After A Shutout Win, Let That Cowbell Ring!

In what was another do-or-die weekend for UConn hockey, the Huskies played Bentley.  UConn was in third and only one point behind Bentley in second, so they needed at least one win, just to stay close.  On Friday, UConn hosted Bentley, and my parents, sister and I went to the game.  The crowd was pretty large, only 500 under capacity, and the band was there.  Only 1:28 into the game, UConn incredibly took the 1-0 lead.  Trevor Gerling came around the back of the net, and passed the puck to Jordan Sims, who fired a shot on net, but it was blocked, but UConn crashed the net, and the puck finally fell in, and Sims got the goal.  There was some confusion in the crowd and on the ice as to whether it was a goal, and even the goal light never went on, but the horn sounded and I was ringing my cowbell!  The Huskies tried to find the back of the net again but couldn’t despite having most of the chances including back-to-back 2-on-1’s.  One UConn 2-on-1, Patrick Kirtland intercepted the puck at center ice, and then side stepped around a defender to come in on Komm, but the pass to his Husky teammate just missed.  However, the Huskies went up 2-0 before the end of the period.  On the power-play, Billy Latta came speeding into the zone, went to the side of the net, and dropped a pass to Brant Harris, who buried it into the wide-open net with 7.6 seconds left!  I was elated; I jumped up and rang the cowbell until the end of the period.

In the first intermission, I realized that a group of students had come, and they were making some noise and getting the crowd going.  When the players came out, my sister and I went down to cheer them on, and then I booed the other team.  In the second, the Huskies almost played even better.  Only about five minutes in, the Huskies went up 3-0!  Billy Latta fed the pass to Brent Norris, who went down low, and fired the pass over the shoulder of Brandon Komm.  The crowd rose to their feet, and I couldn’t believe it; I was jumping up and down, before I remembered to ring the cowbell.  UConn’s offensive show ended with the goal, but Robby Nichols’ goaltending wonders were about to begin.  It started when Bentley stole the puck from UConn, and fired a shot from close range, but Nichols made a point-blank save!  In the third, Nichols continued doing great.  On a wrap-around attempt, Nichols saved the puck with the edge of his skate.  Then, with the goalie pulled for Bentley, Bentley had a 6-on-3!  However, Nichols helped kill this huge power-play off.  The highlight save was whenBentley faked a slap-shot, but passed it to a Bentley player right next to the net, but Nichols jumped across the net and blocked it!  The UConn crowd was cheering like the Huskies had scored!  To no surprise, Nichols led the way to a 3-0 win over Bentley, his first career shutout, to stay undefeated.

The next game unfortunately was different.  Bentley must have solved Nichols, and they scored three first period goals!  Matt Grogan was put in, and shutout Bentley, but it was too late.  Only 1:59 into the third, Trevor Gerling scored on a wrap-around to make it 3-1, but Bentley scored an empty-net goal for the 4-1 win, to reclaim second.  Air Force swept their series, so UConn fell into a tie for third with Air Force but was still a point ahead of Robert Morris.

On Tuesday, UConn played their final non-confrence tilt of the year, against future Hockey East opponent, and nationally ranked #9 Providence.  The Huskies fell behind early after the puck was tipped by Grogan.  However, UConn would tie the game before the end of the period.  The Huskies fired a shot on goal, and Ryan Tyson rushed to the rebound and put it home.  Then, just over a minute in to the second, UConn stunned Providence by taking the 2-1 lead, after Patrick Kirtland blasted home a slap-shot, and the Huskies took the lead into the third!  The Huskies then completely stunned Providence by taking a 3-1 lead with less then eight minutes left!  Billy Latta picked off the puck at the blue-line, and came in on a breakaway, and scored.  Providence would score with 29 seconds left, but Grogan came up big and UConn incredibly beat #9 Providence 3-2!  It was UConn’s first ever victory over a top-10 team.  Grogan and the UConn defense did great, as Providence outshot UConn, 60-26, but Grogan stopped 58 shots to break the UConn division 1 record for single-game record.  The UConn defense also blocked 19 shots on the night.  Tomorrow and Saturday, UConn plays Holy Cross in a weekend set.  I hope they do well and sweep the series because this is a crucial series in the playoff race, with only six games left in the regular season.  With Robert Morris’ loss to Niagara tonight, all UConn needs is a win to stay in the top four, but a sweep will probably bring them up in the standings.  As I said, I hope UConn plays well again, this weekend, against Holy Cross!

Tags: 2014, Hockey, Hockey East, Huskies, Providence, Sports, UConn