{"id":1500,"date":"2015-01-07T00:29:39","date_gmt":"2015-01-07T00:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sabafamily.net\/joshua\/?p=1500"},"modified":"2015-02-10T15:36:50","modified_gmt":"2015-02-10T15:36:50","slug":"a-recap-of-the-month-of-december-in-uconn-hockey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sabafamily.net\/joshua\/2015\/01\/a-recap-of-the-month-of-december-in-uconn-hockey\/","title":{"rendered":"A Recap Of The Month Of December In UConn Hockey"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Senior<\/a>

Senior Forward Cody Sharib<\/p><\/div>\n

December, always a short month for any college hockey team due to a break for the finals.\u00a0 For the Huskies, the month of December was extra short, playing only three games in the month, thanks to a 23 day break.\u00a0 Still, in only three games, the Huskies continued to show improvement and become a tougher team to beat.<\/p>\n

The Huskies played their first game of the month, and last before the break, at the #7 UMass Lowell River Hawks, in a conference match-up.\u00a0 The nationally-ranked River Hawks quickly took the lead not even six minutes into the game.\u00a0 When Evan Richardson was charged a penalty, UMass Lowell got the game’s first power-play, and scored just five seconds into it.\u00a0 The River Hawks won the faceoff, and dropped a pass to UMass Lowell player Dylan Zink, who blasted it home by Rob Nichols.\u00a0 The River Hawks scored again just five minutes later when a slap-shot through traffic found the back of the net to make it 2-0.\u00a0 The Huskies cut the lead in half, getting their first goal of the game on the power-play not even five minutes after UMass Lowell’s second goal.\u00a0 Joona Kunnas recieved a pass from Jesse Schwartz and passed the puck to Jacob Poe who let a slap-shot go, which found the back of the net to make it 2-1.\u00a0 UMass Lowell led 13-7 in shots at the end of the period.\u00a0 In the second the River Hawks made it 3-1 with a little more than six minutes left in the period.\u00a0 The Huskies would quickly respond however, with a power-play goal.\u00a0 UMass Lowell tried to clear the zone but Joona Kunnas stopped the puck at the blue-line and fired a wrist-shot past the River Hawk netminder to make it 3-2.\u00a0 But just over a minute later UMass Lowell scored again to make it 4-2, cleaning up a rebound off a slap-shot at the left post.\u00a0 Overall, the River Hawks controlled play in the period and out-shot the Huskies in the period 11-4.<\/p>\n

The third period was even more wild.\u00a0 The River Hawks extended their lead to three early in the third period.\u00a0 River Hawk Evan Campbell picked off a UConn pass in the neutral zone during a Husky power-play.\u00a0 He then skated in on Rob Nichols and blasted a shot by Nichols to make it 5-2.\u00a0 But the Huskies started to climb back into the game.\u00a0 Just over five minutes after the River Hawks’ fifth goal, the Huskies made it 5-3, as Evan Richardson deflected home a Joona Kunnas shot at the left post.\u00a0 Then five minutes later, the Huskies scored again, making it a 5-4 game, on a goal by Trevor Gerling, his team-leading fifth of the year, off a pass from Shawn Pauly.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the River Hawks sealed the game with 11 seconds to go on an empty-net goal, handing the Huskies the 6-4 loss to head into the break.\u00a0 For the game, UMass Lowell out-shot UConn 33-24; Rob Nichols made 27 saves on the night.\u00a0 The Huskies scored two power-play goals on five power-play chances, but did allow UMass Lowell to score on their only power-play and allowed a shorthanded goal.\u00a0 Still the game overall was an improvement for UConn’s offense and power-play, scoring four goals, and two power-play goals on the game.<\/p>\n

23 days later, UConn returned to action to take on the defending national champions Union, in game two of the Frozen Holiday Classic, which was being played at UConn’s secondary home, the Webster Bank Arena.\u00a0 In game one UMass Lowell and Sacred Heart faced off.\u00a0 UMass Lowell would score three third period goals to break open a close game, and skate to a 5-1 win over the pioneers.\u00a0 Then UConn and Union faced off.\u00a0 The Huskies played magnificently in the first, outshooting Union 14-12 in the period and would take a 1-0 lead before the period was over.\u00a0 Patrick Kirtland got the puck out of the UConn end, with a pass up to Jacob Poe in the neutral zone.\u00a0 Poe then carried the puck into the Union end and centered a pass back to Kirtland who buried the goal on a wrist shot by Union netminder Colin Stevens.\u00a0 The second was controlled by Union though.\u00a0 They outshot UConn in the frame 16-11, and won the special teams battle scoring two power-play goals on two chances, while holding UConn scoreless on their only power-play of the period.\u00a0 Both these Union power-play goals came back-to-back, in a span of just 1:09, putting Union up 2-1.\u00a0 It looked like UConn wouldn’t be able to tie it, as Stevens kept making great saves on Husky chances, but the Huskies found the back of the net when senior captain\u00a0 Ryan Tyson created a turnover deep in the Union zone.\u00a0 He then passed the puck up to Joey Ferriss just inside the blue-line.\u00a0 Ferriss then sent a pass to the charging Cody Sharib, who back-handed the puck by Stevens, to knot the game up at two heading into the third.<\/p>\n

The third period was fairly even.\u00a0 The shot clock was tied at 11 shots apiece at the end of the period, but the difference was the Huskies applied strong forcheck and pressure on Union, resulting in a goal.\u00a0 Corey Ronan created a turnover behind the Union net, and got a pass off to Kasperi Ojantakanen at the left circle.\u00a0 Ojantakanen then sent a pass across to Spencer Naas who fired a shot by Stevens to give the Huskies the 3-2 lead.\u00a0 The Huskies would continue pressuring Union and would hold on for the 3-2 win, to advance to the title game of the Frozen Holiday Classic, to play UMass Lowell for the second time of the month and in three games.\u00a0 The win was probably the most complete game the Huskies had played all season, as was obvious from defeating the defending national champions in their first game back from the break, while also firing a season high 36 shots.\u00a0 The game was played in front of a crowd of 3570 people.<\/p>\n

The next day Sacred Heart took on Union in the Consolation game for third-place.\u00a0 The game was tied 1-1 until late in the third period, when with under three minutes to go, Union scored on a break-away to take the 2-1 lead, and would go on to win 3-1 and claim third-place in the Frozen Holiday Classic.\u00a0 Later that night, UConn took on UMass Lowell for the championship game.\u00a0 The first period was fairly even, with both teams getting off plenty of shots and scoring chances, and both playing fast-paced hockey.\u00a0 Despite this, the River Hawks led in shots 14-9 in the period, and scored a goal late in the period to take the lead.\u00a0 The River Hawks carried the puck just over the blue-line, before a pass would be dropped to River Hawk Dylan Zink as he crossed the blue-line, who would get a wrist-shot by Rob Nichols through traffic to give the River Hawks a 1-0 lead after one period.\u00a0 The Huskies’ greatest chance of the period was when Corey Ronan sped up the right boards through the neutral zone and into the River Hawk end and then sent a pass across the ice to Spencer Naas, but Naas fired the puck just wide of the net.<\/p>\n

The second period was uneventful with no goals being scored by either team.\u00a0 The Huskies got the only power-play of the period and of the game and got a few shots on goal but couldn’t score.\u00a0 Despite UConn having the only power-play, UMass Lowell still led in shots in the period 15-8.\u00a0 At the end of the second, the River Hawks still led 1-0.\u00a0 The third was also uneventful until the end of the period.\u00a0 The River Hawks got loose on a 2-on-1 breakaway, and Corey Ronan tried to recover.\u00a0 River Hawk Fallon tried to get a pass across to River Hawk Colantone but Ronan got a piece of the pass deflecting it into the air but Colantone deflected the pass out of the air off the post and behind Nichols to give the River Hawks the 2-0 lead with under four minutes to go.\u00a0 The River Hawks then sealed the deal with an empty-net goal with just over a minute to go to make it 3-0.\u00a0 But the Huskies wouldn’t be shutout.\u00a0 Ryan Tyson won the faceoff and passed the puck back to David Drake who fired a shot on goal.\u00a0 River Hawk goalie gave up a huge rebound to which Cody Sharib cleaned up and put home with 13 seconds left in the game, to make the final score 3-1.\u00a0 UConn was outshot in the game 38-24, as they claimed second place in the inaugural Frozen Holiday Classic with UMass Lowell claiming the title.\u00a0 Jacob Poe and Spencer Naas represented UConn on the all-tournament team.\u00a0 The game was played in front of a surprisingly small crowd of 1483 people.<\/p>\n

In the month of December, the Huskies went 1-2, pushing their overall record to 4-9-4, and their conference record to 2-4-1.\u00a0 The month was short but saw something very important improved for UConn, and that was their offense.\u00a0 Before this month, UConn had, on average, scored only 1.57 goals a game one of the lowest averages in the nation.\u00a0 However, in December they averaged 3 goals a game, which was what they needed, as combined with their stingy defense, they used their new-found offense to play two close games with UMass Lowell and knock off the defending national champions, Union, and claim second place in the Frozen Holiday Classic.\u00a0 That was definitely the major improvement for UConn in December.<\/p>\n

A final side-note is that the month of December proved something else.\u00a0 UConn should be playing all their home games at the XL Center, and not playing a third of them at the Webster Bank Arena.\u00a0 First, the XL Center provides a better home for the Huskies and it is their true home.\u00a0 It is closer to UConn, ensuring that more students, a lot more will come to the games, making team spirit higher at the XL Center.\u00a0 Also, the Huskies have built a large fanbase with the XL Center as their home; they average almost 6200 fans a game, and have drawn almost 25,000 fans total in just 4 games as the XL Center.\u00a0 Now let’s take a look at the Webster Bank Arena.\u00a0 It is far away from UConn, and it is in Bridgeport, to say the least.\u00a0 Thus not many students show up and UConn’s fanbase in Brideport is obviously small and limited compared to their fanbase in Hartford.\u00a0 Reflecting this is the fact that they average only about 2200 fans a game in Bridgeport, and have only drawn a total of roughly 6500 fans in three games there.\u00a0 When you look at the facts, it is clear that UConn should move all home games to the XL Center.<\/p>\n

What do think?\u00a0 Should UConn play all home games at the XL Center or continue to play some at the Webster Bank Arena as well?\u00a0 Leave a comment above!<\/p>\n

\"Sharib<\/a>

Sharib Ties The Game Up At 2 Each<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Spencer<\/a>

Spencer Naas Backhand Shot<\/p><\/div>\n

\"SpencerNaasShot\"<\/a>

Spencer Naas<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Spencer<\/a>

Spencer Naas Shot<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Robby<\/a>

Robby Nichols<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Celebration<\/a>

Celebration After Sharib’s Goal<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Johnny<\/a>

Johnny Austin Joins The Celebration<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Celebration<\/a>

Celebration After Spencer Naas’ Gamewinner<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Robby<\/a>

Robby Nichols Making A Save In The Frozen Holiday Classic Title Game<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Junior<\/a>

Junior Assistant Captain Patrick Kirtland<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December, always a short month for any college hockey team due to a break for the finals.\u00a0 For the Huskies, the month of December was extra short, playing only three games in the month, thanks to a 23 day break.\u00a0 Still, in only three games, the Huskies continued to show improvement and become a tougher […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,13],"tags":[85,134,305,84,131,16,79,304,15,133,132,135],"class_list":["post-1500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hockey","category-sports","tag-85","tag-frozen-holiday-classic","tag-hockey","tag-hockey-east","tag-hockey-east-inaugural-season","tag-huskies","tag-sacred-heart","tag-sports","tag-uconn","tag-umass-lowell","tag-union","tag-webster-bank-arena"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sabafamily.net\/joshua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sabafamily.net\/joshua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sabafamily.net\/joshua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sabafamily.net\/joshua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sabafamily.net\/joshua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1500"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/sabafamily.net\/joshua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1586,"href":"https:\/\/sabafamily.net\/joshua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500\/revisions\/1586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sabafamily.net\/joshua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sabafamily.net\/joshua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sabafamily.net\/joshua\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}