CANTLON: (SAT) UNH CLIPS HUSKIES IN OVERTIME 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

STORRS, CT – Jackson Pierson scored twice, including the powerplay winner in overtime, to propel the UNH Wildcats to a 2-1 win over the UCONN Huskies on Saturday afternoon at Freitas Ice Forum.

The Huskies record falls to 3-5-1 while UNH improves to 2-3-1.

“I was happy for our team. It was a big win for us.”

Pierson was slotted on the goal line on the right-wing side with a four-on-three man-advantage. Patrick Grasso and Magnus Eriksson played pitch-and-catch and rotated up top.

Grasso sent a pass to Pierson, who wheeled in front, dead center. He did a small deke and UCONN’s Harrison Rees went down to one knee and partially blocked Tomas Vomacka’s view. Pierson snapped a wrister into the back of the net at 1:45 for his second of the game and the season.

Pierson’s patience and diligence paid off for UNH.

“Jackson is a talented and smart player. We want him out in a situation like that. He executed for big goals for us tonight. I’m happy for him. He is a big part of what we do, and I’m happy to see him rewarded tonight,” UNH Head Coach, Mike Souza said.

UCONN’s Head Coach, Mike Cavanaugh, tipped his cap to New Hampshire, who has had a lot of adversity to deal with to start the season.

“It was their third game in four days they played desperate hockey.”

Jonny Evans took his second ill-advised penalty of the game, a boarding call, during three-on-three hockey. Unwarranted penalties leave Cavanaugh one unhappy coach.

“It was unnecessary. Ya’ got to hold him up. You can’t hit him when you see the numbers (of the guy). I would say that that’s a fair assessment.”

UNH evened the game just a little over halfway through the third. Cam Gendron made a short pass in the UNH end of the ice that sent Angus Crookshank on his way for a rush up the right-wing boards.

UCONN captain, defenseman, Adam Karashik went to pinch into the deep right-wing boards and made a backhanded pass to a wide-open Pierson. John Spetz was watching Crookshank and not Pierson, who fired it past Vomacka at 12:48.

The Huskies, meanwhile, have had scoring chances of their own. Burying the puck in the net off of them, however, is an early-season issue for them.

“We have to get more pucks to the net; more bodies to the net,” Cavanaugh said. “It’s like a race to three. We have to be tougher and around the net.  We can’t expect to win games 2-0 or 2-1. We have to have games where we score three, four, five goals.

“We’re missing the net a lot. Carter Turnbull on a two-on-one rifles it off the glass. We have a chance on the powerplay and it hits the back of the glass. When you’re struggling to score goals, you’ve got to go five-hole, go for rebounds, tips that’s an area where we got to get better.”

Artem Schlaine had a backhander from 15 feet out that was stopped by UNH netminder, Mike Robinson (36 saves). Nick Capone, who played a strong game, hit the side of the net and on a three-on-one, he saw Eric Linnell lose control of the puck. When he got the puck under control, the open lane to Gavin Puskar had disappeared.

UNH is a team that hasn’t had a full team practice for three weeks with COVID and non-COVID illness. Despite that, they were playing their third game in four games and got stronger in the third period.

“We had talked about that (after) last night’s game. They’re a tough team to play against. They block a lot of shots to help (Vomacka) out. I’ve seen him a lot in the last few years. He clearly has developed into an elite goaltender, not a lot of rebounds or second opportunities for us. We were able to break through a couple of times. We’ll enjoy this and turn the page,” said Souza.

The UCONN PK came up big late in the second period to keep UNK off the board and protected their 1-0 lead.

The final 1:59 of the period was played almost exclusively in the UCONN end of the ice as they killed off a five-on-three that came after Evans blocked a shot and needlessly whacked the stick out of the UNH player’s hand.  That kind of selfish penalty didn’t please his coach.

“It’s never warranted unless a kid is on a breakaway. There is no reason to do that,” Cavanaugh responded briskly.

A team relies heavily on their best penalty keeper in those situations, and for UCONN, that meant Vomacka.

The UCONN netminder denied Grasso twice. The first for the right-handed shot came from the left-wing circle and the second with five seconds remaining in the period. Then, Eriksson from the right circle, and Crookshank from the slot as the Wildcats peppered Vomacka trying to tie the game late in the period as they tried to gain some momentum before the intermission.

Hudson Schandor did make an important intercept late in the first half of five-on-three to take some pressure off Vomacka.

On five-on-five play Vomacka came up big as Jake Flynn fell down behind the goal line and UNH’s Tyler Ward was right there to send the puck across the goal crease to Carson Rickels at the right side. Incredibly, Vomacka stretched as wide as a bridge to come across and deny the scoring attempt with 5:34 left in the period.

“He played great tonight, and both goalies played really well this weekend,”  Cavanaugh said.

After the denial of Rickels, 44 seconds later, West Haven native Eric Esposito had a breakaway coming off the right wing. The scoring chance had a goal written all over it, Spetz, dove and hit the puck before he hitting and spilling Esposito to the ice. By doing it in that order, Spetz was able to avoid what would have been a clear penalty shot.

The first period was a scoreless affair as both goalies picked up where they left off the previous night stopping several quality chances to get that first goal.

NOTES:

LINES:
Capone-Kondelik-Evans
Gatcomb-Schlaine-Turnbull
Robbins-Schandor-Rigali
Pushkar-Bowes-Linnell

Flynn-Karachik
Berger-Spetz
Kinal-Rees
Wheeler

NOTES:

Cavanaugh shifted Pushkar to the left side and put Linnell on his natural right wing and brough Cassidy Bowes back to center for the fourth line.

John Wojciechowski (healthy scratch) was out of the lineup.

Evans saw his career-best six-game point streak (three goals/five assists) end after he had tallied at least a point in seven of UCONN’s first eight games this season. Evans leads the team in scoring with nine points (three goals/six assists) and is tied for sixth in Hockey East in points.

Vomacka has played every minute in net (548:42) for the Huskies and through eight games and owns 2.52 goals-against-average and a .923 save percentage.

UNH leads the all-time series versus UConn, 17-9-1. Last year, the Wildcats went 0-2-0 versus the Huskies with two 7-4 defeats on Jan. 31-Feb. 1. The Wildcats are 2-2-3 versus the Huskies over the last six contests and 2-9-1 over the last 11 games.

The two schools had played just 12 times before UCONN joined Hockey East in 2014.

The Huskies two Russian WJC players and their teammates advanced to the semi-finals with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Germany. Yan Kuznetsov (Calgary/UCONN) logged 14:44 of ice time and Vladislav Firstov (Minnesota/UCONN) got in 10:30 and no shots on goal.

Kuznetsov was involved in a big late game-play as the Germans sought to tie the game.

Florian Elias, who scored earlier in the period, hit the crossbar had a wide-open left-wing lane. Kuznetsov, used every inch of his 6’5 frame by diving out, slowed Elias’s exigency but slid past him. However, it gave goalie, Jaroslav Ashkarov, time to set up and stop the backhanded bid and secure the win with nearly three minutes left in the game.

Finland won the battle of the North Atlantic in amazing fashion with three straight goals and scored the game-winner with 25 seconds left in regulation to win the quarterfinal matchup against Sweden 3-2.

Canada knocked off the Czech Republic with a 3-0 shutout as Devon Levi, under the guidance of ex-Wolf Pack great, Jason LaBarbera posted his second WJC shutout.

The US did its part having to overcome the stellar goaltending of Slovakia’s Simon Latkoczy and a third Slovak comeback that made it a one goal margin until John Farinacci, the nephew of ex-Wolf Pack and Sound Tiger and current Team USA assistant coach, Ted Donato, restored the two-goal lead that allowed the US to gain a 5-2 win

Next year’s UNH commit, William Margel (Selects Academy at South Kent Prep), leaves Lincoln (NE) Stars (USHL) for the Johnstown (PA) Tomahawks (NAHL).