Spring Break
Huskies hope success against Falcons last year will carry over
Kevin Vellturo
Issue date: 2/6/09 Section: Sports
There have not been many highlights in the midst of a disappointing season for the men's hockey team. One glimpse of silver lining, however, appeared when UConn (6-20-1, 5-13-1 Atlantic Hockey) took the ice in the Toyota Classic against then-division-leading Air Force (17-7-2, 14-4-2); the team put history aside and played a high-flying Falcon team to a 2-2 tie. Five days later, the two teams met again, and had they not squandered a 3-1 second period lead, the Huskies would have come away with the upset.
UConn travels to Colorado this weekend for a pair of games in hopes that the success they experienced in late December against Air Force follows them to the Mountain time zone and provides the spark the Huskies need to have a strong finish to the season.
The first game is slated to start Friday at 9:05 p.m., with the second game Saturday at the same time.
After a disappointing sweep at the hands of Holy Cross at home this past weekend, sophomore Andrew Olson stressed the importance of having a good week of practice, especially with the amount of turnovers and penalties committed.
Coach Bruce Marshall knows his team has the ability to beat a talented Air Force team - they've come close twice, it is just a matter of finishing.
"I know it's getting late in the season," Marshall said. "But I know we have the ability; it only takes one or two to get you going."
Air Force got out to a fast 13-0 start and has since cooled down, finding themselves outside the rankings for the first time since Oct. 20. In their last 13 games, the Falcons are only 4-7-2 and have fallen to second in the conference behind RIT.
A win will be hard to come by, however, as Air Force comes in to the weekend as the top scoring team in the nation - netting almost four goals a game. The leader of the Falcons' potent scoring attack is sophomore Jacque Lamoureux, who leads the nation in goals per game (.77) and has scored 20 goals in 26 games.
Air Force's high scoring offense is complemented by a stingy defense, which ranks seventh in the nation in goals allowed, giving up 2.08 per game.
The Huskies have had trouble with teams that score a lot of goals, and at times have given up long stretches of unanswered goals - most recently against Holy Cross where the Crusaders were able to score nine goals past Beau Erickson before UConn could score one.
Defense and penalties have often been the downfall of the Huskies, as they've given up five or more goals 11 times, including six and seven in back-to-back games against the conference's second leading scoring team Mercyhurst.
Although UConn was able to contain the Air Force offense for the most part, only allowing six goals over two games, the recent play by the Husky defense does not bode well for them.
Upon returning home on Sunday, the Huskies have five of their final seven games at home and certainly need to win most of them to have hope at making a run in the conference tournament.
UConn travels to Colorado this weekend for a pair of games in hopes that the success they experienced in late December against Air Force follows them to the Mountain time zone and provides the spark the Huskies need to have a strong finish to the season.
The first game is slated to start Friday at 9:05 p.m., with the second game Saturday at the same time.
After a disappointing sweep at the hands of Holy Cross at home this past weekend, sophomore Andrew Olson stressed the importance of having a good week of practice, especially with the amount of turnovers and penalties committed.
Coach Bruce Marshall knows his team has the ability to beat a talented Air Force team - they've come close twice, it is just a matter of finishing.
"I know it's getting late in the season," Marshall said. "But I know we have the ability; it only takes one or two to get you going."
Air Force got out to a fast 13-0 start and has since cooled down, finding themselves outside the rankings for the first time since Oct. 20. In their last 13 games, the Falcons are only 4-7-2 and have fallen to second in the conference behind RIT.
A win will be hard to come by, however, as Air Force comes in to the weekend as the top scoring team in the nation - netting almost four goals a game. The leader of the Falcons' potent scoring attack is sophomore Jacque Lamoureux, who leads the nation in goals per game (.77) and has scored 20 goals in 26 games.
Air Force's high scoring offense is complemented by a stingy defense, which ranks seventh in the nation in goals allowed, giving up 2.08 per game.
The Huskies have had trouble with teams that score a lot of goals, and at times have given up long stretches of unanswered goals - most recently against Holy Cross where the Crusaders were able to score nine goals past Beau Erickson before UConn could score one.
Defense and penalties have often been the downfall of the Huskies, as they've given up five or more goals 11 times, including six and seven in back-to-back games against the conference's second leading scoring team Mercyhurst.
Although UConn was able to contain the Air Force offense for the most part, only allowing six goals over two games, the recent play by the Husky defense does not bode well for them.
Upon returning home on Sunday, the Huskies have five of their final seven games at home and certainly need to win most of them to have hope at making a run in the conference tournament.
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