BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
BOSTON, MA – Friday night, UCONN played a complete and robust game in all three zones holding an advantage in both shots and faceoff wins, leading them to a 4-1 win over the 14th-ranked Northeastern University at the Matthews Arena in downtown Boston.
“I think that was a complete game against a very good team,” UCONN Head Coach Mike Cavanaugh stated. “We had a good second period and finished it off in the third. We had four lines rolling, and everybody contributed.”
The Huskies record improves to 8-6-2 in Hockey East. They’re gaining momentum and remain hot at 5-1-1 in their last seven games and move into third place in Hockey East, inching ahead of the idle Providence College Friars.
SECOND PERIOD UPRISING
In the second period, UCONN outshot Northeastern 12-6, and they dominated at the face-off dot. In two key situations, they scored on both.
UCONN took advantage of a bad Northeastern (6-5-2) pass from New York Rangers draft pick Riley Hughes late in his shift. UCONN’s Vladislav Firstov got a loose biscuit and sent a pass to Artem Schlaine, who had just jumped on the ice. The pass put Schlaine all alone for a breakaway.
Schlaine’s patience allowed him to beat goaltender Connor Murphy through the five-hole giving him his first collegiate goal. He also extended his point-scoring streak to a season and team-high of six games.
“There’s a direct correlation to scoring goals and playing well,” Schlaine said. “Everyone knows their role, and it took me some time to get used to it. I’m still getting used to it,
“I just hopped on the ice. I was on the red line already, and I got a bit lucky, thanks to him.”
Schlaine helped UCONN build to a 42-25 shot advantage to that point in the game, leaving their head coach with a Cheshire Cat-like grin.
“It’s big for (his confidence). He’s halfway through his freshmen year. He has had a lot of chances to score. I told him to stick with it. They’ll go in for you.
“Vlad made a great pass to spring him for that breakaway. That’s a goalscorer’s goal, going five-hole like that. I hope this is a springboard for him for many more goals to come.”
EVANS DOES IT AGAIN
Zac Robbins hustled to get back and prevented Northeastern from getting an odd-man rush. On the next shift, UCONN’s red-hot Jonny Evans scored again for his team-leading and conference-best 12th goal of the season. His goal would prove to be the eventual game-winner.
Center Jachym Kondelik took a John Spetz pass and entered the NU zone. He spotted Evans jumping into an open seam on the left-wing side and then cut across to the right-wing past NU defenseman Michael Kesselring.
Evans waited until the last possible second when Murphy dropped to one knee, and Evans went through the wickets for a 3-1 UCONN lead. Evans shares the conference scoring lead with Bobby Trivgno of UMASS-Amherst.
“That was a very big backcheck for us, and Jachym and Jonny were at the tail end of their shift there,” Cavanaugh said. “Jachym pulled up and found Jonny, and he made a real good play going through a guy and made a play going five-hole.”
UCONN goaltender, Tomas Vomacka, came up with a big save at the last second of the period on a shot from Ty Jackson, who was alone at the right post. He got a piece of it as his lateral skills paid big dividends for UCONN.
THIRD PERIOD
In the third frame, UCONN continued to win draws and maintain puck possession. They made Northeastern chase them, and it paid off when UCONN scored a timely goal to expand their lead to two goals.
‘I give credit to Will Moran, who works with our guys on face-offs with our centers and studies face-offs. We had a pretty good game plan going in, and the players executed it. It’s important when you’re winning face-offs. You’re not chasing the game.”
Schlaine confirmed that practice had made a difference.
“We work on face-offs every practice, and we watch videos of the other teams’ face-offs. Going into a game is about preparation. We work all week long to prepare for our opponent.
Wheeler, a defenseman, was open and took a pass from Ryan Tverberg, a second-semester addition, in the slot and skated in from twenty-feet out. The shot went over Murphy’s left shoulder, off the post, and in. He had kept Northeastern in the game. For Wheeler, it was his second goal of the year and came at 5:52.
“Going into the third, some teams with a 3-1 lead might just want to chip it in and back off. We just keep coming, and that’s why we have been successful.”
POWERFUL POWER PLAY
Before the game, Cavanaugh was worried about the Northeastern conference-best power play.
It took all of ten seconds to get a 1-0 lead.
Northeastern won the draw cleanly. Zach Solow took it away from Adam Karashik and sent it to Jordan Harris, who put a perfect pass/shot on the net. Solow, Northeastern’s leading scorer, put his stick down on the ice and redirected his seventh goal of the season past Vomacka at 10:01.
Harris, a Montreal Canadien draftee and prospect, had great poise at the point. With 3:13 left, while back-skating from a check on Jake Flynn, he snapped a wrister off his back foot in an attempt to get a second goal, but Vomacka made the save on his low shot.
UCONN LINES
Vladislav Firstov–Jachym Kondelik-Jonny Evans
Marc Gatcob-Artem Schlaine-Carter Turnbull
Kale Howarth-Hudson Schandor-Ryan Tverberg
Zac Robbins-Brian Rigali-Nick Capone
Yan Kuznetsov-Adam Karashik
Carter Berger-John Spetz
Ryan Wheeler-Jake Flynn
Harrison Rees
Tomas Vomacka
GAME NOTES
UCONN doubled up Northeastern, outshooting them 42-25, and in winning face-offs 39-22.
Kondelik had two more assists and leads Hockey East with 16.
In other Friday night Hockey East action, Boston College’s Drew Helleson’s dramatic end-to-end rush led to a highlight-reel goal coming with one-tenth of a second left (4:59.9) in OT. It gave the Eagles a 4-3 OT win over their traditional longtime rival.
The University of New Hampshire knocked off UMASS-Lowell, 2-1. UMASS-Lowell lost to UCONN on Tuesday at Tsongas Arena.
UCONN could crack the nation’s Top 20 poll rankings on Monday.
Lindenwood University (Lake Charles, MO), just outside of St. Louis, and their Division-1 ACHA club team will make the jump to NCAA Division-1, as Arizona State also did, going from a club program to D-1 for 2022-23 season. The current head coach is former NHL defenseman Rick Zombo.
OTHER COLLEGE HOCKEY NEWS
Daniel Bäckström of Westfield State (MASCAC) signs with Kallinge/ Ronneby IF (Sweden HockeyEttan Division-1).
Verners Egle goes from AIC (AHA) to Liepaja (Latvia-LHL), making 85 college players signing in Europe. 348 total college players from Division-I and D-III to sign in Europe and North America.
Big college hockey meeting Friday and Saturday night as the 11th ranked Wisconsin Badgers travel to Minnesota to play the second-ranked Golden Gophers on Fox Sports North at 9 PM Eastern.
