UConn v. #7 Maine Black Bears @ XL Center (Friday 1/12/24 @7p & Saturday 1/13/24 @3p). Both games on ESPN+

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[mac2351]

Great effort the last 2 periods

Great defense in front of Sergeev

Sergeev with a great job getting the shutout after not playing for over 2 months

Good win

 

[Bomber36]

Prayers answered…Great game for Arsenii!

 

[huskymedic]

UConn men's hockey takes down No. 7 Maine, 2-0

In his first start in over two months, Arsenii Sergeev recorded his first career shutout.

www.uconnhockeyhub.com

 

[DblCrossbar]

Sergeev to start. Only a decision someone like Cav would make.

First start since the 2nd week of November

Good luck with that

Fortunately for us this post didn’t age well

 

[mac2351]

 

[mac2351]

Fortunately for us this post didn’t age well

I’m glad it didn’t. If they play defense like that in front of the goaltender, it’ll mean a few more wins by the end of the season.

 

[DblCrossbar]

Muldowney and Heaslip have both been players that show real improvement. Muldowney will be a fun one to watch next year. I’m hoping his arc is like Payusov’s and he develops and learns to be a potent scorer. He really sees the ice well. Heaslip has added a gear to his game and is skating very well. Good on faceoffs, plays with grit, and a very effective forchecker too.

 

[mac2351]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Omahabound]

Why does UConn consistently appear to have played more HE games then other conference teams at the same point of the season. I’ve noticed this for a few years now. Front-loaded conference schedule. I think it’s a competitive disadvantage, regardless of the outcome of the games. The excuse that everybody plays the same amount of games misses the point…teams typically gel as the season’s progress. It gives movement w/in the standings for those w fewer games played a competitive advantage when ur in the final weeks.

 

[freescooter]

The first period was brutal. I figured this one was going to be a massacre. Segeev made a couple of good stops, nothing spectacular, but stuff he had not handled in November. Then it looked like a different team out there in the second period. And getting a quick one to start the 3rd was huge. But come on, Wood. 2 on 1 you gotta score!

Last thing. Last 2 minutes. Maine calls time, crowd is pumped and they decide to play some recorded music. Then UConn calls time and the go into YMCA? Come on! The band should have been blasting the Fight Song, and the second fight song.. And at the end, Brass Bonaza? Please. Other than that, great game.

 

[mac2351]

Why does UConn consistently appear to have played more HE games then other conference teams at the same point of the season. I’ve noticed this for a few years now. Front-loaded conference schedule. I think it’s a competitive disadvantage, regardless of the outcome of the games. The excuse that everybody plays the same amount of games misses the point…teams typically gel as the season’s progress. It gives movement w/in the standings for those w fewer games played a competitive advantage when ur in the final weeks.

It’s crazy that UConn has played 5 more games than New Hampshire.

And UConn does not play the final weekend. They have a single game on a Thursday to end the regular season.

 

[Bomber36]

Why does UConn consistently appear to have played more HE games then other conference teams at the same point of the season. I’ve noticed this for a few years now. Front-loaded conference schedule. I think it’s a competitive disadvantage, regardless of the outcome of the games. The excuse that everybody plays the same amount of games misses the point…teams typically gel as the season’s progress. It gives movement w/in the standings for those w fewer games played a competitive advantage when ur in the final weeks.

More proof that Hockey East hates us.

 

[Viet Vet]

It’s crazy that UConn has played 5 more games than New Hampshire.

And UConn does not play the final weekend. They have a single game on a Thursday to end the regular season.

If/when Hockey East expands to twelve, the solution is to adopt (I've proposed this before) the Ivy League's basketball scheduling model:

The twelve teams would be divided into six "travel pairs", based on geography. In Ivy basketball the four pairs are Harvard/Dartmouth, Yale/Brown, Columbia/Cornell, Penn/Princeton. They travel to another pair on Friday/Saturday. For example, on a given weekend Yale/Brown are away at Penn/Princeton, while Harvard/Dartmouth are away at Columbia/Cornell. ALL league games are played on Friday/Saturday with the exception of the home-and-home series with your travel partner (typically mid-week). No team suffers a front-loaded league schedule.

For HE, I'd suggest the following pairs: BC/BU; Northeastern/PC; UNH/Maine; Lowell/Merrimack; UMass/Vermont; UConn/12th team (likely SHU or HC, but if the Ivies leave ECAC hockey, QU might be in play).

 

[huskymedic]

 

[DblCrossbar]

But come on, Wood. 2 on 1 you gotta score!

I remember it as 2 on none with Bradley. Someone on the board said they thought Wood would be a better player on another team. I disagree, that play is indicative of why. He really wouldn’t be better. As young as he his skills are supposed to be the thing that elevates those around him, not the other way around.

He’s still a young kid and a seemingly nice one so I really don’t want to come down harshly on him so I’ll say it this way. If there was no hype about him being a first round pick, most of us would be pleased to see him in the lineup and would think he is a benefit to the team. But with that 15th pick it’s apparent we expect too much from the kid and assume he should dominate games. What I’ve seen so far is a decent above average college hockey player, which I welcome but we all wonder if there is a higher level he can show. That someone may get to see that experiment come through though b cause with the transfer portal he may play college for another year but at another school before going pro.

 

[mac2351]

I remember it as 2 on none with Bradley. Someone on the board said they thought Wood would be a better player on another team. I disagree, that play is indicative of why. He really wouldn’t be better. As young as he his skills are supposed to be the thing that elevates those around him, not the other way around.

He’s still a young kid and a seemingly nice one so I really don’t want to come down harshly on him so I’ll say it this way. If there was no hype about him being a first round pick, most of us would be pleased to see him in the lineup and would think he is a benefit to the team. But with that 15th pick it’s apparent we expect too much from the kid and assume he should dominate games. What I’ve seen so far is a decent above average college hockey player, which I welcome but we all wonder if there is a higher level he can show. That someone may get to see that experiment come through though b cause with the transfer portal he may play college for another year but at another school before going pro.

His skating and lack of speed is what hurts him. Even in the World Juniors, his lack of speed really showed up when compared with players in his age group.

I believe he would be better with more skilled players that opposing teams would have to respect. UConn does not have anyone on the roster that an opposing team says ”we have to try to shut down this guy”. I think playing with more talented players would open the ice up more for him. For right now, he’s not anywhere close to being pro ready. I just wish he had a couple players on UConn with a higher skill level he could play with.

I also do not like how UConn uses him on the power play. The coaches should get him open on the dot like they used to do with Tage. He has a heavy shot but they don’t get him set up to unleash it from the dot. When Tage was here, every power play he would unleash his slapshot because the coaches set him up. Maybe a lot of it had to with teams having to respect Letunov too.

Wood has 1 power play goal this season. Something is wrong with the power play for that to happen.

Tage’s freshman year he had 13 power play goals. 7 power play goals his sophomore season

Letunov’s freshman year he had 19 power play assists. 11 power play assists his sophomore season

 

[UC15]

His skating and lack of speed is what hurts him. Even in the World Juniors, his lack of speed really showed up when compared with players in his age group.

I believe he would be better with more skilled players that opposing teams would have to respect. UConn does not have anyone on the roster that an opposing team says ”we have to try to shut down this guy”. I think playing with more talented players would open the ice up more for him. For right now, he’s not anywhere close to being pro ready. I just wish he had a couple players on UConn with a higher skill level he could play with.

I also do not like how UConn uses him on the power play. The coaches should get him open on the dot like they used to do with Tage. He has a heavy shot but they don’t get him set up to unleash it from the dot. When Tage was here, every power play he would unleash his slapshot because the coaches set him up. Maybe a lot of it had to with teams having to respect Letunov too.

Wood has 1 power play goal this season. Something is wrong with the power play for that to happen.

Tage’s freshman year he had 13 power play goals. 7 power play goals his sophomore season

Letunov’s freshman year he had 19 power play assists. 11 power play assists his sophomore season

If he was even an average skater he'd be putting up loads more points. But he had 2-3 breakaways this weekend against Maine and didn't convert on any of them, a player with his hands and shot needs to pot one of those.

 

[huskymedic]