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UConn men’s ice hockey had memorable moments, but fell short of its goals in 2023

dom amore, hartford courant
·4 min read

STORRS – The rink UConn built for hockey, built for days like Saturday, fulfilled its promise. It was full, and it was loud.

And it swelled in volume as the 2,600 fans tried to will the Huskies to a victory with the season on the line.

But something happened. Gustavs Davis Grigals, an outstanding, experienced goaltender having a great day, happened.

“I remember [longtime Boston University coach] Jack Parker said, ‘sometimes they should call this game goalie and not hockey,'” UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh said, after Grigals and UMass-Lowell eliminated the Huskies with a 2-1 victory in the Hockey East quarterfinals at the Toscano Family Ice Forum. “I thought [Grigals] was great. I’ve got to tip my cap. … When you have the puck that much and you’re playing in their end, I can’t fault my guys, they left everything on the ice, they competed as hard as they could, we were smart, we were disciplined, all the things we asked them to be, we were. We just didn’t get the puck by Grigals.”

UConn finished with a 41-18 edge in shots, and that included several quality opportunities by its top scorers, but all but one of those shots was stopped by Grigals, a grad-student from Latvia, Hockey East All-Star and Hobey Baker Award nominee. With 1:29 left in the game, after Cavanaugh pulled his goalie, Nick Capone’s goal, in a mad scramble in front of the net that was reviewed for possible goaltender interference, was all the Huskies could muster in the way of offense. Freshman Matthew Wood picked up an assist on the play.

And that ended a UConn hockey season that started with great promise – 6-0-1 and 10-3-3 – and had a number of memorable days and nights. The Huskies reached the top 10 in the national rankings for the first time in program history in November, rising to No. 6 after splitting two games with UMass-Lowell. But they lost high-profile games to Cornell at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 26, to Northeastern at Fenway Park Jan. 7, the first game at the new arena to Northeastern Jan. 14 and the CT Ice final at Quinnipiac on Jan. 28.

Two late season losses at New Hampshire dropped the Huskies out of the top 16 in the Pairwise rankings, which put them in a position to have to win the Hockey East championship to gain the first NCAA Tournament berth in school history. Last season, UConn reached the final in Boston, losing in overtime to UMass. This time, despite home-ice advantage, the Huskies (20-12-3) couldn’t win the quarterfinal game and get back there.

“It’s disappointing because of the start we had,” Cavanaugh said. “However, this is back-to-back, 20-win seasons for the program. That’s never happened before. We lost 65 percent of our scoring last year, and our goaltender [Darion Hanson], so I’m really proud of the effort these guys gave. There weren’t many nights when we didn’t show up and play. We competed on a nightly basis. They did the right things off the ice. It’s disappointing we’re not going to The Garden next week, because I thought we had a team that could compete there, and I still do.”

UConn bid goodbye to seniors and grad students Ryan Keane, Roman Kinal, Ty Amonte, Justin Pearson, Jake Flynn and Harrison Rees. Among those expected to return are top scorers Wood, 18, a projected first-round draft pick, who had 11 goals and 23 assists, Hudson Schandor (11 and 21) and Ryan Tverberg (15 and 15).

Goalies Arsenii Sergeev (2.61 goals-against) and Logan Terness (2.53) will have a year of experience behind them if they return.

UMass-Lowell’s Blake Wells and Owen Cole scored during the first 14:35 against Sergeev in the first period Saturday, and though UConn’s defense limited the River Hawks’ opportunities over the second and third periods, it was enough to win and advance.

A few more wins along the way and UConn could be going to the NCAA Tournament as an at-large bid. That’s where Cavanaugh wants the Huskies to be this time next year.

“It’s incumbent as we continue to build the program to try to be in a position where this doesn’t end your season,” Cavanaugh said. “That you move on to the national tournament. That’s the next step for us.”