2022–23 UConn Huskies Men's Ice Hockey Season

The 2022–23 UConn Huskies men's ice hockey season was the 63rd season of play for the program, the 25th at the Division I level, and the 9th in Hockey East. The Huskies represented the University of Connecticut and were coached by Mike Cavanaugh, in his 10th season.

Season

After one of the best seasons in the history of the program, Mike Cavanaugh knew he would have a difficult time getting Connecticut to match the same level of success in 2023. With nearly half of the roster changing, UConn would need to replace not only its starting goaltender but three of its top four scorers as well. Logan Terness, who had played in just a single last year, would have to battle with freshman Arsenii Sergeev for the starting job. Both played well enough to make coach Cavanaugh's decision difficult and, in the end, he couldn't choose. The two netminders ended up sharing the goal crease and posted nearly identical numbers for the year.

On offense, several transfers were brought in but the team would see the biggest benefit from the freshman class. While returning All-American Ryan Tverberg led the team in goals, newcomer Matthew Wood was the Huskies' top scorer. The defense was a little more settled with four players returning, but did receive a boon with the addition of Andrew Lucas.

Despite the lack of familiarity between the players, Connecticut got off to the best start in program history, going undefeated through its first 7 games. The goaltending rotation seemed to work perfectly and staked the program to a huge lead in both the rankings and the conference standings. UConn's streak was ended by Boston University in late November but the Huskies then went another 5 games without a loss to raise their record to 9–1–3.

Around mid-November, Connecticut had risen up to #3 in the national rankings and were firing on all cylinders. The team appeared destined to make the first NCAA tournament in program history and were averaging 3.5 goals for per game while allowing slightly more than 2 against. However, after Thanksgiving, the teams fortunes began to change. Heading into the winter break, the team's goal differential reversed and the Huskies backed into their vacation with a 2–4 stretch. Their postseason chances weren't impacted too badly, since all of their opponents in those games were ranked in or just outside the top-20, but the Huskied would have to play better in the second half if they wanted to keep their head above water.

In the meantime, the University had finished building the first on-campus facility for the program and team was able debut their new rink early in January. While they weren't able to provide the home crowd with a win, the match at the Toscano Family Ice Forum was played before a sellout crowd, as were the rest of the home games that year.

Unfortunately, inconsistent play continued to plague the team in the second half of the season. UConn began alternating wins and losses and, though they finished the second half above .500, several factor caused their playoff hopes to diminish. UConn's schedule in the balk half of their season was far less arduous that the first part, playing just 1 game against a ranked opponent. Any losses to unranked teams were harmful to the Huskies' ranking but being swept by New Hampshire, who was in the bottom third nationally, was particularly damaging. Worse, Hockey East as a whole saw its ranking decrease as the season went on. This caused several teams to fall out of contention for the postseason and hurt Connecticut by lowering the quality of their early-season victories.

The end result was that, by the end of the regular season, UConn was outside of the NCAA tournament picture despite being 9 games above .500. While the new wasn't good, Connecticut was close enough to the cutoff line that they could win their way back into contention. The Huskies entered postseason play at #18 in the PairWise rankings. They were within striking distance of the lowest possible at-large position (#15), and could conceivably make the NCAA tournament without winning a Hockey East championship. UConn received a bye into the quarterfinal round which was both a blessing and a curse. Because they didn't play in the opening round, the team wouldn't receive credit for a potential win there, however, they also didn't risk the possibility of losing early. In any event, Connecticut served as host to Massachusetts Lowell in the quarterfinals and found themselves down early. UConn allowed two goals in the first and entered the second trailing by a pair. The team attacked the Lowell cage for the rest of the game, outshooting the River Hawks 28–5 over the final 40 minutes, but they couldn't solve Grigals. It wasn't until the Huskies pulled Sergeev that they were finally able to get on the board. Unfortunately, UConn was unable to get the tying goal in the final 89 seconds and saw their once bright hopes extinguished.

Departures

Recruiting

Roster

As of September 12, 2022.

Standings

Schedule and results

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Scoring statistics

Goaltending statistics

Rankings

Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 1, 13, or 26.

Awards and honors

Players drafted into the NHL

2023 NHL Entry Draft

† incoming freshman

References

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UConn Huskies men's ice hockey seasons
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