BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – UCONN punched their ticket to the Hockey East semifinals with their first-ever playoff win in Hockey East, 3-1 over the #16 ranked Boston University Terriers on Saturday.
The win gave the Huskies 19 on the season (19-15, overall) and established a school record for the most wins in a single season in school history. The win also ended an 0-9 record in post-season play.
UCONN take on Northeastern, who were 3-2 winners over Boston College after another stellar Devon Levi performance. The game will be on Friday at 4:00 PM.
Levi stopped 100-of-103 UCONN shots two weeks ago in a two-game series.
CAVANAUGH EXCITED
As the seconds ticked off the XL Center scoreboard, Huskies Head Coach Mike Cavanaugh turned around and, with both fists, slammed the glass behind the UCONN bench. Ten years of emotion poured out and let out a primal scream joining the frenzied scene at the UCONN bench.
“It was raw emotion. When I came to UCONN, my goal was I wanted to build a blue-chip program, not a dot com (one with a transitory presence). Not win a few years and go back down again. A program that got better and better. Face it, we as a program hadn’t won a playoff game. We had great efforts, but we still hadn’t done it yet. So, when we finally did, it was raw emotion (that) came out.”
THE FINAL SAVE
A grad transfer from Union College, Darion Hanson, came to the Huskies with the second most playoff experience (19 junior A games) behind Jarrod Gourley (23 and a championship with Spruce Grove – AJHL) faced just one shot in the final 1:53.
“It felt like more,” Cavanaugh said with a laugh.
With the extra attacker on the ice for the Terriers, the last save for Hanson came off a left-wing circle face-off win by BU’s William Skoog. He got it back to Domenick Fensore at the left point and launched his fourth shot on the net. Hanson Hanson found the puck through a maze of players to make the save.
“They won the face-off. So it’s my job as a goalie to follow the puck at their point. I saw the release from the point. I didn’t see it a little bit and lost it. It came through some skates, then it hit something, deflected and it hit me in the hip. I was down on the ice, on my hands, and looked over and saw it there. The rebound was there for anybody to take,” Hanson said, recounting the scene.
“I didn’t see anything for a second, but then I saw (teammate) Marc Gatcomb came in and swept it away,” Hanson added. “When that happened I knew it was over. That’s something I’m not gonna forget for awhile.”
Hanson set a school record for Division-1 wins (19). He made 38 saves, with 19 of them coming in the third period as BU put pressure on.
BRADLEY BACK
Chase Bradley missed the last six games with an injury. He had a sure goal late in the first period that rolled off his stick, but he would capitalize later with an empty-net tally to secure the win. He tugged his jersey as he skated around the BU net. The UCONN bench and the fans erupted in spontaneous joy at the win.
“We missed him for six games and we were two-and-four without him. Having him and Nick Capone back in our lineup tonight created momentum for us. He’s a strong player, strong on the puck. He’s a strong presence for us.”
GAME-WINNING GOAL
Jonny Evans ended an eight-game goal-scoring drought with what proved to be the game-winner for UCONN. It was the game’s second goal and came off a strong play by Ryan Wheeler.
Evans’ shot went off BU goaltender Drew Commesso. The rebound went to Wheeler after hitting BU defenseman Domenick Fensore. The puck caromed to Marc Gatcomb, who calmly corralled the loose puck and set it on the backdoor to Evans, who went to the forehand and buried his sixth of the season past Commesso at 10:26.
Evans had no nervousness being around the semi-open net.
“Honestly, I didn’t think about it. I just wanted to get it over his pad. It was a slight angle, but we got a good bounce.”
Cavanaugh was very pleased with Evans.
“His compete level was high and he was making plays in front of the net. He could have had a couple of goals and did all the little things to be successful.”
Getting two, but especially getting that first past, Commesso was important.
“We came out strong and that was a point of emphasis getting one by him. Sometimes you do all that work and have nothing to show for it. We got that goal and felt pretty good about ourselves going into the second period,” remarked Cavanaugh of an 18-shot first period.
GOALS AND DEFENSE
Vladislav Firstov circled back in the offensive, made a perfect tip of Jake Flynn’s shot from the right point for the first UCONN goal.
The UCONN team defense limited Fensore and William Skoog to four shots apiece for the game and the lethal Luke Tuch to none.
“I’m glad for us. We practiced this all week and that we had a game like this, this the way it’s gonna be like (in the semifinals) the further you go the greater it will be.”
Fensore’s goal for BU (19-13-3) at 13:01 of the third period caused a tightening of UCONN’s neck collars. Fensore blasted a Jay O’Brien pass from the left-wing corner in the lower face-off circle. It would be the only puck to evade Hanson in the game.
HANSON STRONG IN THE THIRD PERIOD
Entering the third leading by two goals, Hanson was calm, cool, and collected as he evoked memories of another Connecticut goalie, Jeff Malcolm, who now finds himself just across the hallway as the goalie coach for the Hartford’s Wolf Pack (AHL). Malcolm led Yale to a national title in 2012. Malcolm also was calm, measured, and deliberate about facing that pressure heading into the third.
“To be honest, it’s nothing noteworthy. A big piece of being successful in the playoffs is you just try to block out the noise. It’s the third period. We’ve got the lead. It’s not like something we haven’t seen before. They are playing great and I have trust in these guys. We just went out and were shaving off minutes, one by one.”
Cavanaugh paid his goalie the props he deserved.
“He made that big-time save at 2-1, and he’s been doing that all year long for us. He’s been steady as a rock and he’s a super kid. He’s better off the ice, than on if you can believe that, and glad he is in our goal.”
Cavanaugh also didn’t shy away from the matchup of Jachym Kondelik, the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year, and BU’s Alex Vlasic. It’s a clash between two giant-sized players as Kondelik is 6’6 and Vlasic is 6’7.
“I think they were matching Vlasic on him, not the other way around,” Cavanaugh said with a wry smile. Kondelik was double-shifted in the third period. “He was named as the best defensive forward for a reason. He’s a strong player, and wins puck battles. The thing I’m most proud of with Jachym is how he has grown into it and become a real leader for this team.”
LINES
Gatcomb-Evans-Turnbull
Firstov-Kondelik-O’Neil
Schandor-Schlaine-Tverberg
Bradley-Capone-Veilleux
Kinal-Spetz
Wheeler-Rees
Flynn-Gourley
Berger
Hanson
Terness
SCRATCHES
Sasha Telguine
John Wojciechowski
Aidan Metcalfe
Gavin Puskar
Matt Pasquale
Cassidy Bowes
NOTES
Somewhere in the heart of Kansas City, where defenseman Miles Gendron, the former Huskies captain, plies his trade professionally in the ECHL, saw his declaration from over three years ago come true for this group of Huskies. He and his old collegiate and current teammate, Zac Robbins, can celebrate the UCONN victory as they got the mountain peak a little later than they wanted, but they got there.
