Huskies Notch Comeback Win Over Maine

Sophomore forward Carter Turnbull (8) notched his seventh goal of the
season, and UConn overcame an early two-goal deficit to top the Maine
Black Bears at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport on Wednesday.

By Bob Phillips

BRIDGEPORT—Freshman Vladislav Firstov (Yaroslavl, Russia) scored the game-winning goal in the third period to cap off three unanswered markers for the University of Connecticut men’s hockey team, as the Huskies posted a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Maine Black Bears in a Hockey East match-up Wednesday night before a meager crowd of 559 fans at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport.

The Black Bears raced out to an early 2-0 lead when Jakub Sirota scored on the power play 12:33 into the game, and teammate Tim Doherty followed with a tally just 1:05 later.

The Huskies’ comeback started late in the opening stanza when sophomore Carter Turnbull (Nanaimo, British Columbia) netted his seventh goal on the season at the 18:56 mark.

Senior Alexander Payusov (Montreal) knotted the score 3:25 into the second period and Firstov put the Huskies up with what would prove to be the game-winner 6:52 into the third stanza. Husky sophomore netminder Tomas Vomacka (Trutnov, Czech Republic) held onto the lead, turning aside 37 shots on the evening.

Maine goaltender Jeremy Swayman stopped 23 shots in the loss.

The Huskies snapped a four-game slide and a five-game winless streak and grabbed two points in the Hockey East standings, improving to 8-10-4 overall and 5-7-2 in the conference. Maine falls to 10-9-4 and 4-7-2.

Next up for the Connecticut pucksters will be a trip to Beantown where they will face Northeastern on Saturday. First puck drops at 4 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on NESN and broadcast on the UConn Sports Radio Network (ESPN Radio 97.9 FM; WILI 1400 AM/95.3 FM).

Connecticut will return to Bridgeport next week when they will face Quinnipiac in the first game of the SNY Connecticut Ice Festival on Sat., Jan. 25. That game will be followed by a matchup between Yale and Sacred Heart. The winners of those contests will advance to the championship tilt on Sun., Jan. 26. The tournament will be televised live on SNY—bad news for Frontier subscribers. Frontier dropped SNY last spring.

THE SKINNY

—with staff reports

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