University of Connecticut Athletics
Men's Hockey Set To Take On Massachusetts
12/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
STORRS, Conn. (December 4, 2008) - After a definitive victory over Brown University on Saturday and a heartbreaker against Sacred Heart in Atlantic Hockey play on Tuesday, the University of Connecticut men's hockey team will travel to Amherst, Mass. Friday night to take on the University of Massachusetts Minutemen in their last game before they break for finals.
The Huskies (4-10-0, 3-5-0 Atlantic Hockey) who have won two out of their last four games played will match up against UMass (6-6-1, 4-4-1 Hockey East). The Minutemen have taken on six ranked opponents in seven games this season recording a 3-3-1 record. UMass is on a two-game slide after losing a close one to Vermont in overtime and falling to St. Lawrence on Friday. This Friday night's game between the two teams will be the only game of the week for the Minutemen.
Gametracker is available through UConnHuskies.com with audio coverage available through WHUS.com and live video streaming available through the UMassAthletics.com website.
ABOUT THE HUSKIES: UConn is coming off of an Atlantic Hockey loss to Sacred Heart on Tuesday night. The Huskies fell behind quickly 2-0 when Sacred Heart scored two four-on-four goals but rebounded during the end of the first and tied the score up going into the first intermission. The two goals scored during the first period extended the Huskies streak of scoring at least two goals during the first period to five games. The score remained the same for the majority of the second, but a late goal by the Pioneers during the second period gave Sacred Heart a lead that UConn would not be able to overcome. The Pioneers piled on two more goals and a late UConn goal cut the lead to two, but the Huskies would fall on the road to Sacred Heart, 5-3.
SCOUTING MASSACHUSETTS: UMass was ranked for the majority of the year before falling out of the polls this week after falling to No. 13 Vermont and St. Lawrence. The Minutemen are now 6-6-1 on the season and have taken on six ranked teams including No. 1 Boston University.
SERIES PAST: The Huskies and the Minutemen have met 31 times since the series started between the two teams during the 1960-61 season. The series with UMass is one of the longest in UConn history as the Huskies and the Minutemen met during UConn’s inaugural season. UMass holds the advantage in the series with a 22-7-2 record. The two teams met nine times prior to 1960 when the Huskies were just a club team giving UMass a 30-8-2 overall series lead. UConn has beaten the Minutemen three times at home over the years with their last win coming during the 2004-05 season.
A LOOK AT LAST YEAR: Last year against the Minutemen, Andrew Olson, Chris Ochoa, and Justin Hernandez all recorded two points in route to the 4-3 loss. Olson scored the first and last goal of the game for UConn, Ochoa scored UConn’s second goal also tacking an assist and Hernandez had a couple of helpers on the night. Another returning Husky who performed well against UMass is Michael Coppola.
UCONN VS. HOCKEY EAST OPPONENTS: The Huskies are 15-88-5 all-time against Hockey East opponents with their majority of wins coming against UMass. The Huskies have won eight games against UMass, five against UMass-Lowell, one against Merrimack, and one against Vermont. They have never played Boston College or Boston University.
NEXT UP: UConn will break from their schedule for final exams and will return to the ice on December 29 against No. 10 Air Force in the Toyota UConn Classic.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: After his three point effort against Brown, freshman Marcello Ranallo was awarded Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week honors. He scored the game-winner for the Huskies and tacked on two assists in the 4-1 victory over the Bears.
THREE-POINT LINE: During the game against Brown, all three members of the Husky second line scored three points by the way of a goal and two assists. Jason Krispel started the point-scoring off on the night when he added a helper on Bobby Reiners goal, the first of the game. Marcello Ranallo was the first to score a goal and his fellow linemen Krispel and Michael Coppola added the helpers. On the third goal of the game, Krispel scored his first goal of the season with some assistance from Coppola and Coppola’s open net goal, and the fourth of the game for the Huskies, was helped out by Ranallo.
CENTURY MARK: Two Huskies will hit the century mark in their career with the team. First Brendan Bayers will play in his 100th game against UMass on December 5th and then Sean Erickson will lace up his skates for the 100th time in a game when the Huskies return to action on December 29. Erickson would have already been up over the mark had he not finished his junior season early due to injury.
AMONG THE WINNINGEST: Marshall is currently ranked 12th among division I coaches in total wins with 289. Slightly ahead of him in 11th place is Don ‘Toot’ Cahoon of the Minutemen who will be going for his 300th career win against the Huskies on Friday night. Marshall has just 11 victories to go to record his 300th career victory.
DOUBLE-DIGIT HUSKIES: Four members of the Husky squad have reached the double digit mark in points for the 2008-09 season. Jason Krispel and Marcello Ranallo lead the pack with 12 points each while Andrew Olson and Chris Ochoa are tied for second most on the team with 10 points. Olson leads the team in goals scored with seven whereas Krispel takes the assist title as he has racked up 11 on the season.
Last season at this point in the year, UConn had only one player with a point total in the double digits as Sean Erickson led the team with 11 on three goals and eight assists. Olson and Michael Coppola followed with nine each and Ochoa was a close fourth tallying eight points.
SPREADING THE ACTION: Almost all of the Huskies have had a chance to get in the game this year with 20 of them tallying at least one point. 13 of those 20 players have racked up at least one goal for UConn who has scored 31 goals this season, three more at this point than the 2007-08 season. Getting the whole team involved is a UConn tradition as last year at this point 19 Huskies had tallied a point.
SCHNEIDER HAS EXPERIENCE: Nick Schneider leads the team in games played during his career at UConn. The senior captain has played in 116 games during his career missing time in only seven games in the last four years. The most games any Husky has played in since the program moved to Division I was 136, a mark set by Adam Rhein who played for UConn from 2001-05.
LEADING THE TEAM: Andrew Olson sits in fifth placed among Atlantic Hockey scorers and 26th nationally recording .54 goals/game. Ochoa is next on the list for the Huskies ranked in 14th place in Atlantic Hockey with his five goals scored on the year. Jacques Lamoureux of No. 10 Air Force leads the league with 11 goals scored in 14 games for a .79 gpg average.
• Jason Krispel also sits in fifth place among Atlantic Hockey assist leaders and 24th nationally as he has dished out 11 helpers during the 2008-09 season. Freshman Marcello Ranallo is up there in the Atlantic Hockey rankings as well in tenth place giving out eight assists this season. Once again a member of the Air Force squad, Greg Flynn leads the league in assists averaging 1.21 a game for the Falcons.
• Olson capitalizes on power play situations as well as he has recorded four goals and two assists on power-play opportunities this season good enough for sixth in the league. His four goals place him in the top three in the league of power-play goals scored with just Cody Omilusik of Army and Lamoureux ahead of him. Nationally Olson is ranked 16th with his four power-play goal opportunities.
• Olson is once again up in top of the league rankings this time on game-winning goals. Olson’s two game winners place him in the top two in the league and sixth nationally. His game winners both came against Army in the first Atlantic Hockey series the Huskies had this season.
• Sean Erickson ranks eighth in Atlantic Hockey among scoring defensemen with his six points on the season. Erickson has scored two goals and dished out four helpers to lead Husky defensemen.
• Ranallo is all alone in second place as one of the top rookie scorers in the league. His 12 points, on four goals and eight assists, put him just a point behind Dave Kostuch of Canisius among leading freshman scorers. Nationally, Ranallo is ranked 13th among rookie scorers.
AND THE AWARD GOES TO...: Andrew Olson received numerous awards for his showing against Army during the weekend of October 24 and 25. The sophomore point-getter tallied four goals and two assists compiling his eleventh and twelfth team leading multi-point games in his short career. On Saturday night, Olson recorded the first hat trick of his career. For his efforts he received Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week, New England Hockey Journal Player of the Week, and Inside College Hockey Player of the Week during the week of October 27.
HOMECOMING: Huskies reserve goaltender Brad McInnis returned to his hometown of Anchorage for the Kendall Classic during the weekend of Oct. 10-11. This was the first time during his collegiate career that he has played a game in his home state. McInnis played just over 10 minutes between the pipes not allowing a goal and saving seven shots.
ENTERING 2008-09: The 2008-09 season is the 49th for the UConn men’s hockey program. The team returned 21 letterwinners including the top-10 point-scorers and the top-two point getters, sophomore Andrew Olson (37 GP/14 G/24 pts.) and junior Chris Ochoa (36GP/10 G/23 pts.). The defense is back and stronger than ever as Sean Erickson (84GP/9-42-51) rejoins the ranks after ending his junior season early. Nick Schneider (103GP/5-16-21) who helped lead the young defense last year returned as well for the Husky back line. Also coming back for the Huskies is the entire goalie contingent. Starting junior goalie Beau Erickson (1827 min. played/2.96 GAA/ 947 saves) will start between the pipes for UConn.
In addition nine freshmen bring a variety of talent to the team on both offense and defense with six forwards and three defensemen added to the team. These newly added players should help the Huskies to return to the postseason for the sixth straight season. Another new face that will be seen on the sidelines this season is newly hired assistant coach Joe Dumais who will bring some new ideas to the team with his collegiate and professional hockey experience.
Media Information:
Radio – UConn’s campus radio station WHUS (91.7 FM) will broadcast the majority of the Husky men’s hockey home games during the regular season in 2008-09 … WHUS’ broadcasts can be heard live on the Internet at WHUS.org and will be linked to UConnHuskies.com.
E-mail – To receive updated on UConn Hockey, e-mail Betsy Devine at elizabeth.devine@uconn.edu with the message “Men’s Hockey E-mail” as the subject.
Web – Please visit UConnHuskies.com for up-to-date stories, stats, schedules and results, and other UConn athletic department information … Gametracker is available for all home men’s soccer games, linked from the front page of UConn’s athletic Web site.
