BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
STORRS, CT – The UCONN Huskies regular season concludes Friday afternoon at the Freitas Ice Forum at 5 pm with a finale that has post-season implications and possibly a playoff preview.
The Huskies and the 15th-ranked Friars will meet for the third time this season. It will be a significant game because, for the second season in a row, they’ll play for home ice on the last day of the regular season.
In the updated Hockey East Power Index, UCONN and Providence are separated by just .02 in the standings. UCONN presently holds the fourth spot at 51.45, with Providence College fifth at 51.43. Northeastern is sixth with 50.53. Those Huskies square off with first-place Boston College this weekend.
“I feel grateful we were able to get 22 games in (this season), but we’ll not count our chickens yet,” UCONN Head Coach, Mike Cavanaugh, said with a chuckle in his weekly Zoom media press conference. “If you had told me that at the start of the year, I would have been ecstatic.”
Cavanaugh continued, “I’m looking forward tomorrow to the opportunity to play a team we’re neck-and-neck with. It’s two teams that are evenly matched up with, from the goaltending to the defense, to the forwards. We both play a physical brand of hockey and have skilled players, so it’s going to be an exciting match-up tomorrow, and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”
SPECIAL TEAMS ARE KEY
Special teams are critical in today’s hockey game college, minor pro, and at the NHL-level. Cavanaugh’s statistical breakdown bears that out for his team after having a game-winning power play last Saturday against Maine.
“In our eight regulation wins, we’re a plus-3, our seven overtime games a minus-1, and in our six regulation losses a minus-6. Right there, you see how evident and important special teams are to us and how important they’re going to be for us in the playoffs.”
The Hockey East post-season will get underway with three opening-round games between seeds 6-11 on Wednesday, March 10th. Seeds 1-5 automatically qualify for the quarterfinals, which is where UCONN would like to be and stay after the result of tomorrow’s game.
Following a reseeding, the quarterfinals take place on Sunday, March 14. The semifinals are set for St. Patrick’s Day, Wednesday, March 17, with the Lamoriello Trophy to be handed out in the championship game on Saturday, March 20. The tournament will use a single-elimination format, with each game hosted at the higher seed’s home arena.
GOALTENDING BATTLE
It will be a battle among the top goalies this weekend as the UCONN’s Tomáš Vomáčka (Nashville Predators) and the Friars sophomore, Jaxson Stauber, will be in their respective nets.
Each team posted a shutout win on their home ice earlier in the year. UCONN’s Vomáčka notched his career’s second shutout thanks to a 37-save effort in a 2-0 win in Storrs in late December. The Friars answered back with a 4-0 win at home in February, holding the Huskies to a season-low 20 shots in front of Stauber.
Cavanaugh’s approach to opposing goalies is unique. He doesn’t focus on them but instead places focus on his team and his forwards.
“One thing we don’t do is scout goaltenders. You can get into trouble with that; focusing if this guy has a weak glove, can be beat low blocker, and next thing you know, everybody’s trying to shoot there and misses the net, and it can get into your head.
SHOOT THE PUCK!
“The most important thing is to shoot-to-score. When you see the net, shot and shoot hard! Then get traffic at the net, take away his eyes and look for rebounds.
“I don’t care what level you play at; if you watched the NHL last night, there were a lot of rebound goals, a lot of screen goals, and all the goaltenders are really good. We try to avoid scouting a guy. You might say he’s aggressive; he comes out to the top of his paint area, or he’s a kid that plays deep (in his net). You might know if you have a breakaway you might have to contend with otherwise; it’s more about getting volume and traffic to the net.”
When asked if he felt his team accomplished that task last weekend in getting set for this game and the postseason, Cavanaugh replied, “I think we did both nights. We had 52 the first night and 47 the second night going into a weekend and putting 99 shots on net that’d a lot of volume. The numbers don’t lie regarding both goalies, as they have been excellent for their respective squads this season.”
Vomáčka has played the most minutes in Hockey East with 1,273:46, every single second of Husky hockey. Stauber is right behind Vomáčka at 1,216:00. Vomáčka has a 2.69 GAA and Stauber is third-best in the conference at 2.07.
Stauber is the son of ex-New Haven Nighthawks and Hartford Wolf Pack goalie Robb Stauber, who was the winner of the 1988 Hobey Baker Award at Minnesota.
Stauber has a 10-5-5 record in his first season in Hockey East. Vomáčka, a junior, is 9-10-2, but he has been a team MVP keeping the Huskies in games with some marvelous, acrobatic goaltending.
Two Hobey Baker nominees will be on the ice in UCONN’s Jonny Evans and the Friars Tyce Thompson (Milford/Salisbury School), the younger brother of one-time UCONN Husky star, Tage Thompson, who is with the Buffalo Sabres. He is the son of ex-Wolf Pack and current Bridgeport Sound Tigers head coach Brent Thompson.
Davis is undrafted, leads Hockey East with 13 goals, and is tied with Bobby Trivigno of UMASS-Amherst for the conference-leading scoring with 24 points.
Thompson, a New Jersey Devils draftee, sits in seventh place with nine goals and 21 points.
Cavanaugh sought to downplay the significance.
“They’re both great players, but we’re focused on playing a full 60 minutes… that thought hasn’t crossed my mind.”
The two players have been in the Top 10 in the Hockey East scoring standings all season.
Secondary offense the key to success in the post-season.
Carter Turnbull has a conference-high 86 shots and nine goals with 13 points. Brian Rigali, who has worked his way up to the third line, is a working buzzsaw at both ends of the ice.
“It’s integral; I really believe that. Brian is a four-year guy like Zach Robbins. We have four seniors in Brian, Zach, Adam (Karshik), the captain, and Brad (third-string goalie from England, Brad Stone). We will recognize these guys a bit tomorrow night.
“Right now, you need whoever is dressed; we need all of these guys to compete and chip in to be successful. You can’t ride just one line at this time of the year to win hockey games. Everybody is being counted on to make a contribution tomorrow night.”
Center Jachym Kondelik (Nashville) is in that mix despite zero goals, but he has a conference-best 17 assists.
Freshmen Artem Shlaine (New Jersey) has the third-best conference faceoff percentage at 59.9%
The Huskies will not have forward Nick Capone (Tampa Bay) (lower-body injury) for the game, and his physical presence will be missed. Cavanaugh doesn’t believe physicality resides in just one or two players and the big bone-crushing check he delivered this year.
“It has to be a collective effort. It can’t be just one guy when we’re playing well; we’re all playing physical. Bring physical has a lot of different meanings. It’s just not just delivering a hit that knocks a guy over. Going to the net is physical play; being strong in front of the net is physical play; taking a hit to make a play is a physical play.
“There are a lot of different definitions. So many fans and people get caught up with the big hit that is a momentum builder, no question about it but winning puck battles and getting to the front of the net, clearing out the front of your net, those are physical plays we have to be really good at collectively.”
Forward Vladislav Firstov (Minnesota) is still questionable to return (lower-body injury). On Thursday, Firstov will be evaluated whether he will skate on the ice and see if he will be game-ready.
“He has skated this week. I’m not trying to be coy. He has not had a full-contact practice yet. He’ll try to go today (Thursday) and will know more after today.”
The defense will be tested with two premium shot-blockers, John Spetz with a conference-best 49, and captain Adam Karashik with 30 will try to do their best to help Vomáčka out keep PC at bay.
