UConn Men’s Hockey Team Celebrates New Year’s Eve With Tournament Title

By Bob Phillips with staff reports

PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. – It’s been a relatively slow build for the University of Connecticut’s men’s hockey team, but make no mistake: The Huskies have arrived. Playing in an area dominated by former national champions such as Providence, Yale, BU and BC, the Huskies have struggled to find an identity and build a fan base beyond the UConn student body. Bu this weekend, the process came to fruition as the Huskies earned the Desert Hockey Classic championship with a convincing 4-1 win over Brown on New Year’s Eve afternoon at the Prescott Valley Event Center in Prescott Valley, Ariz. The win came after UConn eliminated No. 18 St. Cloud State by a 4-3 margin Friday night in the semis.
Spencer Naas of Minnetonka, Minn., scored a pair of goals in the championship game, while Husky senior netminder Rob Nichols, a Dallas native, stopped 15 shots. Indeed, it was the brilliant Connecticut defense that collectively should have earned the first star. The Husky D limited the Bears to just 16 shots, including none—as in zero—in the third period. Nichols was named tournament MVP.

The Huskies dominated the shot chart in the opening period, but Brown goaltender Gavin Nieto was up to the task, turning away all of the 17 shots UConn took at him. The Bears struck first at 13:47 on a 4-on-4.  Brady Schoo dug the puck off the right boards and fed Tyler Bird in the right circle where he buried a wrist shot top-shelf. It was Bird’s third tally of the season. It was also the last time Brown would find the back of the net.

The Huskies struck for two goals in the middle stanza to take a 2-1 advantage. Naas tied the game at 1-1 at 2:12 thanks to a great individual effort. The junior forward forced a turnover in the neutral zone, grabbed the puck headed the other way. As he closed in on Nieto, Naas buried a snap shot for his 10th tally of the season.

The Huskies doubled up at 10:06 when sophomore Max Kalter of Highland Park, Ill., picked-up his second goal of the season. Freshman Philip Nyberg, a native of Linkoping, Sweden, fired on net from just inside the blue line, but his shot blocked was. Naas tried to redirect the rebound into the net, but lost control. Kalter grabbed the loose puck at the right post and slid it in for a 2-1 UConn lead. It was Nyberg’s first collegiate point, and came on what would ultimately prove to be the game-winning goal. UConn had four power play chances in the second period, but came up empty on each.

In the third period, the Huskies made good on the power play—their eighth man-advantage shift of the game—when freshman Benjamin Freeman of Falmouth, Maine, picked up his second goal of the season at 6:57, giving the Huskies a 3-1 lead. Sophomore Maxim Letunov (Moscow, Russia) picked-up his team-leading 12th helper of the season on the play.

For the second-straight night, the Huskies had to try and kill off a 6-on-4 power play for the opponent thanks to a cross-checking call with 3:37 remaining in regulation. The Connecticut PK came up big, however, and junior Corey Ronan of Franklin, Mass., put the finishing touches on the win with an empty netter from deep in the UConn zone—his third marker of the season.

Overall, the Huskies were just 1-for-8 on the power play, but it hardly matteredConnecticut held a huge 34-16 edge on shots.

Brown, which fell to 3-10-1 overall, got magnificent effort from Nieto, who stopped 30 Husky shots, in net. UConn now heads home with an 8-6-6 overall mark and their first trophy since winning the UConn Hockey Classic during the 2003-04 season. 

“We are very excited,” said UConn head coach Mike Cavanaugh. “Brown gave us all we could handle, coming off a double-overtime game yesterday and a quick turnaround today.  When I first got here four years ago, I said I had three goals: graduate players, make them better men and win trophies. It feels good to get that first [trophy].”

The Desert Hockey Classic title marks the third in-season tournament championship for the Huskies in the D-I era (1999-present) and their 14thh overall in all-time program history. UConn now returns home to take on in-state rival Yale on Sat., Jan 7, at the XL Center. First puck drops at 3:05 pm.

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