By: Sam Zis, Howlings
STORRS, CT – Propelled by two goals from Hudson Schandor, the University of Connecticut Huskies defeated the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves in overtime, 4-3, in front of 2,691 at the first-ever students-only hockey game at Tuscano Family Ice Forum Thursday night.
At 2:37 of overtime, Ryan Tverberg found Schandor open and hit him with a tape-to-tape pass. Schandor then beat Seawolves goalie Jared Whale for the game-winner and his second goal of the game.
Despite the need for overtime, the Huskies controlled the contest throughout.
The Seawolves were dominant early, coming out of the gate quickly about building a 7-1 lead in shots in the first five of the game.
After a lot of back-and-forth play, the Huskies broke through first with 8:39 left in the period. Schandor tallied his first of the game off a sparkling pass from Justin Pearson. The puck hit Whale but found a way to squeeze into the net.
The Huskies had a power play opportunity at 15:17, Seawolves forward Connor Marrit took a tripping penalty, but despite some solid scoring chances, the Huskies still went to the locker room up 1-0 and managed to even up the shots at ten.
If there were any nerves on either bench to start the game, they were a distant memory by the time the second period started. The game was much more fluid, and both teams established flow and some consistency in their respective game.
UConn doubled their lead at 9:48 and broke the silence of the second frame off a slick deflection goal by Tristan Frase and assisted by Harrison Rees and Tabor Heaslip
The Seawolves would finally break through and cut the lead in half with just over 4 minutes left to play in the period. Jared White Buried a rebound on the power play. The assist was given to Dylan Findlay.
To start the third period, the Huskies were put on a power play when Seawolves defenseman Carson Kosobud took a cross-checking penalty at 2:00.
The Huskies capitalized as Connecticut native Nick Capone whizzed a one-timer past Whale to make it 3-1 in favor of the home team.
But the Seawolves refused to quietly and again cut the Huskies’ two-goal advantage in half just 35 seconds later when freshman forward Conor Cole found Matt Allen in front of the net for a point-blank shot, and it was 3-2.
Despite the Huskies’ dominant play, the Seawolves found the equalizer at 13:04 when Alex Gomez finished off a rebound surrendered by UConn netminder Logan Terness (28 saves) of a Maximilion Helgeson shot.
The Huskies pressed for the game-winner in regulation; however, they couldn’t beat the skilled Seawolves netminder.
After two unanswered goals to end regulation, it might have seemed to some that the Seawolves were in control with momentum, but the Huskies came out to OT on a mission.
No underestimating the fantastic effort from Whale (36 saves) that gave the Seawolves life in the game.
The University of Connecticut Huskies are set to face off against the University of New Hampshire Wildcats at home Saturday at 3:05 PM. UConn improves to 18-10-3 on the season and 6-2-3 in overtime.
