CANTLON: UCONN HOCKEY BACK IN ACTION 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

STORRS, CT –  The UCONN Huskies are finally back on skates and will play some hockey after a 10-day layoff after a false positive COVID-19 test kept them off the bench.

After postponing last weekend’s series against Northeastern, the Huskies return to the ice for a home-and-home series with New Hampshire Wildcats.  UCONN will host the Wildcats at Freitas Ice Forum on Friday at 4 PM and then head to the Whittemore Center in Durham, NH, for a 5 PM tilt on Saturday.

After a repeat of the testing, it was determined that the positive test within the program the university announced last week was, in fact, a false positive.  The entire team has continued to test negative, and the Huskies have been cleared to return to competition by the team’s medical personnel.

The Huskies were last in action on January 1 and 2 when they faced the Wildcats.  UCONN had a four-point weekend against UNH, getting their first road win of the season, 2-1, before an overtime loss at home, 2-1.

UCONN will still be without the services of 6’4″ winger Kale  Howarth, who has missed hockey for three weeks now with an upper-body injury. A defenseman, John Spetz, has healed from his ailment and is ready for action.

The UCONN roster will receive a boost with the return of sophomores Vladislav Firstov and Yan Kuznetsov, who had been playing for Team Russia at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championships since November.

The return of Firstov could ignite the Huskies’ power-play that has had its struggles. The Huskies power play is on a 3-for-42 (7.1%) streak and sits at the bottom of the 11-team Hockey East.

Both Firstov and Kuznetsov made history as the first Russian-born NCAA student-athletes to make Russia’s national team. Now that they are back and readjusted to the time zone change, they are ready for the second semester and a Hockey East run.

For the second time this season, UCONN junior goaltender Tomas Vomacka, was named the Hockey East Defensive Player-Of-The-Week.  Vomacka had a .970 save percentage as he stopped 98 of the 101 shots he faced in games against Providence College and New Hampshire.

He made 30 saves in helping the Huskies in the 2-1 win at New Hampshire.  Vomacka finished the week with a 30-save effort in a 2-1 overtime loss, in Storrs, to the Wildcats.

On the season, Vomacka has played every minute for the Huskies and owns 2.52 goals-against-average, and is ranked third in Hockey East in save percentage at .923.

Sophomore defenseman Roman Kinal got the game-winner in the win at New Hampshire.  The game-winning tally was Kinal’s second career goal and his first time finding the back of the net since his freshman season back during 2018-19.  Kinal missed all of last season due to an injury but has rebounded and played in all nine games this season. He has three points (1g/2a), eight blocked shots, and has a plus-5 on the year.

Junior, Jonny Evans, saw his career-best, six-game point streak (three goals/five assists) end in the overtime loss to UNH.  He has tallied at least a point in seven of the nine games this season.  Evans leads the team in scoring with nine points (three goals/six assists) and is tied for sixth in points in Hockey East.

Junior, Jachym Kondelik, is on a three-game point streak after recording four assists in UConn’s last action.  He leads the team with six assists and is tied for fourth in the category in Hockey East.

Junior, Marc Gatcomb, scored his third goal of the season against UNH while on the power-play.  The man-advantage goal was just UConn’s third power-play goal on the season and ended a 0-16 streak with an extra skater.

FORMER UCONN PLAYERS IN THE NEWS

Former UCONN Husky Max Letunov, presently with the San Jose Sharks, was among 18 players listed on the NHL COVID-19 Protocol List as unable to play as the NHL season begins.

NORTHEASTERN HUSKIES DEALING WITH COVID

COVID-19 and non-COVID health issues have hit the 13th ranked Northeastern Huskies.

Head coach Jim Madigan missed the New Hampshire game last night and the Boston College series (Jan. 15-16) due to close contact, non-player COVID-19 protocol,

Freshman goaltender Devon Levi (Dollard-des-Ormeaux, QC), fresh off his silver medal performance at the WJC tournament for Canada, is out with an upper-body injury. There has been no timetable set for Levi’s return. Levi posted three shutouts at the WJC tourney.

Huskies Associate Coach, Jerry Keefe, will serve as the acting Head Coach for at least the remainder of this week.

COLLEGE HOCKEY NOTES:

Tyrell Boucher, the University of Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves (WCHA) in the second-semester transfers inter-conference to Northern Michigan University since the Seawolves opted not to play this year and because the program is disbanding. Boucher’s transfer makes 55 transfers in the NCAA this season.

Two more college players sign with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (ECHL). Gordi Myer of Ohio State (Big 10) and Luc Brown from the University of Alaska-Anchorage enter the professional ranks.

Tyler Irvine of Merrimack College (HE) signs with Binghamton (AHL) nee Newark Devils for this year, making 209 Division I players who have signed pro deals and 346 total college player Division I and III to sign deals in North America and Europe.

The conference breakdown is; Hockey East has 38, the NCHC has 37, Big 10 has 35, ECACHL 34, WCHA 32, AHA 28, and NCAA Division I independent, Arizona State has four.

Wyatt Ege of Ohio State (Big 10) signs with HK Nitra (Slovakia-SLEL). Eriks Zohovcs of Alaska-Fairbanks (WCHA) heads back home to play with HZ Prizma Riga (Latvia-LHL).

Nikodemas Numavičius from Division III’s Middlebury College (NESCAC) also heads home to Lithuania. He is skating with Energie Elektrenai making 87 college players Division I and III have signed in Europe.

Connor Hutchison (Selects Academy at South Kent Prep) leaves the University of Vermont Catamounts (HE) after just six games to an unknown destination.