UConn men’s hockey survives Alaska Anchorage in overtime, 4-3

UConn men’s hockey made it harder than it needed to be, but it still came away with a 4-3 overtime win over the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves at Toscano Family Ice Forum on Thursday night. The Huskies hosted their first-ever student-only game and had a full house with 2,691 in attendance.

UConn improves to 18-10-3 on the season and 6-2-3 in overtime.

Hudson Schandor scored the winner — his second game-winning goal in his last four contests. He also notched the Huskies’ opener while Tristan Fraser and Nick Capone found the back of the net as well.

In goal, Logan Terness started and stopped 28 of 31 shots. UConn won the special teams battle, 2-1. The Huskies notched a power play and 3-on-3 overtime goal while the Seawolves scored on the advantage as well.

UConn dominated from the opening face-off, even if it took a little bit to show up on the scoreboard — or even in the shot totals. Each team put 10 attempts on net in the first period, but the quality of those chances were drastically different. Alaska Anchorage’s were easily turned away by Terness while the Huskies’ consistently got the puck in dangerous spots.

Midway through, UConn finally broke the door down. Matthew Wood dropped a pass right into the path of a crashing Schandor, who knocked the puck home to give the Huskies a 1-0 advantage.

After the first intermission, UConn continued to control play. For stretches, the Huskies looked like they were on the power play with how long they stayed in the offensive zone. Once again, it took awhile abut after 10 minutes, Fraser re-directed a shot from Harrison Rees that hit both posts and the cross-bar before going in.

That’s as wide of a lead as UConn would build. Six minutes later, Alaska got its first power play of the day and didn’t waste it. Jarred White tipped a shot that Terness initially stopped, but the puck found its way to the open mouth of the net, where Matt Allen buried it.

The 2-1 scoreline held into the second intermission. Early in the third period, Capone doubled the Huskies’ advantage by blasting a one-timer from slot into the back of the net on the power play. That lead didn’t last long, though. Just 35 seconds later, Allen scored his second of the day when he received a pass from the corner and beat Terness near-side to pull the Seawolves back within one.

From there, UConn started to lose its firm grip on the contest. The Huskies no longer dominated possession, which allowed Alaska more chances on net. Eventually, the visitors found the equalizer.

After Terness stopped an initial shot from the blue line, UConn couldn’t get a stick on the puck to clear it out of the zone. After getting knocked around in front of goal, the puck eventually landed on the stick of Alex Gomez, who tapped it into the open net to tie the game at 3-3.

The goal woke the Huskies up and they peppered the Seawolves’ goal over the final seven minutes, but they couldn’t pull out the victory in regulation. In overtime, UConn controlled the puck and continued to put shots on net but ultimately needed a little luck to earn the win.

Midway through the extra period, Ryan Tverberg sped up the wing and delivered a perfect pass to Schandor. While the junior didn’t get all of it on his shot, the puck floated into the air and threw Alaska goalie Jared Whale off balance. He couldn’t recover and the shot somehow found its way into the back of the net to send the students home happy.

UConn will have one day off before returning to Toscano on Saturday to take on UNH. Puck drop is set for 3:05 p.m. ET.