clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

UConn Men's Hockey Preview: Huskies Hosting Sacred Heart | 7:05 p.m., XL Center

After grabbing one point in a weekend against tough competition, the Huskies will be facing non-conference opponent Sacred Heart tonight at the XL Center.

By Aman Kidwai
Ian Bethune

Live Updates

Third Period

20:00 - The puck has dropped for the third period! 20 minutes left with the Huskies down two, can they come back?

12:13 - Sacred Heart goal. The Pioneers take advantage of a Patrick Kirtland penalty to score the first power play goal on UConn since January 5th. 6-3, Sacred Heart

8:53 - UCONN GOAL - Shawn Pauly redirects an Evan Richardson shot to cut the lead to two! Patrick Kirtland also earned an assist on the play. 6-4, Sacred Heart

1:26 - Sacred Heart empty-netter. 7-4, Sacred Heart

FINAL: UConn loses to Sacred Heart, 7-4

Second Period

20:00 - We are underway here for the second period at XL!

7:45 - GOAL UCONN - Spencer Naas deflects a Johnny Austin pass to tie things up! Tage Thompson earned an assist on the play as well. Tied, 3-3

5:33 - Sacred Heart pulls back ahead on another goal from Justin Danforth. 4-3, Sacred Heart

4:32 - Jeff Carroll scored for Sacred Heart. I have no idea what's going on. 5-3, Sacred Heart

END 2nd Period: Sacred Heart leads, 5-3. It looked like UConn was right back in this one when Naas tied it up, but two more quick goals from Sacred Heart has the Huskies looking at a larger deficit at the second intermission than the first.

First Period

19:31 - Things are not off to a very good start for the Huskies as Sacred Heart quickly puts two goals on the board. The first one was scored by Evan Jasper at 0:18 and the second came at 0:29 from Zach Luczyk. 2-0, Sacred Heart

15:39 - Max Letunov cuts the lead in half after taking a pass from Jesse Schwartz in the corner, skating across the net and firing it past goalie Brett Magnus! 2-1, Sacred Heart

11:10 - Play had settled down for a bit before Sacred Heart's Justin Danforth poked the puck away at the blue line leading to a breakaway. He did a nice job of finishing against Tanner Creel. 3-1, Sacred Heart

10:56 - This game is on bath salts. Tage Thompson streaks down the side of the ice and sends one across the net to Max Letunov to close the deficit back to one! 3-2, Sacred Heart

END 1st Period - Huskies trail 3-2. All things considered, it could be worse. Really nice job by the Huskies of fighting back after giving up some pretty easy goals.

UConn vs. Sacred Heart, 7:05 p.m. ET, XL Center, Hartford, CT

Radio: UConn IMG Audio Network | Rich Coppola, Joe D'Ambrosio

Audio Stream: TuneIn.com

Live Stats & Video: Gametracker and HuskyVision on UConnHuskies.com

Series Record: UConn leads, 29-27-5

Last Meeting: SHU 2 - UConn 0 (11/14/14)

Preview

After a weekend taking on top-tier Hockey East opponents, the Huskies will be hosting a former Atlantic Hockey foe when in-state rival Sacred Heart visits the XL Center tonight. The Pioneers have a 9-13-3 record, 8-10-2 in-conference.

The Huskies are 2-3 against Sacred Heart under Mike Cavanaugh, having lost the past two meetings. They also fell in their last meeting with an Atlantic Hockey opponent, losing to Army 2-0 in November.

UConn is coming off a 3-3 tie at No. 4 Boston College Saturday night, putting forth a spirited effort in front of backup goaltender Tanner Creel, who has played well while Rob Nichols sits due to injury. He stopped 30 shots on Friday night against Vermont and then made another 28 against BC.

The Huskies' special teams units have been doing well lately, with a power-play goal in three straight games and a streak of 19 penalty kills going back six games to the win over Arizona State on January 5. Freshman forward Tage Thompson has nine power play goals—which leads the nation—after beautifully putting the puck through a small window to tie up the Vermont game. He has 20 points on the season, fifth among Hockey East freshmen, with 13 points in the past 15 games.

Fellow freshman Max Letunov leads the Huskies with 27 points on the season, 6th-most in Hockey East and second amongst rookies in the conference. He has notched a point in five consecutive games going into tonight and in 13 of the past 14 games. He scored the game-tying goal against Boston College in the third period, finding the puck in front of the net on a rebound and firing one past Thatcher Demko.

Sacred Heart was just swept by RIT at home by a combined score of 8-4. They currently sit at 7th in the Atlantic Hockey standings and are led by junor Justin Danforth, who has 13 goals and 13 assists on the season. Goaltender Brett Magnus has an impressive 2.37 goals against average and .919 save percentage.

The last meeting between these two teams was a 2-0 Sacred Heart triumph in a game played at the Taft School in Watertown, CT. The Pioneers struck first with a goal in the first period and then held on before adding an empty-netter to their total in a flat performance from the Huskies, who will certainly want to continue their solid play and avoid a three-game losing streak to an in-state rival.

READ: UConn in Tough Competition for Top-8 Spot in Hockey East

Up Next: UConn's final non-conference mathchup, Tuesday, Feb. 2 vs. Brown

More From The UConn Blog