With eight NCAA titles and 29 of 74 teams in the Frozen Four over the past 20 years, Hockey East is a conference where nationally ranked teams battle each night at the highest level of Division I men’s ice hockey competition.
Last year (18-4-4), during its final season in Atlantic Hockey, the Huskies men’s ice hockey team was 2-1 against Hockey East members – defeating Providence and UMass-Amherst, losing to Boston University. Second year head coach Mike Cavanaugh says this year’s initial season as a member of Hockey East will be much different, with a schedule that includes 11 conference games against teams ranked in the preseason Top 20.
“Our biggest challenge this year is to perform at a high level where you can be successful night in and night out,” Cavanaugh says. “You can parachute in for one game and your kids get really amped up for one game. This year we can have a great win on Friday night against a Hockey East team and the next night you’ve got Boston College coming in, or the next night Maine’s knocking on your door. This league weeds out teams that are not prepared for that.”
The Huskies open their hockey home schedule at the XL Center in Hartford on Nov. 5 against No. 3 Boston College, a past NCAA champion. Hockey East also includes past champions Maine and No. 5 Boston University, as well as No. 12 Providence, No. 6 UMass-Lowell, No. 15 Notre Dame, Northeastern, and New Hampshire. Other top teams on the schedule are 2014 NCAA champion No. 8 Union, and Quinnipiac, which played in the NCAA championship game against winner Yale in 2013.
“The senior classes before us were definitely an integral part of building blocks of UConn hockey and getting success in Atlantic Hockey and going to Hockey East,” says co-captain Ryan Tyson ’15 (CLAS), a senior center. “I wanted to come to a program that was on the rise. It was important to have a school that wanted you to be a part of the program.”
Preparing the Huskies men’s ice hockey program to enter Hockey East has been a transitional process, similar to the path taken by UConn’s championship men’s and women’s basketball teams and the move to the Bowl Championship Series by the football team. First moving to Division I competition in 1998, the team played in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and then joined Atlantic Hockey in 2003, all without the aid of scholarships. Now the scholarships available to the team stand at 10, and will increase to the maximum of 18 by 2016.
Bruce Marshall ’85 (ED) led the Huskies until 2013, when he resigned after 25 years as head coach. Cavanaugh, a former associate head coach at Boston College, was named the fourth head coach for the Huskies in May 2013. Part of the move to Hockey East also meant playing home games at the XL Center in Hartford, which has just completed $35 million in renovations to upgrade the venue. The XL Center also serves as a home for minor league professional hockey, UConn men’s and women’s basketball games, concerts, and other events.
As the new era of Husky men’s ice hockey begins, USA Hockey executive director Dave Ogrean ’74 (CLAS) says hockey fans in Connecticut only need to look at how UConn has risen to national prominence in other team sports, noting the multiple NCAA titles UConn has won in men’s soccer, field hockey, and men’s and women’s basketball.
“The 19 national championships help a lot,” says Ogrean, who oversees the governing body for organized amateur hockey. “UConn is a school that has a huge national brand name identity. People who peel back the onion will see the moves they’ve made. They’ve done it right and had success.”
With a primarily New England flavor to the conference membership, the potential for establishing rivalries has already been set with last year’s win over Providence. The Huskies and their former Big East basketball opponent will face off in a home-and-home series in early February. The Friars were the pre-season pick by coaches to win the conference, and the Huskies were projected to finish last.
“Being picked last, I think everybody knew that was coming,” says co-captain forward Patrick Kirtland ’16 (CLAS). “We want to prove everybody wrong and surprise some people. I think we’re going to do that.”
Adds co-captain forward Trevor Gerling ’15 (CLAS): “There’s not a lot of believers out there, but we’ve got a locker room full of believers, and our coaches believe in us.”
Cavanaugh says he expects to feel more comfortable this season preparing the Huskies for conference play. This season he will draw upon his 18 years of coaching in Hockey East, as well as the experience of assistant coaches who played in the conference, New Hampshire star Mike Souza, and 2009 NCAA champion Joe Pereira of Boston University, who both played in the National Hockey League.
“Last year was tough for us, especially in preparing for opponents, because I had never prepared for them,” Cavanaugh says. “This year I know the coaches and their playing styles. As a staff, we’ll feel very comfortable preparing for the league.”
The Huskies’ entry into Hockey East has already drawn increased media interest, as indicated by the expanded attendance by Connecticut newspaper, radio and television reporters, and campus media at the annual media day at Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum, where the team will continue to practice. News and television coverage of games also has increased during the early part of the season.
The Huskies enter the Boston College (4-2-0) game with a record of 1-4-2, including a 4-1 win over Quinnipiac, which began the season ranked No. 15, and a pair of narrow 2-1 losses against Vermont and Yale. The team is looking forward to giving the home crowd a game to remember against BC.
“It’s going to be a special game for us,” Tyson says of the first home contest. “Growing up, you knew what Boston College hockey was, and the players who were there and went on to play in the NHL. It’s definitely going to be really special. It’s Coach Cav’s old team, and he won national championships there. It’s going to be a great time.”
