HARTFORD, Conn. - UConn freshman Jonny Evans (North Delta, British Columbia) scored a pair of goals to lead the Huskies past Brown University, 3-1, Tuesday night in a non-conference match-up from the XL Center in Hartford. The Huskies improved to 5-4-1 overall with the win.
UConn freshman goaltender Tomas Vomacka (Trutnov, Czech Republic) made his home ice debut for the Huskies on Tuesday night and turned 25 saves to get the win in net. The Huskies finished 1-for-3 on the power play and tacked on a Max Kalter (Highland Park, Ill.) late shorthanded, empty net goal to ice away the win.
Evans scored goals in the first and second period to stake the Huskies to a 2-0 lead heading into the final 20 minutes. Brown pulled within a goal at 5:21 in the third as Tony Stillwell scored his first of the season. The Bears pulled their goaltender, Luke Kania late for an extra skater and got a 6-on-4 chance with the Huskies killing a penalty but couldn't come up with the tying goal before Kalter put the stamp on a 3-1 win.
Kania made 24 saves for the Bears in the loss. Brown finished 0-for-4 on the power play.
1st Period:
UConn grabbed an early 1-0 lead off the stick of Evans just 2:25 in to the game. Freshman Kale Howarth (Red Deer, Alberta) took a face-off in the Brown zone and won it back to Evans who took two strides into the high slot and whipped a wrister past Kania, stick side, for his second of the season and a 1-0 lead.
2nd Period:
Both teams had two cracks on the power play in the second period with the Huskies capitalizing on their second chance with Evans notching his second on the night. With Brown's Jake Harris sent off at 9:50 for a slash, the Huskies took advantage and came up with a pretty tick-tac-toe goal at 11:44.
Freshman Carter Turnbull (Nanaimo, British Columbia) fed junior Benjamin Freeman (Falmouth, Maine) into the left circle and he drove the net, crossing a quick pass to Evans at the right post who buried it before Kania could recover making it 2-0 Huskies.
3rd Period:
The Bears cut the UConn lead in half at 5:21 as Brown defenseman Stillwell buried his first on the season. Tristan Crozier carried the puck behind the net, feeding Stillwell in the right circle. The sophomore threw the puck on net, getting it through traffic and a screen in front of Vomacka to make it 2-1.
With 3:30 left, the Bears got a 3-on-2 chance and a great look on an empty net but Jack Gessert's shot was blocked by senior Miles Gendron (Shrewsbury, Mass.) at the right post to keep the Huskies lead safe.
After a Brown holding penalty at 17:08, the Huskies gave it right back at 17:41 when Freeman was called for interference. The Bears used their time-out to pull Kania for the extra skater. After Maguire was release from his penalty, Brown had a 6-on-4 chance but the Huskies got clear as Adam Karashik (Ridgefield, Conn.) fed Karl El-Mir (Montreal, Quebec) into the neutral zone and he found Kalter across ice to break him free for the empty netter at 19:19, his third of the season.
Up Next:
The Huskies will take on UMass Lowell in a Hockey East home-and-home series this weekend. UConn will host the River Hawks at XL Center on Friday night and travel up to Lowell on Saturday.
