UConn Men’s Hockey Preview: Boston College

UConn men’s hockey is coming off of a split with Vermont over the weekend, looking much better in Friday’s win than they did in Saturday’s defeat.

The Huskies got more production throughout the lineup, with six players combining for their seven goals, including four players, one from each line, for five goals in the series opener.

Aside from Spencer Naas grabbing his second and third tallies of the year, Maxim Letunov had three points (one goal, two assists) and was one of the bright spots of the offense. He played with Naas and Kasperi Ojantakanen this weekend and they seemed to have made quick chemistry, scoring seven points.

Letunov (2-7—9) is now tied for the team’s lead in points with Johnny Austin (1-8—9).

There is no rest for the Huskies, however, as they play their first midweek game of the season on Tuesday when they travel up to Chestnut Hill to play Boston College for the first of three matchups this season.

The Eagles were picked to finish fourth in Hockey East by the coaches. After playing a demanding early schedule, they are 3-5-1 with a 3-1-0 Hockey East record after a split with Providence and a sweep last weekend against Merrimack.

In last year’s game at Conte Forum, BC goaltender Joe Woll had an impressive 42-save performance in Boston College’s 2-1 victory. However, he will not be between the pipes for the Eagles because of this incident at the end of Saturday’s game against the Warriors.

As a result, either Ryan Edquist or Ian Milosz will start in net for the Eagles Saturday. It is likely to be Edquist, as he is the one who saw time besides Woll last year and this season. He has allowed four goals in just 58:45 of action, making 43 saves on 47 shots. Edquist started in Boston College’s 5-2 loss on the road to No. 3 St. Cloud State on October 20 in addition to playing the final 1.6 seconds against Merrimack.

On the Huskies’ side, Corey Ronan also could miss his third consecutive game with an upper-body injury. He is questionable to play.

Offensively, the Eagles have struggled, scoring 17 goals in nine games. They average 1.89 per contest, second-worst in the country, and allow 3.00 goals per game, which is tied for 32nd out of 60 teams.

However, Boston College has played six of their nine games against USCHO Top-10 teams and one more against the No. 16 team in the country, so these numbers are much better in their four conference games, where they have outscored opponents 10-7.

The Eagles have a litany of players to watch out for, as they have eight NHL draftees on the roster, the fifth-highest total in the country, but Casey Fitzgerald (3-3—6), whose goals have all come in conference play, is chief among them.

He is tied for the team lead in goals with Christopher Brown (3-2—5) and Christopher Grando (3-1—4) and is knotted for third in assists with Graham McPhee (2-3—5). They are behind Logan Hutsko (1-4—5) and Aapeli Rasanen (0-4—4).

UConn and Boston College will drop the puck at 7 p.m. at Conte Forum on the campus of Boston College. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3.