University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Boston University
Home-and Home with BU on Tap for the Huskies
2/20/2020 12:01:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
| TV | NESN (Saturday) |
| RADIO | UConn Sports Network from Learfield IMG College (ESPN 97.9 FM; WILI 1400 AM/95.3 FM) |
| VIDEO STREAM | CBS All-Access |
| AUDIO STREAM | TuneIn.com |
| LIVE STATS | UConnHuskies.com (Statbroadcast) |
| @UConnMHOC #IceBus #BleedBlue | |
| GAME NOTES | UConn Notes BU Notes |
Ice Chips
The UConn Huskies take on the Boston University Terriers in a Hockey East home-and-home series starting Friday night on their home ice at the XL Center. Saturday's road game at Agganis Arena will be carried live on NESN throughout New England.
UConn and BU have met 15 times since the 2013-14 season with the Terriers holding a 9-4-2 edge in the all-time series. The Huskies are 3-3-0 against BU at home at the XL Center. Last season, UConn lost to BU in Northern Ireland at the Friendship Four, 3-2, beat the Terriers in overtime, 3-2, at home and lost 2-0 up in Boston.
The Huskies are coming off a weekend split at No. 17 Maine last week, dealing the Black Bears their first home loss this season, 3-2, on Friday night and losing a tough 1-0 decision in overtime.
UConn enters the weekend alone in eighth place in the Hockey East standings with 20 points, a point up on idle New Hampshire. The Huskies sit just four points behind first place Boston College and UMass. The Terriers are alone in third place with 23 points heading into the weekend slate.
The UConn lineup features three 20-point scorers led by freshman Vladislav Firstov who has 22 points on 11 goals and 11 assists. Firstov was named the Pro-Ambitions Rookie of the Month for January after posting nine points over eight games. He had two game-winners and was a +11. He is currently fifth among league rookies in scoring and his 11 goals is tied for second among freshmen goal scorers in Hockey East. Nationally, he is tied for 12th in scoring and fifth in goals among all rookies.
Sophomores Jachym Kondelik (8g/12a) and Ruslan Iskhakov (9g/11a) each have 20 points on the year. There are 11 Huskies who have double digit points and nine different players have scored five or more goals.
Senior Benjamin Freeman had a career-best three points, scoring the game-winning goal with two assists in the 3-2 win over the Black Bears. Freeman has 19 points (5g/14a) on the year and is the Huskies' active career leader with 68 points (23g/45a) over 130 games.
Sophomore Carter Turnbull had picked-up an assist on all three UConn goals in the win over Maine, a new career-high. Turnbull is in the midst of a breakout season offensively with 10 goals and eight assists, up from his seven point (2g/5a) rookie campaign. He is a +10 on the year.
Senior defenseman Wyatt Newpower is tied for ninth among Hockey East blue-liners with a career-best 17 points (3g/14a). He leads the Huskies as a +19 on the season, a mark that is fifth in the conference. He ranks eighth in blocked shots with 38 (1.31 pg).
Last Season vs. BU
November 23, 2018 - L, 3-2 at Friendship Four
UConn freshman Jachym Kondelik scored his first career goal but Boston University junior goaltender Jake Oettinger turned away 39 shots to lead the Terriers to a 3-2 win over the Huskies in the Friendship Four at The SSE Arena in Belfast. The Huskies put two goals on the board in the first period and outshot BU 41-30 over the game but could not crack Oettinger again over the final two periods. UConn got a 5-on-3 power play chance in the third period and peppered Oettinger with 16 shots in the period but couldn't beat the junior netminder. UConn had a 2-1 lead after the first but BU sophomore Logan Cockerill tied the game in the second and classmate Ty Amonte provided the game-winner just 2:39 into the third. UConn junior Adam Huska made 27 saves in taking the loss for the Huskies.
February 15, 2019 - W, 3-2 OT at XL Center
For the second time in just over a week, UConn junior Alexander Payusov delivered the Huskies an overtime victory, scoring the game-winning goal just 51 seconds into overtime to beat Boston University, 3-2, at the XL Center. The Huskies led 2-0 after the first period but BU would storm back in the third, tying it with just over a minute left in regulation. UConn wasted little time in overtime, putting three shots on net on their first possession, ending with Payusov burying a rebound off a Karl El-Mir shot. The Huskies two first period goals came from El-Mir and junior Wyatt Newpower. BU got a 4-on-4 goal to cut the lead in half in the third off the stick of Patrick Harper and then tied it at 18:55 as Patrick Curry buried a one-timer to force overtime. UConn killed off all five BU power plays on the night and limited the Terriers to 22 shots.
February 16, 2019 - L, 2-0 at Agganis Arena
Boston University junior goaltender Jake Oettinger stopped all 26 shots he faced to deal the UConn Huskies a 2-0 loss at Agganis Arena to split the weekend Hockey East series. The two teams played a scoreless first and second period before BU tacked on two in the third. Sophomore Ty Amonte provided the game-winning goal at 1:16 and freshman Joel Farabee added a shorthanded goal at 15:42 to wrap up the scoring. UConn goaltender Tomas Vomacka stopped 26 shots, making 14 saves in the first period. The Huskies came up empty on their three power play chances in the loss.
Last Time Out...
- The Huskies split a weekend series at No. 17 Maine, winning 3-2 on Friday night and suffering a 1-0 overtime loss in Saturday's finale.
- On Friday night, the Huskies got the game-winning goal from Maine native and senior captain Benjamin Freeman in the third period to deal the Black Bears their first loss at home this season and notch their fifth-straight league win.
- Freeman had a career-high three point night (1g/2a) to lead UConn while the Huskies top-line of Freeman, classmate Alexander Payusov and sophomore Carter Turnbull had a hand in all three UConn goals on Friday night.
- Turnbull finished the night with a career-best three assists while Payusov chipped in with a goal and an assist. Freshman defenseman Jake Flynn scored his first career goal in the win.
- The Huskies finished with a 36-26 edge on shots but were 0-for-3 on the power play. Sophomore goaltender Tomas Vomacka had 24 saves in the win.
- For Maine, Tim Doherty had a power play goal and Samuel Rennaker tied it up in the second period for the Black Bears. Goaltender Jeremy Swayman stopped 33 shots.
- On Saturday, the two teams battled to a scoreless tie through 60 minutes before Mitchel Fossier scored the game-winner with 53 seconds left in overtime to deliver the Huskies a 1-0 loss.
- UConn's sophomore goaltender Tomas Vomacka made 25 saves in taking the loss.
- The UConn penalty kill erased all three Maine power plays including a third period 5-on-3 chance.
- It was just the second time this season the Huskies have been shutout. Maine's Jeremy Swayman made 41 saves to earn the win.
