(0) OTBU 3, Maine 2 (OT)Merrimack 5, UNH 2

Women’s:UNH 3, Merrimack 2Northeastern 4, Providence 1

Saturday, Jan. 23

Men’s:BU 5, Maine 1UNH 2(2), Merrimack 2(1) OTUMass 1(1), Providence 1(0) OT

Women’s:BC 2, UConn 1 (OT)Northeastern 5, Providence 0BU 1, Maine 0UNH 4, Merrimack 0

Sunday, Jan. 24

Women’s:Maine 2, BU 0