With banners in the rafters, UConn women's hockey turns focus to new season

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When fifth-year forward Jada Habisch returned to campus for the fall semester, she got into Storrs late. By the time she made it over to Toscano Family Ice Forum to drop off her hockey bag, everything was dark — with two exceptions.

UConn women’s hockey’s new Hockey East regular season and tournament championship banners were lit up in the rafters.

“It took my breath away. It was so amazing to finally see it,” Habisch said. “We won Hockey East. We made it to the NCAA tournament. But finally seeing some recognition up in our rink was amazing.”

Hanging over the north end of the ice, the banners commemorate the best season in UConn’s history to this point. The Huskies went 25-8-5 (19-4-4 in league play) with a 12-game unbeaten streak to win Hockey East’s regular season title. In the postseason, they rolled through Holy Cross before beating BC and following it up with a thrilling 1-0 win over Northeastern to claim the conference tournament title.

That punched UConn’s ticket to its first-ever NCAA appearance, where it ultimately fell to Minnesota Duluth in triple overtime.

On the eve of the new season Thursday night, the Huskies celebrated that historic season by handing out championship rings.

Now, the focus shifts to the future. UConn’s quest to repeat as Hockey East champions and return to the NCAA Tournament will begin with arguably its toughest test of the season: No. 3 Minnesota. The Golden Gophers come to Storrs as the last team to hand the Huskies back-to-back losses after sweeping them in a series last January.

UConn hasn’t forgotten.

“We are hungry for some revenge there, going out of that weekend 0-2,” Habisch said. “No better team to start off this season.”

Even though the Huskies failed to pick up a win on that road trip last season, they kept both games close and came out confident that they could play with the nation’s best. They took off from there and closed out the year 14-2-3.

“We got better from playing them last year,” head coach Chris MacKenzie said. “I felt like we were a little star struck there for a bit. But for the next five periods that we played them — of the six we played — we got better as it went on. After that, if you look at our record, we got way better from that.”

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UConn is hoping the same will be true this year. While the Huskies are ranked No. 9 in the USCHO’s Preseason Poll and beat No. 10 Quinnipiac in overtime of an exhibition last Saturday, the Golden Gophers will be a different type of test.

After all, despite everything that the team accomplished last season, UConn isn’t satisfied. The Huskies still needed Hockey East’s automatic bid to reach the NCAA Tournament and lost in the first round once they got there. There’s still work to do.

“We're building every year,” MacKenzie said. “One of our goals as a coaching staff was to get some banners in the building… It's nice to capture some and I think it gives you energy for attempting to get more.”

It’s not just about the hardware, either. The players want to change how UConn is viewed by the rest of the country.

“We like to joke that UConn is not only a basketball school, but it's starting to become a hockey school,” Habisch said. “So we’d like to keep that going.”

At the very least, the Huskies are getting some respect from Hockey East. They topped the league’s preseason poll for the first time in program history while Toscano Family Ice Forum was recently named the host for the Hockey East championship game.

That means UConn has to live up to the billing.

“We're happy to host,” he said, “we just better be in that game.”

It’s not like the Huskies need any additional motivation, though. Not long after Habisch first saw the new banners hanging in Toscano, she started thinking about where the next ones will go.

“I told Wulfie (assistant coach Elizabeth Wulf), ‘Where are we gonna hang up the next one? Are they gonna add the next year? What are they doing?’ She said, ‘Well, that's a good problem to have, so we'll figure it out at a later date. But let's get there first,’” Habisch said. “It's fun, and we're all excited to keep pushing this year.”

Names to know

Jada Habisch — Forward: As a senior, Habisch led UConn with 18 goals — seven more than her next closest teammate — and 28 points. She decided to return for her extra fifth year and will serve as the Huskies’ co-captain.

Riley Grimley — Forward: Also wearing the “C” on her sweater will be Grimley, a senior who put up eight goals and 11 assists last season. She’s already off to a strong start in the new campaign, recording a goal and an assist in a 2-1 overtime win over No. 10 Quinnipiac last Saturday.

Ashley Allard — Forward: While Allard had a nice freshman season with six goals and 10 assists, she’s only scratched the surface so far in her career. She’s the top breakout candidate on UConn’s roster.

Tia Chan — Goaltender: While UConn split time between its two net-minders last year, Chan started the most games and more importantly, got the nod in the biggest contests. She backstopped the Huskies in every postseason game, allowing just four goals in 305+ minutes of action. On the year, Chan owned a 1.30 goals against average and .951 save percentage — the latter of which was tied for second-best in the nation.

Megan Warrener — Goaltender: While Chan was the No. 1, Warrener put up eye-popping numbers as well. She also had a .951 save percentage and led the country with a 1.01 goals against average.

Ava Rinker — Defense: The veteran in a defensive corps that features a pair of freshmen and a transfer, Rinker should be UConn’s top blue liner. She had three goals and 10 assists last season and scored the overtime game-winner against Quinnipiac on Saturday.