FanPost

Excitement brewing for Huskies Hockey

I don't have a favorite hockey team.

Honestly, I don't know exactly why.

After all, growing up in Connecticut in the 1980s and early 1990s, the only professional sports team in the Nutmeg State was an NHL franchise - the Hartford Whalers. Connecticut sports fans are sort of like Pilot Fish when it comes to rooting interests. If you live closer to New York, chances are you're a fan of NYC teams while those living closer to Rhode Island and Massachusetts are prone to root for Boston franchises.

The Whalers, however, were ours. They resided in Hartford and had, in my opinion, what remains one of the coolest mascot names and logos around - simple yet perfect.

But for some reason, hockey never resonated with me. Maybe it was because I already had enough sports on my plate. I've loved UConn basketball, Yankee baseball, and Giants football for what seems like an eternity. Those teams and sports will always have a special place in my heart. Yet the Whalers never made the list. I regret that now.

However, last year I started getting into hockey. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was because the Yankees were bad, the Giants worse, and besides UConn basketball a few times a week, there wasn't much in the way of sports to fill my time. Since I'm not a huge NBA guy (I fit into the proverbial "casual fan" category) and usually just follow former UConn stars, I had an open timeslot.

I routinely filled it with hockey and, man, it was fun.

I got hooked. I watched a lot of Rangers hockey. I loved Henrik Lundquist, even though he is a little overhyped in the big game. Dan Girardi became a favorite of mine. I was upset when they traded Ryan Callahan, but quickly loved Martin St. Louis. And then the Rangers rewarded me with a great run to the Stanley Cup Finals, eventually bowing out to the Kings.

What does this have to do with UConn?

I'm legitimately excited for UConn hockey this year. I'm not going to pretend to know the players or the particulars all that well. I haven't been following the team for years like some. I'm by no means an expert. But I'm excited for this season and the future.

Hockey East, UConn's new conference, is by all accounts the SEC of college hockey. This is where argueably the best players play at the highest level. Four of the last seven National Champions have come from this conference, and each season Tournament is filled with East representatives.

Like I said ... the SEC of hockey.

But, honestly, what I love about Hockey East is that it's exactly what college sports conferences used to be. We have all gotten used to basketball/football conferences splintering like dried wood in order to chase every single cent of national television dollars. It's how you end up with something like The American, with UConn playing Tulane this weekend in football and SMU down the road.

But conferences were originally about regional matchups between schools that were pretty much a bus ride away. That's how you got rivalries. These fanbases could all but see the other campus from their dorm porch, so the sports-hate was easy to cultivate.

With the lone exception of Notre Dame (when isn't Notre Dame the "lone exception?), Hockey East has stayed true to that formula. There are six teams from Massachusetts and one each from Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and now Connecticut. This is a New England street fight ... on ice.

UConn already has a rivalry with Boston College, and while the Eagles should trounce the "new kid on the block" Huskies for a while, it will be nice to actually see this rivalry played out on the ice, rather than simply in the comments section of blogs and Facebook. Now, if only football and basketball would follow suit and schedule Uconn/BC games on a yearly basis.

It's also not hard to see UConn developing rivalries with other schools like Umass, Providence (already a known commodity after years of battling in basketball in the Big East) or Boston University. Hell, Maine might even become a hated rival.

It also means UConn is poised to upgrade facilities. There are already plans in the works for an on-campus ice rink that will seat more than 5,000 fans. That will be a big step up from the Freitas Ice Forum, where I used to watch a friend of mine play intramural hockey while at UConn, and the XL Center, which isn't conducive to college hockey. A new facility alone should draw fans and, hopefully, create an exciting environment in which UConn can play.

And then the level of talent should rise. If you're a big-time hockey player, Hockey East is the place for you. Of course, the Huskies will continue to lag behind the Boston Colleges and Boston Universities for recruits, but it should still be a big step up. And there's always that possibility UConn lands a "special" guy, someone who takes the Husky Hockey banner and runs with it all the way to the NHL.

As with both football and men's basketball, there's also a new, young head coach at the helm whose presence promises big things in the future. Mike Cavanaugh, 46, an assistant at (rival?) Boston College for 18 years, is entering his second season, and will usher in this new era. Under his leadership, the Huskies went 18-14-4 last season, which included wins over now-conference foes Providence and Umass, and a 2-2 draw with eventual National Champs Union.

I'd say a pretty good start to his career at Storrs.

Look, I'm sure that UConn is going to struggle out of the gate. Everyone does when taking a big step up in conference and competition. Most people have predicted UConn will come in dead last in Hockey East when the season is over, and that's not shocking. You have to take your lumps in order to improve.

And I also have no doubt it will be a challenge to get fannies in the seats right away. If football continues to struggle in attracting gameday crowds, what makes anyone think hockey won't as well?

For me, however ... I'm excited. Yes, I'm late to the game. Just like I wish I had been following the Whalers when I was a kid, I wish I was into UConn hockey when I was a student. But I'm here now, I'm excited, and I'm ready for UConn to tackle Hockey East.

Let's drop that puck.

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