STORRS, Conn. - The UConn men's hockey team defeated Vermont Thursday evening by a final of 5-1 in the regular season finale. Matthew Wood and Joey Muldowney both finished with two goals and Arsenii Sergeev finished with 25 saves.
The Huskies got off to a fast start Thursday evening as the connection of Ryan Tattle, Samu Salminen and Matthew Wood stayed hot. The Huskies pressure paid off as Samu Salminen found Matthew Wood crashing the net for the first goal of the night. The Huskies doubled their lead midway through the period as Joey Muldowney fired a shot past Gabe Carriere of Vermont to give UConn the two-goal lead heading into the break.
UConn extended their lead early in the second period as Matthew Wood skated through the Vermont defense before scoring on the backhand attempt. Vermont responded fast, as they were able to score on the following shift to cut the Huskies lead to two heading into the third period.
In the third period, UConn once again extended their lead to three as Tristan Fraser took a pass from Tabor Heaslip and fired it past the Vermont goaltender. Arsenii Sergeev and the Huskies defense held strong in the third period, preventing the Catamounts from cutting into the Huskies lead. With two minutes remaining in the game, Vermont pulled their netminder in favor of an extra skater. The UConn defense stood strong and eventually freshman Joey Muldowney scored the empty net goal to secure the win for the Huskies.
With the win, the Huskies finish the regular season with a 14-18-2 overall record. UConn will host the opening round of the Hockey East Playoffs, March 13 against Vermont. Puck drop and streaming details will be announced following the conclusion of the Hockey East Regular season.
