BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
STORRS, CT – The red-hot UCONN Huskies come off a big, convincing win over Merrimack on Tuesday night and head on Friday night to Chestnut Hill at Kelley Rink to take on Boston College.
While the BC tiger may have lost a fang and doesn’t have lots of bite at the moment after being defeated in its Beanpot game, Cavanaugh was giving nothing away and has nothing but respect for his former coach, Hockey Hall-of-Famer, Jerry York.
“We played a pretty complete game against Merrimack on Tuesday night, but that’s not gonna help us tomorrow night against the Eagles,” Cavanaugh whose squad owns a five-game road winning streak and has won five of their last six contests, said.
“I was very impressed with them in the Beanpot on Monday night. I thought they deserved better in that game. They controlled a lot of it, but they ran into a hot goalie. They’re really, really skilled up-front with Nesterenko, Cruz, Ambrosio, and Giles. Giles is having a breakout year. It’s gonna be quite the challenge for us.”
BC fell to fourth place because Boston University won 4-1 over Providence College on the strength of two Jay O’Brien power play goals on the road at Schneider Arena.
SENIOR LEADERS
UCONN’s resurgence and elevation in the standings is a result of the strength of its senior leadership.
“We have some great seniors, including three grad transfers. That’s ten alone with those players. The upperclassmen have provided stability and experience to the team and have played a lot of hockey in February. They know what it takes to win. The credit goes to them.”
The team’s big guns are Jachym Kondelik, Jonny Evans, Vladislav Firstov, and Ryan Tverberg. They have led the charge scoring big goals.
“We have scored six goals in each of the last two games and nobody has had more than two. That shows we have a lot of depth on this team. That means more to me than a couple of guys carrying the team. When you’re getting contributions up-and-down your line up, that usually means your team is in-sync and playing well.”
KONDELIK
Kondelik’s metamorphosis from his first days being recruited from Muskegon (USHL) to winning that battle over BU, to being drafted by the Nashville Predators (NHL) to wearing the “C” has been something.
“Assistant coach Joe Peirara said, ‘I want you to take a look at this kid.’ I was in Pittsburgh (at a USHL Showcase tournament). He was intriguing, big at the time. I remember (former NHL’er) Brian Boyle when I recruited him (at BC). There wasn’t a lot of action there (yet). So much is expected of bigger guys. I liked his skill set and it came down to us and BU. He really liked his visit here and we had Tomas Vomacka (now playing with Nashville’s system) committed here, so it was good to have another Czech kid he felt comfortable with him.
“Watching him grow has been fantastic. He’s not only blossomed into not only a good college hockey player, but he has also grown into a high-end (player) who can play in the National Hockey League.”
He has certainly improved his skating to be considered for an NHL deal from Nashville.
In discussing the putting together of his top line of Kondelik, Firstov, and Yale transfer Kevin O’Neil, Cavanaugh was willing to be a bit self-deprecating about it.
“Luck!” he said with a droll laugh. “I’d like to say it was strategic, but Kondelik and Firstov have played together in the past. They all bring a different element to the line.
“Kevin’s a realty player, as in he competes (for the pucks). Vlad is a super high-end skill guy as you saw the other night with his highlight-reel goal against Merrimack. They all really compliment each other well. They have skill. They compete well, and play great defense. They don’t cheat on defense and that creates a lot of offense.”
Cavanaugh’s lineup is healthy and he once again deferred to wait until after practice to name his starting goalie, which, except for one game, has been Darion Hanson.
