In its first Hockey East matchup of the season, inexperience on defense allowed the University of Connecticut to capitalize and take the upper hand over the Massachusetts hockey team for a majority of regulation.
With under three minutes left of the first period, UConn (3-2-1, 0-0-1 HEA) pushed itself ahead leaving the ice with momentum on its side after forward Kaden Shahan gave the Huskies a 2-1 lead.
From the Huskies’ territory, the Minutemen (3-2-1, 0-0-1 HEA) allowed Kai Janviriya to send a straight pass to Shahan. Surpassing UMass in the neutral zone, freshman defenseman Finn Loftus was unprepared to cover Shahan as he swiveled around to face goaltender Michael Hrabal. Quickly sending out his shot as Loftus crept in on him a moment too late, the puck danced around the net and sounded a second UConn goal.
“We leave [Hrabal] out to dry,” head coach Greg Carvel said. “We give up a breakaway early in the game. It’s not fair to him.”
In the first period, the Huskies hit the ice with confidence as UMass adapted too slowly to its first HEA opponent of the season.
With messy play in the offensive zone, finding itself unable to set up a solid play, UMass allowed UConn to take over as soon as a rebound flung back towards the ice. With the defensemen unable to get their sticks down and away from the Huskies, they found themselves tied up in traffic with UConn open to turn around and race across the ice.
“As a group, we gave up a lot of transition through the middle of the ice,” Carvel said. “That’s defensemen that I think are just thinking offense too much … They’re all like that. To me, that’s the one area where they[‘ve] got to tighten up.”
Despite sinking in UMass’ first goal of the night and giving the Minutemen some life, Francesco Dell’Elce struggled to break past his offensive mind and focus on defending the puck. Freshman Larry Keenan also kept his attention on offense, trying to rework rebounds and Tyler Muszelik’s net rather than creating barriers between the Huskies and Hrabal.
“We still have an inexperienced defensive group that allows breakaways and odd man rushes,” Carvel said. “We got to get them dialed in and prevent the high-end chances that we gave up [Friday]. I felt like the only thing UConn had [on Friday] was breakdowns [and] poor puck management by us.”
Freshmen inexperience continues to be a running theme on UMass’ backend. Against Sacred Heart in the first night of the series, the Minutemen suffered a 4-3 loss largely due to small defensive errors that kept Hrabal on his toes and inevitably with the puck behind him.
In an attempt to break up the inexperience, the freshmen split up in the pairings, joining Lucas Ölvestad, Owen Murray and captain Linden Alger in hopes of finding a defensive groove. The veterans, though, could not recover errors made by the new defensemen against UConn.
“They’re both very good players that get a little risky with the puck,” Carvel said of the Olvestad-Dell’Elce pairing. “When they make the play, it’s really impressive, and when they don’t, it’s really scary.”
The Minutemen take the road for the second part of the UConn series Saturday, Oct. 26. Puck drop in Storrs, CT is set for 7 p.m. and the game can be watched live on ESPN+.
Sydney Ciano can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter/X @SydneyCiano.
