The UConn Fast Break - 10/10/2023

Football gets its first win. A solid start to men's hockey's season.

October 10, 2023

Welcome to this week’s Fast Break, and thank you for being a subscriber. We hope you enjoyed the long weekend!

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UConn football’s new goals

Despite being double-digit underdogs and on the road, UConn football broke its seven-game losing streak and got into the win column for the first time in 2023 with a 38-31 victory over Rice.

It wasn’t a dominant performance, as the Huskies were outgained by more than 150 yards and had just 12 first downs, but the Owls committed four turnovers. Jim Mora’s squad deserves credit for making big plays in key moments and finding a way to win.

As a team, UConn’s offense still has room to grow. The Huskies had four three-and-outs out of their 11 possessions not ended by the half or the final whistle. Despite that, Ta’Quan Roberson and his pass-catchers showed they have the aptitude to open up the field in the passing game. They’ll need to keep that up in order to notch a few more wins.

The Huskies’ bowl hopes are low-to-non-existent, as they still have one very likely loss and one likely blowout on the way with visits to James Madison and Tennessee in November. They’ll have a chance to rest over their bye this Saturday before hosting USF for their penultimate home game before the short road trip to Boston College to wrap up October.

As the Husky Football Forum has pointed out, beating Sacred Heart and UMass to end the season will not be guaranteed. Even with no postseason, it’s still an important marker for the program to be able to beat those regional rivals.

Aiming slightly higher, the game against Boston College has similar implications. A win there could make up for the lack of a bowl appearance. It would also give UConn two wins over its regional Power 5 rival in as many years and also potentially help Mora and his staff on the recruiting trail.

We may not see a bowl, but football still has plenty to play for over the rest of this season.

Weekly Rewind

Men’s Hockey

Season-opening win - The Huskies snagged a 4-2 win to open the season against Colgate behind big performances from Samu Salminen and Matthew Wood. | Photos

Series finale tie - UConn came back from 3-1 down to make it an undefeated weekend. Mike Cavanaugh said he expects more from his team.

Predictions - What’s going to happen during the season?

Notebook - The Huskies want to push the play and get fast opportunities.

Podcast ($) - Some roster battles need to be settled.

Newcomer breakdown ($) - Learn a little something about each of the new Huskies.

Goaltender preview - Cavanaugh again has a solid tandem to anchor his squad.

Football

Sweet, sweet victory - Fueled by turnovers, the Huskies set a season-high in points scored.

Postgame spread - It was an encouraging performance for the Huskies in Houston.

Future opponents - Week 6 was unkind to the back half of UConn’s schedule.

The UConn Football Pod - Saturday was the first of three straight winnable games.

Men’s Basketball

Counting on freshmen ($) - Even if they’re merely freshmen, the five newcomers are going to be a big part of the rotation.

The Fast Break Podcast - The hype train is in full force.

Women’s Basketball

Chasing Perfection - The podcast hit 100 episodes!

Men’s Soccer

Photos - No. 11 Vermont was too much for the Huskies.

Women’s Soccer

Photos - The Huskies took a 1-0 loss to Xavier on Sunday.

Support the most in-depth coverage of UConn men’s hockey around!

Highlights

It was a big weekend for UConn highlights and arguably the best one only lives on Twitter (which can’t be embedded and can be found here). Every week, The Post-Game Spread will also link all of the past weekend’s football highlights.

Some nifty passing for a tap-in Matthew Wood goal on Sunday, as the Huskies came back to tie Colgate.

Andre Jackson laid the hammer down in preseason action against the Bulls.

Memory Lane

Mike Cavanaugh has now been UConn’s head coach for 10 years. He started his 11th season behind the bench this past weekend after making his coaching debut on October 18, 2013, when the Huskies traveled to No. 18 Minnesota State, battling to a 2-1 loss.

Future NHLer Teddy Blueger scored the game’s first goal for the Mavericks and Jordan Sims had the Huskies’ first tally of Cavanaugh’s tenure while Matt Grogan had 29 saves in goal. Plenty of players in the early Hockey East era, including the current director of hockey operations Joey Ferriss, as well as Kyle Huson, Shawn Pauly, and Ryan Tyson were part of that final Atlantic Hockey squad.

A lot has changed in the past 10 years, as now it’s the Huskies that are near the top of the rankings and a member of a premier conference. Cavanaugh’s squad has been breaking through in the last few years and appears poised to get into the NCAA Tournament this year.

UConn, Great Pic

Two sports, two games, two states, two days. Ian Bethune was at men’s hockey against Colgate in Hamilton, New York on Saturday, then was back in Storrs in time to see women’s soccer face Xavier on Sunday.

Parting Thoughts

Matthew Wood is going to be A PROBLEM this season. As a freshman, he scored more than a point per game in 2022-23, despite not turning 18 years old until February 5, tallying eight goals and 18 assists in 25 games.

He parlayed that performance into being the highest NHL Entry Draft selection in program history this June, as Nashville picked him No. 15 overall. He came back to UConn for his sophomore season and now that he’s a year stronger and a year wiser, he showed this weekend that he’s going to be one of the best players in college hockey.

It was a three-point weekend for Wood, with a goal in each contest. He also had the primary assist on the game-tying tally on Sunday, which came with two minutes remaining. When he lit the lamp on Sunday, he parked himself in front of the net and let Jake Richard and Hudson Schandor go to work below the goal line. When the defense was out of position, he was right there with a quick release to score. On Saturday, he showed his hard shot with a one-timer from the slot, opening the scoring.

Last season, Wood was an all-conference rookie team performer. This year, he’s showing he can set his sights even higher.

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