{"id":70487,"date":"2012-12-27T08:54:14","date_gmt":"2012-12-27T13:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=70487"},"modified":"2013-01-03T09:02:02","modified_gmt":"2013-01-03T14:02:02","slug":"uconn-hockey-classic-provides-unique-tournament-setting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2012\/12\/uconn-hockey-classic-provides-unique-tournament-setting\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Hockey Classic Provides Unique Tournament Setting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Update 1\/2\/2013: The men\u2019s ice hockey team was the runner-up in the 20th UConn Hockey Classic, after a hard-fought game against No. 18 Minnesota State at Freitas Ice Forum on Sunday. The Huskies defeated American International College 7-1 in the opening game on Saturday, but fell 3-1 to Minnesota State in the championship game. Forward Brant Harris \u201914 (CLAS) and defenseman Jacob Poe \u201915 (CLAS) were named to the All-Tournament Team.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Senior<\/a>
Senior co-captain Sean Ambrosie \u201913 (BUS) is the Huskies\u2019 leading scorer. (Steve Slade ’89 (SFA) for UConn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The men\u2019s hockey team returns to the ice at Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum this weekend, Dec. 29-30, for a unique event in college hockey, the 2012 UConn Hockey Classic. Not only is it unusual to host a holiday season tournament, it is rare that the level of competition in the tournament is not scheduled in favor of the home team and includes a conference opponent.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the Huskies (4-7-2) will face American International College (4-8-3), an Atlantic Hockey Conference matchup, at 7:15 p.m. In the early game at 4:05 p.m., No. 18 Minnesota State-Mankato (10-6-2) of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association will play Brown (3-5-4) of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference. The tournament consolation game will be on Sunday at 4:05 p.m., with the championship game at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a unique tournament in the sense that we always play a league opponent in the first game,\u201d says Huskies assistant head coach Dave Berard. \u201cIt\u2019s two points on the line. You come back from having a week off for exams and another week off. Those points are really important in the standings. We talk to the guys about making sure they take advantage of the time they have to get rest, reconnect with their families. But they also have to do their part to keep skating and work out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rene<\/a>
Rene Rancourt, who has sung the U.S. and Canadian national anthems before Boston Bruins games for 35 years, sang the national anthem in Storrs during the 2011 UConn Hockey Classic. (Steve Slade ’89 (SFA) for UConn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The UConn Hockey Classic began in 1993 and has attracted 33 different teams over the years, with most returning several times to play. The events surrounding the tournament include a banquet dinner and selection of an all-tournament team. Last year Rene Rancourt, who has sung the U.S. and Canadian national anthems before Boston Bruin games for 35 years, sang in Storrs.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of teams have come back time and time again because they like the quality of the competition and the way they\u2019ve been treated,\u201d Berard says. \u201cThat\u2019s going to help us prepare for our season down the road when we\u2019re playing good quality competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

In last year\u2019s tournament, for example, the Huskies advanced to the title game against nationally-ranked UMass-Lowell and took the team to overtime. UMass later advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies have won the tournament three times \u2013 1995, 1999, and 2003 \u2013 and finished runner-up 10 times. Nationally ranked teams who have won in the past include No. 20 Colgate in 2006, No. 19 Ferris State in 2007, and No. 9 Quinnipiac in 2008. Quinnipiac will return to the tournament next season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to see different teams that you don\u2019t see all the time,\u201d says Dan Naurato \u201911 (CLAS), who will participate in his fifth Hockey Classic this year as a volunteer assistant coach. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool as a player; a lot of times you know other kids on the other teams. This year with a team from the WCHA, arguably one of the best leagues in the country, and Brown in the ECAC, it\u2019s definitely good competition and a good test for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Senior<\/a>
Senior goalkeeper Garrett Bartus ’13 (CLAS). (Steve Slade ’89 (SFA) for UConn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Senior goalkeeper Garrett Bartus \u201913 (ED), says, \u201cIt\u2019s always one of our goals that it\u2019s going to be our year to win it. We\u2019ve always had really good teams playing here. UMass Lowell was here last year and we had a really good game against them. They were a goal away from going to the Final Four.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hockey Classic arrives at a time of the season when the student-athletes are between academic semesters and can focus on their sport and recall their junior hockey experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time of year everyone always talks about this as juniors again,\u201d says senior co-captain Sean Ambrosie \u201913 (BUS), the Huskies\u2019 leading scorer. \u201cYou can spend all your time with the guys. It\u2019s great for team building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ambrosie says with the Huskies\u2019 young squad this year \u2013 10 freshmen and 10 sophomores \u2013 the team knew it would need time to develop through the year. \u201cWe\u2019ve progressed as a team,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re really excited about the second half of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the move in 2014 to the Hockey East Association, the elite conference that has produced four of the last five NCAA champions, the Huskies say the Hockey Classic will continue to grow. In fact, the 2014 tournament will include Providence College as the conference game the Huskies will play.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ll attract even stronger teams when we\u2019re in Hockey East, and the tournament will shift a little,\u201d Berard says, noting that the conference games will be played at the XL Center in Hartford.<\/p>\n

To purchase tickets, go to the men’s ice hockey website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The men\u2019s ice hockey team was the runner-up, after a hard-fought game against No. 18 Minnesota State at Freitas Ice Forum on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":70494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[55],"class_list":["post-70487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 04:41:29","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70487"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70941,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70487\/revisions\/70941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/70494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70487"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=70487"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=70487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}