PC Hockey Will Tangle With Upstart UConn in Hockey East Tournament
Robert McMahon, Sports Columnist
PC Hockey Will Tangle With Upstart UConn in Hockey East Tournament
Here are the matchups for the Hockey East Tournament. East Standings
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Vermont at UMass
New Hampshire at UMass-Lowell
Northeastern at Merrimack
Quarterfinals/Friday, March 15
Providence College at UConn
Quarterfinals/Saturday, March 16 (visiting team from opening round)
TBD at Boston University
TBD at Maine
TBD at Boston College
Semifinals/ Thursday, March 21 at Boston Garden
Championship/Friday, March 22 at Boston Garden
The Friars and UConn met twice during the regular season with a 3-3 tie at Schneider on January 31st and a 6-3 PC win at the XL Center in Hartford on February 1st before a crowd of 11,781 fans (the largest crowd in Hockey East play this year). This Friday’s quarterfinal game will be played at the 2,600 seat Toscano Family Ice Forum on the Storrs campus of UConn.
The 6-3 PC win at UConn was not as close as the score suggests. The game was tied 3-3 with 10 minutes to play in the third period before PC’s Hudson Malinoski scored the go-ahead goals with 9:41 to play. PC got two empty net goals to make the final score 6-3.
The UConn Husky hockey team is the surprise team in Hockey East and in Division One this year. UConn joined Hockey East only 10 years ago and has only had a Division One program since 1998. Last year the Huskies finished with an overall record of 15-19-2 and in the 10 years they have been in Hockey East, their overall record is 160-178-32. They have never played in a Division One NCAA tournament game.
This year, UConn has been a force, finishing in 4th place in the Hockey East regular season for the first time ever with 40 points, nosing out PC with 39 points. They have not lost a game since February 7th when UMass edged them 5-4. They have been the hottest team in Division One in the last month.
Looking at the matchup stats for UConn and PC this year, the number that stands out for UConn is 3.4 goals scored per game.
UConn has scored 114 goals this year to PC’s 101 goals. UConn is led by sophomore Joey Muldowney who is the 7th leading goal scorer in Hockey East this year.
UConn is slightly favored for the game because of home ice advantage and because of their significant advantage over PC in power play conversion. The Huskies are 12-4-1 at Toscano Forum this year. The arena, though built in 2023, is known for having slow ice which may affect PC since PC has not played at Toscano Forum this year. Coach Leaman will likely start Phil Svedback in goal who allowed 3 goals in the 3-3 tie with UConn earlier this year. UConn has been rotating two goalies in the second half of the season, Tyler Muszelik and Callum Tung, so we won’t know until game time who will be in the UConn nets.
The puck drops for the PC-UConn game Friday night at Toscano at 7 p.m. It will be aired on NESN, ESPN+ TV, and the Varsity Network.