University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Army West Point
Army West Point & RPI Come to XL Center this Weekend; 1999-00 MAAC Championship Celebration
10/10/2019 1:13:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
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| VIDEO STREAM | CBSSportsLive.com |
| LIVE STATS | UConnHuskies.com |
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| GAME NOTES | UConn Notes Army Notes RPI Notes |
Video Streaming Note - Hockey East has partnered with CBS Sports Digital to begin the 2019-20 season, making all home men's and women's games available on CBS Sports Digital properties. The partnership kicks off with an early-season schedule that includes games provided for free on CBS SportsLive.
Ice Chips…
- The UConn Huskies return home to the XL Center in Hartford for a pair of non-conference match-ups this weekend starting Friday night hosting the Army West Point Black Knights.
- The Huskies will face an Atlantic Hockey opponent for the second-straight week after skating to a 3-3 tie at Sacred Heart in the season-opener last Saturday night. UConn opened last season with a trip to West Point where they came away 5-2 winners.
- UConn is back at the downtown arena on Saturday afternoon hosting the Rensselaer Engineers, the first of five games this season against teams from the ECAC. The Huskies and Engineers will face-off again next weekend at Houston Field House in Troy, N.Y.
- On Saturday, UConn will recognize the 1999-2000 Huskies on the 25th anniversary of their MAAC Championship season.
- In last Saturday's opener, the Huskies scored three times in the second period as sophomores Marc Gatcomb, Jachym Kondelik and Kale Howarth all found the back of the net to stake UConn to a 3-2 lead heading into the third period. SHU's Matt Tugnutt competed his hat-trick with his third of the night coming with 3.0 seconds left in the game to force overtime.
- Sophomore goaltender Tomas Vomacka made a career-high 45 saves in the season opener. He made 20 saves in the second period alone, including stopping a penalty shot. Vomacka came on strong in the second half of his rookie season and played his way on to the Hockey East All-Rookie team. Vomacka started 14 of 15 games, had a 2.32 goals against (6th/HEA) and a .922 save percentage (4th/HEA).
- Freshman Vladislav Firstov was one of five rookies to make his collegiate debut at Sacred Heart and he came away with his first collegiate point. Firstov had an assist on Kondelik's goal.
- The Huskies bring plenty of offensive punch back from last year with six of their top-eight point producers returning, including the top-goal scorer in senior Alexander Payusov.
- Payusov went from two points his freshmen year to back-to-back 20 point seasons. He led the Huskies with 16 goals including six on the power play and a pair of overtime game-winners.
- Sophomore Jachym Kondelik had a 26 point (4g/22a) rookie campaign last year and was also tops among Hockey East freshmen taking face-offs, winning .522 percent (277-254).
Last Meeting with Army…
Five different Huskies found the back of the net as UConn traveled to Army West Point to open the 2018-19 season with a 5-2 win. UConn rookie Ruslan Iskhakov scored his first career goal while adding an assist in the win. Special teams played a role for both teams with the Huskies scoring a power play and shorthanded goal while the Black Knights scored both of their goals with the extra skater. After a 1-1 first period, the Huskies put three on the board in the second off the sticks of Benjamin Freeman, Brian Rigali and Iskhakov to take control of the game. Army's Alex Wilkinson scored both Black Knight goals, the second coming early in the third period to cut the UConn lead down to 4-2. UConn's Alexander Payusov put the icing on the cake just four minutes later to produce the final 5-2 score. The Huskies were outshot on the night, 34-31, with goaltender Adam Huska turning in 32 saves to earn the win.
Huskies vs. Atlantic Hockey...
- UConn was one of the inaugural members of the Atlantic Hockey Association and played in the conference for 11 seasons (2003-2014).
- Under head coach Mike Cavanaugh, the Huskies are 18-17-6 against schools from Atlantic Hockey and 3-6-1 since leaving the league for Hockey East in 2014-15.
- The Huskies have faced AIC, Army West Point, Sacred Heart, and RIT from the league since joining Hockey East.
- In 2018-19, the Huskies were 1-1-0 versus their former conference, beating Army West Point on the road, 5-2, and falling to Sacred Heart at home, 2-1.
- In 2019-20, the Huskies earned a 3-3 tie with the Pioneers on the road to open the season and host the Black Knights in their home opener at XL Center. There is the potential for a second match-up with SHU in the Connecticut Ice Festival in January.
Last Meeting with RPI…
The Rensselaer Engineers finished two-for three on the power play and got a two goal night from Avon, Connecticut native Chase Zieky to deal UConn a 5-2 loss at the XL Center last January. The Huskies got goals from sophomore Brian Rigali and senior Miles Gendron in the loss. RPI won the battle on special teams, going 2-of-3 on the power play while killing off all three UConn power play chances. The Engineers never trailed on with Zieky scoring the game's first two goals. RPI rookie goaltender Owen Savory stopped 31 shots to earn his second victory on the season. UConn's Tomas Vomacka made 23 saves.
Huskies vs. ECAC Hockey...
- UConn is 23-57-10 all-time against teams from the ECAC. Under head coach Mike Cavanaugh, the Huskies are 10-9-3 against the ECAC.
- In 2018-19, the Huskies were 4-3-0 against teams from the ECAC, beating St. Lawrence (6-3), Yale (3-1), RPI (2-1) and Brown (3-1) while falling to Quinnipiac (4-2), the Bulldogs (6-3) in the Friendship Four, and the Engineers (5-2).
- UConn is scheduled to face off against teams from the ECAC five times this season, facing RPI twice, St. Lawrence and Dartmouth in the Ledyard Classic, and Quinnipiac in the Connecticut Ice Festival. The Huskies could potentially be matched-up with Yale in the second game of the CT Ice event.
- The Huskies have faced Brown (5-5-1), Colgate (3-5-0), Dartmouth (0-2-0), Princeton (0-3-0), Quinnipiac (11-19-2), Rensselaer (1-3-3), St. Lawrence (1-0-0), Union (1-7-4) and Yale (0-13-0) from the league.
Celebrating the 1999-2000 MAAC Championship...
- The UConn men's hockey program announced the 20th anniversary celebration of the 2000 MAAC Hockey Championship during their home game against Rensselaer on Saturday, October 12th.
- The Huskies are welcoming home most of the former student-athletes and coaches for a special ceremony recognizing the team's accomplishments. The team will forever be enshrined in the rafters with a banner honoring the championship during the first intermission. In addition, fans can see the MAAC trophy on display on the concourse and can pick up a replica banner and throwback team poster at the game, first-come first-served while supplies last.
- In their second season at the Division I level in 1999-00, the Huskies jump started their season at the midpoint by winning the SNET UConn Classic to fuel a seven-game win streak on the way to winning 14 of their last 20 regular season games. UConn ran through the MAAC playoffs with a 5-4 win over Sacred Heart, a 2-0 win over Mercyhurst, and a 6-1 championship game win over Iona on campus in Storrs.
Connecticut Ice Festival Match-Ups Announced
- SNY announced the match-ups for the inaugural Connecticut Ice Festival, a first-of-its-kind weekend hockey festival, celebrating youth, amateur and collegiate hockey in the state of Connecticut.
- Quinnipiac and UConn will open the tournament at 4:00 PM on Saturday, January 25 followed by Sacred Heart vs. Yale at 7:30 PM. All four games of the tournament will air live on SNY, as well as comprehensive pre and post-game shows and in-between period coverage.
- UConn will play at the arena four times this season and are 4-4-1 all-time when playing at Webster Bank Arena.
