UConn MHOC 2024-25

[Omahabound]

There wasn’t a ton to be learned from this Media Day. Very Flat.

I’m looking forward to the season and with the floor being last place, I’m confident they’ll outperform that preseason HE ranking. A depressing listen to say the least.

 

[mac2351]

Last Season: 15-19-2 (24th in Pairwise, 8th in HEA)
Recruit Class Ranking: 8th
Predicted League Finish: 11th (out of 11)
College Hockey Insider Score: 648.9

UConn reminds me a lot of Harvard last season. You might be surprised that I have the Huskies this low, although it’s only an eight-spot drop from where they were in the final Pairwise last season.

Losing Matthew Wood (16g-12a), Samu Salminen (7g-10a), and goalie Arsenii Sergeev (2.70/.913) were tough blows to absorb in the transfer portal.

Tyler Muszelik (3.38/.874) has potential in net as a transfer from UNH. He played for the U.S. NTDP and is a Florida draft pick, but he’s yet to put it all together as a college goalie.

UConn made some other nice additions in the portal — defenseman Nicholas Carabin (5g-12a) from Princeton, for example — but it’s not nearly enough to cover the production lost by Salminen and Wood transferring.

That said, it’s not all doom and gloom.
Remember last year I wrote I saw a rebuilding year for Harvard, but steady improvement over the next 2-3 years due to their recruiting classes. UConn is in the same boat.

According to Neutral Zone, UConn has the No. 8 recruiting class in the nation. Five players in the class are 4.0-stars or better.
That’s just a lot of youth to rely on in an ultra-competitive Hockey East.

Final Verdict: UConn’s recruiting class could be the core of a team that gets it back to the Hockey East championship game in 3-4 years. For this year, it’s fair to expect some growing pains while those players mature.

At the same time, I’m not sold on their goaltending. Muszelik has a lot of prove, and maybe a change of scenery helps him reach his potential. If not, the Huskies will turn to two more freshmen — Callum Tung or Thomas Heaney.

For me, Muszelik is the X-factor. If he can become a starting goalie and give the Huskies .905-9.10 goaltending, which is similar to what Sergeev gave them last season, it will speed up UConn’s revamp.

(#467) All 64: Previewing Sacred Heart, UConn, and Vermont

Today’s issue continues my All 64 season preview, looking at the teams I have ranked 30-32 in my preseason rankings.

open.substack.com

 

[huskymedic]

Takeaways from UConn men's hockey's media day

There's plenty of optimism in Storrs heading into the new season.

www.uconnhockeyhub.com

 

[Blades]

There wasn’t a ton to be learned from this Media Day. Very Flat.

I’m looking forward to the season and with the floor being last place, I’m confident they’ll outperform that preseason HE ranking. A depressing listen to say the least.

Yep, that's been my take all along on Cav, one of the highest paid coaches in college hockey who's "shown nothing but mediocre" and has the personality of a wet blanket. Go get em' boys, improvise, adapt, overcome..... Go Huskies !

 

[huskymedic]

Help <<

 

[Omahabound]

Yep, that's been my take all along on Cav, one of the highest paid coaches in college hockey who's "shown nothing but mediocre" and has the personality of a wet blanket. Go get em' boys, improvise, adapt, overcome..... Go Huskies !

I was anticipating hearing some news about some guys in relation to the X’s and O’s on the ice, that’s all. I just thought it had low energy for a Media Day…interview

Perhaps wishful thinking alone, idk, but I think the team might surprise this season.

 

[mac2351]

I was anticipating hearing some news about some guys in relation to the X’s and O’s on the ice, that’s all. I just thought it had low energy for a Media Day…interview

Perhaps wishful thinking alone, idk, but I think the team might surprise this season.

I would have liked if someone asked about NIL, CHL players becoming available, what went wrong last season, the proposal of the 26 player roster limit.

I did notice on the Bleeding Blue For Good site people can now donate specifically to both hockey programs which is a recent change. Those options were not previously available. It’s a positive change.

 

[UC15]

"Listen, I was disappointed when he left. We took him in when he was a 17-year-old and played him a lot. He went from borderline first-round pick to high first-round pick to 15th overall".

What an absolute moronic quote from Cav.

 

[CTBballfan243]

"Listen, I was disappointed when he left. We took him in when he was a 17-year-old and played him a lot. He went from borderline first-round pick to high first-round pick to 15th overall".

What an absolute moronic quote from Cav.

Why?

 

[zls44]

Why?

Well, Mike (I mean you), he wasn’t a borderline first round pick at any time after he got to campus. He was always a first round prospect.

 

[UC15]

Why?

He was always a first-round prospect and Cav is seemingly indicating that he was doing Wood a favor by giving him a spot on the team and his ice time. Look we can all rag on the kid for his compete level and speed but his offensive ability is unquestionable. His skills were far and away greater than anyone else on the team at the time maybe other than Tverberg.

 

[mac2351]

Matthew Wood:

He is naturally reserved and doesn’t offer many details about what led to the decision.

“Sometimes you just have to look at it objectively. At the end of the year, you need to look at your own situation and if it really is what’s best for you,” Jamie Wood (Father) said. “He has nothing but gratitude for UConn, but he just thought it might be better to try to have a different experience, and maybe look at a different program.”

Source:TheRinkLive.com

Samu Salminen:

“It was just the most natural decision to make,” Salminen said of choosing the Pios again. “Awesome program, great coaches, I heard only good things about this place. And, of course, I have the opportunity to develop as a player and win a national championship.”

Carle noted that he wasn’t the only player on that UConn roster whose numbers dipped.

“He’s been through a lot,” Carle said. “We’re hoping with our prior relationship, that trust that was built back then, we can try and help get the most out of him, and work to get him to the player that we all know he can be.”

Source: Denver Post

Arsenii Sergeev:

“Hockey-wise, practicing with the guys, they seemed like great, skilled players. Great, great, group of guys. I decided to work with them and grow up as a player,” Sergeev said.

“I decided to take this opportunity for me to this university to grow up as a person, as a player. Great
environment here. I met the coaches… It’s a great coaching staff, great people going here,” Sergeev said.

Source: OnwardState.com

Not a good look when the best coach in the country is mentioning how Salminen’s numbers were not the only ones to drop (17 pts both seasons, less games played as a freshman, less goals scored as a sophomore) and Sergeev is saying he had to transfer in order to “grow up as a player.”

 

[CTBballfan243]

Every player needs to do what they believe is in their best interest. I hope for nothing but the best for all the kids that transferred. The open spots on the roster will provide an opportunity for some other kids to try and seize. Should be another fun year of Hockey.

 

[Omahabound]

Matthew Wood:

He is naturally reserved and doesn’t offer many details about what led to the decision.

“Sometimes you just have to look at it objectively. At the end of the year, you need to look at your own situation and if it really is what’s best for you,” Jamie Wood (Father) said. “He has nothing but gratitude for UConn, but he just thought it might be better to try to have a different experience, and maybe look at a different program.”

Source:TheRinkLive.com

Samu Salminen:

“It was just the most natural decision to make,” Salminen said of choosing the Pios again. “Awesome program, great coaches, I heard only good things about this place. And, of course, I have the opportunity to develop as a player and win a national championship.”

Carle noted that he wasn’t the only player on that UConn roster whose numbers dipped.

“He’s been through a lot,” Carle said. “We’re hoping with our prior relationship, that trust that was built back then, we can try and help get the most out of him, and work to get him to the player that we all know he can be.”

Source: Denver Post

Arsenii Sergeev:

“Hockey-wise, practicing with the guys, they seemed like great, skilled players. Great, great, group of guys. I decided to work with them and grow up as a player,” Sergeev said.

“I decided to take this opportunity for me to this university to grow up as a person, as a player. Great
environment here. I met the coaches… It’s a great coaching staff, great people going here,” Sergeev said.

Source: OnwardState.com

Not a good look when the best coach in the country is mentioning how Salminen’s numbers were not the only ones to drop (17 pts both seasons, less games played as a freshman, less goals scored as a sophomore) and Sergeev is saying he had to transfer in order to “grow up as a player.”

I think the assessment of Matthew Wood’s situation is spot on. I’ve always defended him being blamed for probably more then should have as. I completely buy his personality being sincere in him moving on.

I don’t know about Salminen and Sergeev. I think there might more to it involving Denver’s HC and Sami’s transfer.

I believe whole heartedly that Sergeev was still bothered by his benching early on and that played a key role in his transfer. I agree all 3 were hugh losses but for whatever reason there was no chemistry. Either ineffectiveness, self-destructing (PIM) or coaching or all combined at any point. Not enough overall talent to overcome those. Maybe less talented this season, but less of the aforementioned.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[The Viking]

The last thing this team needs is bad news. Damn.

 

[mac2351]

Last season BU’s Tom Willander, who played 2 games in the same league prior to his freshman season, did not have to sit out games. He only had sit out the 1st game of the season

 

[Omahabound]

Last season BU’s Tom Willander, who played 2 games in the same league prior to his freshman season, did not have to sit out games. He only had sit out the 1st game of the season

Missed games in the NIL era????

The collegiate and/or amateur days are no more.

The media and all those making money want to treat this as anything other then professional sports. The NCAA is simply another League.

The SEC got it right. Release injury reports and treat the athletes like the paid players they are, regardless of dollar amounts and end this charade of “missed games” “let’s play for the name on the front”. It’s gone. Trying to have both leads to these types of things that are comical in relation to what sports were and what they are today. Just an opinion.

 

[Blades]

I agree all 3 were huge losses but for whatever reason there was no chemistry. Either ineffectiveness, self-destructing (PIM) or coaching or all combined at any point. Not enough overall talent to overcome those. .

Yep, In most cases when you can't develop talent, lose them to other programs and your team plays like an out of control trainwreck, with no system & no culture it usually is coaching..... i.e. see Kevin Ollie

 

[Blades]

Matthew Wood:

“Sometimes you just have to look at it objectively. At the end of the year, you need to look at your own situation and if it really is what’s best for you,” Jamie

Not a good look when the best coach in the country is mentioning how Salminen’s numbers were not the only ones to drop (17 pts both seasons, less games played as a freshman, less goals scored as a sophomore) and Sergeev is saying he had to transfer in order to “grow up as a player.”

Outside sources and coaches know. It's been a pattern right from the beginning with Warde's hire for HC....Tage and Letunov were much better players as freshman than sophs after a year with Cav. It took Tage years in minors to turn his career around and Letunov really never did. Tverberg seemed to regress and get frustrated the longer he stayed, the list goes on and on.

Basically I see a coach who collects players, has no system to develop actual skill, can't set up a PP and at best turns them into 80's style hockey, dump and chase muckers.

 

[Omahabound]

Outside sources and coaches know. It's been a pattern right from the beginning with Warde's hire for HC....Tage and Letunov were much better players as freshman than sophs after a year with Cav. It took Tage years in minors to turn his career around and Letunov really never did. Tverberg seemed to regress and get frustrated the longer he stayed, the list goes on and on.

Basically I see a coach who collects players, has no system to develop actual skill, can't set up a PP and at best turns them into 80's style hockey, dump and chase muckers.

Blades I won’t pretend like I know the intricacies of the game of hockey on a coaching level, but I gotta respect ur honesty and opinion.

 

[Blades]

Blades I won’t pretend like I know the intricacies of the game of hockey on a coaching level.

"The dump and chase is in many ways an “old school” strategy, and most NHL teams now use it sparingly. Statistics and current tactical philosophies prize puck possession, so teams aren’t that willing to base a game plan around send the puck to the corners."

What Is the Dump and Chase in Hockey? - Pure Hockey

Anyone who watches a hockey game will notice that, sometimes, a player who has possession of the puck will cross the red line and send the puck into the

blog.purehockey.com

 

[huskymedic]

UConn MHOC story within:



-> … The roster had a lot of turnover, and so did the staff after last season. The transfer to Minnesota of Matthew Wood, the highest drafted player ever at UConn, was a headliner. But two veteran team leaders, Hudson Schandor and John Spetz, returned for fifth seasons, coming back as grad students, and they’re joined by 14 newcomers.

“This is a third year in a row we’ve had players who had an opportunity to go wherever they want and they came back as fifth-year seniors,” Cavanaugh said. “It means a lot to me. It means this university and this program means an awful lot to them, and they want to finish their careers here as Huskies.”

Cavanaugh couldn’t do the usual “deep dive” into what went right and wrong when the season ended. He had to replace players he wouldn’t have normally have lost, and staffers, such as assistant Mike Pereira, who became the coach at Choate. By midsummer, Cavanaugh and new assistant Tyler Helton huddled with his veteran players to try to get the chemistry right.

“Hudson and John Spetz were excellent in that, we had bi-weekly meetings through the summer and Tyler and I took a lot of their input and we implemented it along with what we thought we needed to be better,” Cavanaugh said.

“Establishing a super-consistent culture that can be continued year over year,” Schandor said. “Whether us two are at the forefront and finding a way to bring out consistency in this program was on our minds throughout the summer. I think we did some great things this summer to help this program take a lot of strides.”

Spetz added, “We dialed in a lot of things. I think we brought it to our coaches’ attention that we want to hit the ground running from day one and not waste any day, because college is such a short season, and living in the moment is something we have preached to our teammates.” <-

 

[huskymedic]