UConn returns to non-conference play on Saturday afternoon with a post-Thanksgiving match-up against the Colgate Raiders from the ECAC at the XL Center. The Huskies are 2-2-0 against non-conference opponents this season.
The Huskies will close out the month of November on Saturday, having played to a 3-3-0 record during the month. UConn will take on Merrimack and AIC in a pair of home-and-home series the next weeks to close out the first half before the holiday break.
UConn enters the weekend off a Hockey East split with nationally ranked UMass Lowell last weekend. After getting shutout 3-0 on the road the Huskies bounced back at home in the XL Center for a gritty 2-1 win over the River Hawks. The Huskies and River Hawks are currently tied for fifth in the Hockey East standings, both with 14 points.
Colgate is coming off a weekend sweep where they posted back-to-back shutouts over ECAC rivals Yale, 3-0, and Brown, 6-0. The Raiders are 3-1-0 against Hockey East schools this season, getting a sweep at Vermont and splitting a home series with Merrimack.
The Huskies and Raiders last faced-off in the 2017-18 season, a 4-2 UConn win at home in XL Center. Colgate leads the all-time series, 5-3-0. UConn is 1-0-1 against Colgate in the Coach Cavanaugh era.
Under head coach Mike Cavanaugh, the Huskies are 12-13-4 against teams from the ECAC. UConn is 1-0-0 this season with a win at Dartmouth already on the ledger and after today's match-up will also face Harvard and then Yale and potentially Quinnipiac (in the CT Ice tournament) this season.
In last Sunday's win over UMass Lowell, the Huskies' offense came from a pair of defensemen as senior Ryan Wheeler notched his second goal of the season and junior Jake Flynn scored his first on the year, the game-winner.
Sophomore Ryan Tverberg leads the team and is third in Hockey East with 16 points coming on nine goals and seven assists. His nine goals is tied for second in the league and is tied for 11th nationally. His 1.23 points per game average is third in the league.
Senior Jachym Kondelik has registered a point in 10-of the 13 games this season and has 12 points on three goals and nine assists. He is 16th in scoring in Hockey East and his nine assists fifth. Kondelik is coming off his third-straight season of 20-plus points, finishing with four goals and a team-best 18 assists last year. He is the Huskies leading active career point leader at 83 points (19g/64a).
UConn grad student goaltender Darion Hanson transferred in this season from Union and has started all 13 games and played every minute for the Huskies. On the season, he owns a 2.45 goals against average and a .919 save percentage He has played the third most minutes in Hockey East and ranks 10th in goals against and fifth in save percentage.
Senior captain Carter Turnbull enters Saturday's game at 99 career games played as a Husky. He will join fellow captains, Marc Gatcomb (101 gp) and Jachym Kondelik (103 gp), in eclipsing the century mark for career games as a Husky this season. Graduate transfers Jarrod Gourley and Kevin O'Neil have both hit 100 career games played this season as well.