BOSTON — UConn has made steady inroads in the Hockey East power structure since joining the league at the start of the 2014-2015 season.
The No. 7 ranked Huskies advanced to the Hockey East title game for the second time with a 5-2 victory over 10-time champion Boston University in the opening semifinal on Thursday night at the TD Garden. The Huskies will face the winner of the Maine vs. Northeastern semifinal match in the final on Friday night (7:30) at the TD Garden.
“When I played against UConn, they were in Division 3,” said UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh, the Hockey East Coach of the Year. “In the last five years we’ve finished in the top four in four of those five years and we will be playing in our second championship game.
“My goal when I came here, I remember saying that I didn’t want to build a dotcom, I wanted to build a blue-chip company. I don’t know if we are there yet, but we are trending that way.”
UConn improved to 22-10-4 and 13-8-4 with their second win in four tries against the Terriers in tournament play. Sophomore right wing Joey Muldowney led the way with a hat trick while goalie Callum Tung set aside 25 BU shots to secure his ninth win.
The No. 8 Terriers fell to 21-13-2 and 14-9-2 and may have comprised a favorable seeding and destination in the upcoming NCAA tournament.
“That was a good old-fashioned (expletive) kicking, that’s what happened to us,” said BU coach Jay Pandolfo. “We were outcompeted, out battled for every puck, out battled on the wall, and out battled in the slot.
“They played winning hockey and they wanted it a lot more than we did. They were connected in all three zones and we weren’t connected at all.”
Neither BU or UConn experienced any “Garden jitters” at the onset while both Tung and BU goalie Mikhail Yegorov (19 saves) were tested early. Tung caught a break when junior center Ryan Greene’s bid on a 2-on-1 rush hit the post on his glove side at the 6:50 mark.
UConn right wing Jake Richard had just taken up residence in the penalty box for hooking when the Brothers Hutson put BU up 1-0 at 9:32 of the first.
Freshman defenseman Cole Hutson, the Hockey East Rookie of the Year and first team all-star, prevented a clearance at the left point and fed older sibling Quinn Huston as he slashed through the high slot.
Quinn Huston, a Hockey East second team all-star, uncorked a hard wrister that beat Tung for his 21st of the season. Cole Hutson recorded his 28th helper, tops in the nation for a rookie blue liner. UConn led 8-4 in shots on goal in the first.
The Huskies tied the game 1-1 on a fine individual effort by Tristan Fraser 59 seconds into the middle frame. Tabor Heaslip prevented a clear at the blue and fed Fraser in the slow slot. Yegorov denied Fraser’s initial shot, but the junior right wing collected the rebound and fired far post for his third of the season.
UConn went up 2-1 at 2:59 when Richard sent junior center Ryan Tattle up ice on a clean breakaway. Tattle skated down the slot and beat Yegorov glove side for his 18th of the season.
“The puck just kind of made it to my stick and all I heard was Tuttle yelling for the puck headed up the ice,” said Richard, who finished with four assists and 27 on the season. “I just threw it to a spot and he caught it nicely there and made a great finish.”
The Huskies’ uprising rolled on unabated when Muldowney made it 3-1 at 8:42. Junior right wing effortlessly redirected a cross-crease pass from defenseman Nick Carabin for his 25th of the season. UConn outshot BU 21-14 after two.
“They pushed and they continued to put pucks behind us, they forechecked and we didn’t win pucks on the wall,” said Pandolfo. “They scored both goals off the forecheck and were just giving them the puck and they jumped us.”
UConn went up 4-1 at 5:04 of the third on Muldowney’s second tally. Muldowney scored on a redirect at the end of a tic tac toe sequence involving Richard and Tattle. Pandolfo yanked Yegorov for a sixth skater with six minutes to play. Muldowney secured the hat trick with a backhander into an empty netter at 16:12.
