An Outdoor Game for Connecticut Hockey
On Sunday, February 13, a freezing cold day with a very gusty wind, my family and I went to a historical outdoor hockey game between the Connecticut Huskies and the Sacred Heart Pioneers. Only the following helped me survive the cold weather through the game: a seat warmer, a blanket, and hot chocolate. The first period was rough as Sacred Heart started playing a very rough game, because they wanted revenge because Uconn won on Friday 4-2. Sacred Heart even tried to take out Uconn’s goalie Garret Bartus. In the first period Sacred Heart outshot Uconn. Despite getting outshot in the first period, Uconn went into the first intermission with a 1-0 edge. Justin Hernandez picked the puck up on the boards and passed it over to Captain Andrew Olson, who then shot it through the goalie’s legs from center ice.
In the second period, the Uconn Huskies paid the pioneers back for playing dirty. By the end of the first ten minutes of the second period, Sacred Heart had only one shot on net. But Sacred Heart came back to score a power-play goal on Uconn to tie the game at 1-1. Despite the tying goal, Uconn came back less than a minute later and scored. After Sacred Heart had scored, the faceoff was played at center ice. Uconn won the faceoff and made a shot. Then the faceoff was played in front of the Sacred Heart goalie, where it was won by Cole Schneider who shot the puck between the goalie and the post to give Uconn a 2-1 lead.
In the third period Sacred Heart played hard, trying to tie the game up, but the stellar goaltending of Garret Bartus allowed Sacred Heart no goals in the period. About half-way through the period though Uconn did score. Cole Schneider received a pass and shot it through the goalie’s legs to give Uconn the 3-1 win. With the win Uconn’s record is now 10-16-4. Between Uconn winning, the Sacred Heart and Uconn bands being there, along with the Sacred Heart and Whalers Mascots, we all had a great time, besides our toes freezing!