BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
NORTH ANDOVER, MA – The #22 UCONN Huskies won their third straight road game, fifth overall, and sixth of their last seven as Jachym Kondelik, Jonny Evans, and Jake Flynn had two points each to get a critically important 6-2 victory over Merrimack College.
The win puts the Huskies (15-11-0 overall, 11-6-0 HEA) in a third-place tie with Boston University and leap-frogged over Merrimack (14-12-1 overall, 10-7 HEA). The 17th ranked Providence College Friars (11-9-5 overall, 10-8-5 HEA) got the only three points in conference play on the night. It was Merrimack’s first home loss since December 8th.
The Huskies clinched the win 27 seconds into the third period as Evans scored on the team’s first shot of the period on Hugo Ollas (Rangers draftee), who was starting the period in relief of starter Zachery Borgiel.
Evans took a Carter Turnbull pass from a difficult angle and snuck in his fifth of the season to keep the momentum they had built in the second period going.
Chase Bradley closed the scoring with an empty-net goal as the Huskies’ play shut down Merrimack for most of the third.
THE SECOND PERIOD WAS BIG FOR UCONN
At 17:15 of the second period, the Huskies increased their lead by two goals.
A strong backcheck by Kondelik saw him get the puck and flip it into the Merrimack zone. Vladislav Firstov beat Swedish freshmen Adam Arvedson to the puck, pulled a 360, and while in the air whipped a backhanded shot into the net for his ninth of the season on the unsuspecting Borgiel. It gave UCONN a 4-2 lead.
After Merrimack tied the score at 2, UCONN went ahead to stay on an outstanding effort from New Jersey Devils draft pick Artem Schalaine. He used the neutral zone boards to feed Toronto Maple Leafs draft pick Ryan Tverberg who raced in on the right-wing and beat Borgiel on a short side at 3:25 to make it 3-2. The goal was his team-leading 12th of the season and third consecutive game. However, shortly before that, Merrimack had tied it.
Three seconds after a power play had expired, Ben Brar received a strong left-wing pass from Filip Forsmark on a quick three-way passing play. With a partial screen in front of Hanson, Brar registered his ninth goal at 2:27.
The Huskies ended the first period with the lead.
The Warriors struck first as Steve Jandric’s pass for Alex Jeffries returned to him on a power play, and he passed it to Max Newton in the slot. Newton hit the one-timer in the slot from one knee got it past Hanson at 7:23 for his 13th of the year.
The Huskies tied it just two minutes later at 9:09 as Marc Gatcomb (the Gunn School) went to the net and was stopped by Borgiel, but he didn’t control the rebound, and Turnbull got his seventh goal on a backhander to tie the game at one.
The Huskies took the lead at 2-1 as Roman Kinal came down the left side, circled the net came out on the right-wing side, and Borgiel again gave up the rebound that was left out in front as Kondelik picked up the garbage putting in his ninth of the year at 11:54.
Borgiel was a surprise starter by Merrimack coach Scott Borel as Hugo Ollas, who had an excellent first game against UCONN and had his first college shutout on the weekend.
LINES
Gatcomb-Evans-Turnbull
Firstov-Kondekik-O’Neil
Schandor-Schlaine-Tverberg
Capone-Veilleux-Bradley
Berger-Spetz
Wheeler-Rees
Flynn-Kinal
Gourley
Hanson
Terness
NOTES
#2 Quinnipiac added a big recruit today from the US National Development U-17 Team Nathan Tobey from Lantana, Texas for 2023-24 won again 4-1 over Brown tonight.
