The 2023-24 season is going to be a critical one for the future of the University of Connecticut Huskies team that looks to join the blue blood programs of the Hockey East. Mike Cavanaugh and his staff have pulled together consecutive winning seasons, with its peak being an appearance in the 2022 Hockey East Championship game where they fell short to UMass Amherst in overtime. 2022-23 did not see the same level of team success; however, the Huskies still posted a 20-12-3 record, which was good enough for 4^th in the conference. Luckily for Cavanaugh, the Huskies are returning several of their standout contributors from a team that scored 113 goals a year ago, 2^nd best in the Hockey East, and look to have an improved goaltending duo as well.

In terms of incoming Freshmen, UConn has a small group, with only three key standouts in my eyes. The potential star among them is USHL forward Jake Richard who posted 62 pts in 57gp. Richard has shown to be a dynamic goal scorer at every level so far, and on a team rife with playmakers, it is fair to expect him to be an immediate contributor for the team as Matthew Wood was a year ago. Joey Muldowney also joins the Huskies after posting 29 pts in 61gp for the Des Moines Buccaneers of the USHL. Muldowney will add a different element to the UConn line-up than Richard, as most of his tool kit will assist the group in the defensive end, an area where improvement is welcome from where this group was a year ago. Rounding out the intriguing freshmen is defenseman Owen Simpson, who posted 16 pts in 54gp for the Penticton Vees of the BCHL. Simpson, like Muldowney, will be able to add technique and grit to the defensive zone when his number is called as he has fantastic reach as a 6’3” defender who is adjusted to playing on an offensively aggressive team. Collectively, these three players should be able to help the Huskies keep their position toward the top of the Hockey East.

           Moving on to returning players, UConn is returning a solid core of Matthew Wood, Hudson Schandor, Chase Bradley, and Andrew Lucas. Wood was a revelation for the Huskies last season posting 34 pts in 35gp as their leading scorer, and more impressively (and importantly) kept improving his scoring ability as the season went on. Wood’s exceptional output led him to being selected 15^th overall by the Nashville Predators, and based on what we’ve seen, he is primed for a massive Sophomore campaign for the Huskies. Schandor posted 32 pts in 35gp last season and will likely be their first line center this season. The most important piece about Schandor has been his prolific ascent and improvement each year for the Huskies, and if the trajectory holds, he and Wood will be one of the best duos in the Hockey East this season. Bradley, albeit a lower output producer having posted 20pts in 35gp last season, will once again be expected to be the two-way force that he has been for the Huskies moving forward, and he appears to be up to the task. Lucas, a hybrid forward/defenseman who transferred from Vermont a year ago, was the team’s leading scorer from the blue line when he posted 24 pts in 35gp. Lucas will be expected to be UConn’s powerplay quarterback again this season, and if he can improve his all-around game it could lead to huge payoffs for this group.

           The final area of focus for the Huskies will be the backstops at the goaltending position. Arseni Sergeyev returns for a 2^nd season and will look to improve on his decent 2.61 GAA and 0.912 SV from a year ago. Sergeyev, now tenured to the speed of the NCAA will likely improve from those numbers, which would greatly help UConn allow less goals than they did last season. The Huskies also made a swap in the goalie 1b spot, as Logan Terness transferred to Ohio State, by bringing in Clarkson starter Ethan Haider. Haider posted a 2.51 GAA against a 0.906 SV in 35 starts and will be an excellent rotational option for the Huskies this season. Ultimately, the tandem of Sergeyev and Haider could be as good as the tandem at Merrimack College, which with the Huskies’ forward group makes them a sleeper pick in the Hockey East.

Overall, the UConn Huskies will be a contender again to win the Hockey East, and in the unpredictable landscape of college hockey, are as good as any of the top teams in the country, especially if they get a handful of lucky bounces. Their offense will once again be in the top 3 in the Hockey East alongside Boston College and Boston University; however, they also fall in line with Merrimack, Maine, and UMass Lowell in having a reliable and experienced group of goalies. This is a good time to be an Huskies fan and supporter, and barring a terrible wave of injuries, this should be another banner year for this program.