BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – The UCONN Huskies (3-2-0 overall, 1-1-0 HE) opened their Hockey East home schedule against the Maine Black Bears (2-3-0, 0-1-0 HE) in fine fashion beating the visiting team 5-2 before the smallest home-opening crowd for the team at the XL Center, 3,991.
“It was certainly nice to get a win in our home opener and give props to the crowd, they were fantastic. I’m very happy with the win. We didn’t get off to the start we wanted to, but we finished off the first well. The second period was stagnant with all the penalties, so it was hard to get in a good flow of the game. Going into the third, getting a couple of special team goals made the difference,” remarked UCONN head coach Mike Cavanaugh.
The Huskies got their two-goal advantage they were seeking shorthanded early in the third period.
Karl El-Mir was able to get to a loose puck before Maine defenseman Brady Keeper and from twenty feet out, snapped a shot past the seemingly impenetrable Jeremy Swayman at 3:53 of the third period. It was El Mir’s second of the game and fourth of the season.
“That was a great goal; a very good shot and gave us a big boost there. The line was solid, not only in scoring but getting pucks out of the zone, offensive zone winning faceoff battles. He (El-Mir) played one of the better games I’ve ever seen him play.”
Maine responded quickly. At 5:36, Emil Westerlund, a sophomore from Sweden, got a gift goal off a turnover from fellow Swede, Philip Nyberg. From twenty feet out, Westerlund snapped one upstairs over Adam Huska’s right shoulder on the short-side to bring the Black Bears back to within one goal at 3-2.
The Huskies used the grit and hustle that was missing against Quinnipiac to get the fourth goal. Like El Mir’s second goal, Carter Turnbull out-raced the Maine rearguard and fired a wrist shot from 35 feet that eluded Swayman’s glove hand at 10:40 re-establishing a two-goal edge.
It was Turnbull’s second goal of the year.
The Huskies used the power play and finally connected on their seventh chance of the night. Wyatt Newpower had his head up and moved in off the right point and fired a perfect pass that was redirected beautifully by Ben Freeman into the net for his second of the young season at 15:32. The goal made the score 5-2.
For Newpower it was his third assist of the night as the defensive corps was a force on both ends of the ice.
“It wasn’t just him tonight it was Philip Nyberg and Roman Canal. They moved the puck up quickly. Adam Karaschik played his best game of the year. Corson (Green) made a nice play on that first goal to get us going. Overall on the backend, we were pretty solid.”
Brian Rigali had no points but was a force on every shift. He took the body and made life generally miserable for the opposition and helped his team gain control of the game.
“Yes, he did play another strong game,” Cavanaugh said. “He’s been doing that all year. He’s a tenacious player and that’s how we want to play the game.”
Another important element was the return of team captain Miles Gendron from a sprained knee. He was self-deprecating.
“I thought I forgot what it was like to skate out there,” Grendon said with a smile and a laugh. “I got a little better as the game went on. Stayed out short shifts early till I felt good.”
The coach was more than happy to see him.
“It was nice to pencil him into the lineup and certainly got better as the game went along.”
In the second period, UCONN had four powerplay chances and weren’t able to cash in, but certainly, it wasn’t a case that they didn’t try, but Swayman was sensational in net.
UCONN freshmen Jachym Kondelik was visibly upset as Swayman denied him three times in the period.
At 2:57 on a shorthanded bid, then at 6:48 from the right wing circle after he set up Kyle Howarth seconds earlier.
A highlight glove save while in the butterfly was made by the Alaskan netminder on Kondelik, who was alone in the right wing circle after receiving a perfect cross-ice pass.
Newpower and Sasha Payusov did their best to turn the red light on, but Swayman denied them too.
“He’s an excellent goaltender, “ remarked Cavanaugh of the opposing goalie. “(He’s) a World Junior caliber goaltender. If you don’t get bodies in front of him, he’s gonna stop it.”
Huska faced just five shots for the period that were all quality chances with Jacob Schmidt-Jevstrup’s being the best. The shot came with 2:24 left in the period as Eduards Tralmakas, a sophomore from Latvia, came down the right wing got around a diving Brian Freeman.
Schmidt-Jevstrup tried a backhander that Huska stopped with his left skate and stayed with him. He got a second whack at the puck and Huska stopped that one too.
Nyberg had two chances as did Turnbull as Swayman handled all 16 shots tossed his way.
The Huskies early season penchant for allowing odd-man rushes cost them early as the Black Bears executed a flawless three-on-two break-in.
Maine junior Mitchell Fossier was on the left wing side and snapped a cross-ice pass to Adam Dawe. He fed Tim Doherty going down the middle with an open blade redirect for his third goal at 1:14 and the 1-0 lead.
The Huskies answered back in short order highlighting the importance of winning faceoffs.
Kondelik, a Nashville Predator draft pick, won the draw and kept control of the biscuit. He found Green at the left point and the fellow freshmen zipped a shot toward the net. Payusov had inside position on a Maine defenseman and redirected, his conference-best, fifth of the season at 4:44 to even the score at one.
Kondelik was involved in giving the Huskies their first lead of the night.
Along the right wing wall, Kondelik intercepted a clearing pass and turned quickly spotted El-Mir behind the Maine defense. The Montreal native swooped in and fired a low wrist shot along the ice to the stick-side at 18:18 for a 2-1 lead.
The extra effort was in evidence for most of the game despite being noticeably absent against Quinnipiac.
“Doesn’t matter whether you play Quinnipiac, Maine, or Boston College. You have to win battles if your gonna win hockey games. That was shown in winning the battle along the wall,” remarked Cavanaugh.
El-Mir and his linemates were in sync from that shift on.
“My linemates me, Kondelik, and Sasha have discussed communicating better and it has helped us the last three games. We talked to each other and we found those holes out there and he has seven assists. He finds us out there. I can’t be happier than that,” said El-Mir.
Huska’s strong goaltending kept UCONN in the game. He stopped twelve shots, including one with the buzzer about to sound on the power play. The attempt was a right-handed shot that came from the left wing circle from Maine’s Danish freshmen, Schmidt-Svesjstrup.
Rob Michel had three of the twelve shots that Huska turned aside.
NOTES:
The Black Bears took a lead in the series 5-4-3. In Hockey East competition the Huskies lead 5-2-2.
The first two meetings in 1977 and 1978 in Division 2 in the ECAC. North Maine won both games by the score of 10-2 and 10-4. The first Hockey East meeting was a 2-1 OT win for UCONN.
Over the last two years, the Huskies have finished with a .500 record at home after going below the .500 line their first season in Hockey East.
The Huskies snapped a two-game losing streak after beating RPI 3-1 in a non-conference meeting. This followed a loss in Providence in their Hockey East 7-2 loss in their opener after a 4-2 loss to Quinnipiac in Hamden.
The Huskies and UMASS-Lowell each have 12 freshmen in their lineup. Niagara University (AHC) and Quinnipiac University (ECACHL) lead the nation in that category.
Maine opened their season dropping two games to the defending national champion, University Minnesota-Duluth (#2 USA Today/#3 USHCO) 8-2 and 4-2.
Early season college hockey polls are like college football polls. A lot of it is based on reputation. The ECACHL who start on the later side, (three weeks behind everybody else) still have Cornell ranked #8 (USA Today/USHCO) and Princeton (#13 USCO/#14 USA Today). Neither has played a game.
One of the linesmen in the game was ex-Danbury Trasher and Bridgeport Sound Tiger, Dmitri Antipin.
Springfield native Kennedy O’Connor, who attends Loomis Chaffe, has given a commitment to UMass-Amherst for 2021-22.
