Anything as freaky and unusual as this is bound to go viral in this day and age. The UConn men’s hockey program made national news for something beyond its control.
If you haven’t seen it, the Huskies were tied with UMass in overtime last Saturday. After UMass was stopped by goalie Tyler Muszelik, UConn had possession and began a rush. Defensemen Kai Janviriya brought the puck across center ice and a quality scoring opportunity seemed to be developing.
And then the lights went out. Apparently thinking UMass had scored, the lights were turned off and the horn sounded. The refs had no choice but to stop play. No one was hurt, a good thing. No penalty was assessed, because there is apparently no rule covering such an occurrence, and the game officially ended in a 3-3 tie, UMass winning a shootout.
The incident has gotten a lot of play, which surprised UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh, who did not make a big deal out of it at the time, or since. Hockey East has issued a directive banning “the use of any theatrical lights, dimming, or strobe effects after goals are scored” for the rest of this season. Presumably the matter will be taken up afterward.
“I can’t believe all the play it’s getting,” Cavanaugh said, on a weekly Zoom call with reporters Wednesday. “I like to think it was just a mistake, and quite frankly, I’m not sure we need to ban strobe lights, either. That’s a little reactionary, and I’m not sure that’s the best method. There’s a lot of schools that spend a lot of money on strobe lighting and I think it’s effective and it adds to the fan experience. Now, making sure there’s a whistle or play stops is probably important.
“It didn’t factor, to me, into the game. We had 53 shots on net, three went in. We had 50 other opportunities before overtime to win that game in regulation, (UMass goalie) Mike Hrabel played really well, so I’m not going to focus on that.”
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UConn (17-10-5 overall, 11-8-3 in conference) has more important things to focus on. The Huskies lost twice in regulation, once in OT and once in a shootout in four games the last two weekends against Boston College and UMass, and are on the NCAA Tournament bubble with games against New Hampshire at home Thursday at 7 p.m., and at first-place Providence Saturday at 4 to finish the season.
“We have a senior-laden group with a lot of experience,” Cavanaugh said. “They understand it’s how we’re playing this time of year, that’s more important necessarily than the results,. Don’t get me wrong, there’s an old saying, ‘you don’t confuse effort with results,’ but I think if we continue to play the way we are it will bode well for us.”
The conference did not do as well in nonconference games as it has in the past, winning 60.1 percent this season, and that could cost Hockey East when the 16-team tournament field is announced. UConn was one of six from the conference to get a bid last season, and came one goal short of the Frozen Four. The league has been characteristically competitive top to bottom, though, so any team could steal the automatic bid in the conference tournament, and a “bid-steal” could cost third-place UConn. The Huskies, 15th in the NPI, the NCAA’s key metric, and put itself in good position with two wins, especially a win at No. 6 Providence.
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Joey Muldowney set a new UConn record for goals in the program’s Hockey East era (2013 to the present), scoring his 50th goal last season, one more than Spencer Naas.
“He’s a really good player, Joey, he does a lot of things,” Cavanaugh said, “and the thing I really appreciate about him, he loves being a UConn Husky. He’s a throwback in today’s world. I know he was offered an NHL deal last year, but he stayed loyal to our program, he loved being here, loves being part of the team. I think he’s driven not only by goals, but we saw Alex Karaban become the all-time winningest player at UConn (in men’s basketball), that’s probably one of Joey’s goals as well.”