My heartfelt congratulations to the University of Connecticut, which, as of two weeks ago, can count among its top-level Division I programs a men’s hockey club that joins the preeminent conference of this Millennium.
With its induction, the program boosts Hockey East into a tie with ECAC Hockey for the largest single membership in any D-I alignment at 12 member schools, and cements the conference as the one which has profited most from the radical changes on the college hockey landscape over the last several seasons.
As the latest member of the Wakefield, Massachusetts-based group, UConn will have its work cut out over the upcoming campaign. Having participated in the Division II version of the ECAC, the MAAC (1998-03), and of late, Atlantic Hockey, Mike Cavanaugh is tasked with keeping his team viable in a competitive environment from top to bottom. They finished fourth last season in the AHA with a 15-9-3 record and 18-14-4 mark overall.
The Huskies are joining an elite caucus which can claim five national championships (Boston College ’01, ’08, ’10, ’12; Boston University ’09) and appeared in 10 NCAA title games since start of the 2000-01 season alone. For a squad whose most notable alumnus is former Whalers and Capitals defenseman Todd Krygier (1984-88), the job ahead will be monumental to develop players of quality with professional aspirations such as Paul Kariya, Chris Drury, Ron Hainsey, James van Riemsdyk, Brian Gionta, Jonathan Quick, Stephane da Costa, Patrick Sharp and Jamie Oleksiak.
If Cavanaugh has his way, his team will be forging a new and unique identity, not molded from the successes of the past.
"I told them we’re going to move forward. This is not going to be Boston College moving to Storrs," Cavanaugh related to UConn Today upon his hiring away from The Heights in May of 2013. "This is going to be UConn hockey. It’s important we establish what UConn hockey stands for. It’s going to be a partnership. I have found in the best organizations, whether it’s college hockey teams or Fortune 500 companies, it’s got to be a partnership to succeed."
What advantage Hockey East offers UConn now in partnership, as opposed to earlier years, is competitive balance. It’s no longer simply BC, BU, Maine and New Hampshire as the cream of the crop and the remaining schools competing for scraps in the second division.
Notre Dame's relative success stands in sharp contrast to the performances of other programs plucked from elsewhere who joined up.
• Merrimack was invited in the conference’s first crack at expansion, making the jump from D-II for the 1989-90 season, and finished eighth out of eight at 10-24-1 (3-18-1).
• UMass-Amherst was next in line, admitted for the 1994-95 season, finishing ninth out of nine at 6-28-2 (3-21-0).
• Vermont shifted from ECAC Hockey for the 2005-06 season, ending up sixth out of 10 at 18-14-6 (10-11-6).
• Notre Dame went 9-9-2 in-conference but 23-15-2 overall, a deceptive fourth from the bottom. The Fighting Irish, seeded eighth, knocked off top-seeded Boston College in a best-of-three quarterfinal at Conte Forum.
In addition, all 12 member schools will have a crack at the postseason, a policy instituted last season with an irregular number of participants, which will no longer require mental gymnastics to make a bracket balanced.
Under the new playoff format announced by Hockey East in early May, the top four schools receive first-round byes, while schools ranked #5 through #12 pair off in best-of-three series, with the winners of each series advancing to the best-of-three quarterfinals as the lowest-seeded first-round victors taking on the highest-seeded schools with byes. The semifinals and final remain single-elimination.
"The directors heard from the coaches that the best time of the year for the athletes is playoff time and the coaches made a strong argument for increasing those playing opportunities for the students," said Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna. "The inclusion of a fifth-place team in the opening round may also have been a factor."
Along with assistants Mike Souza, Joe Pereira, Tyler Bilton and Director of Hockey Operations Morgan Hall, Cavanaugh will oversee a roster stocked with 19 Americans – including one BC transfer -- four Canadians and two Finns.
They will need to find offense to supplant their graduated top three scorers from last year, Billy Latta, Brant Harris and Jordan Sims, but Jeff Wight, Corey (son of Ed) Ronan and Jesse Schwartz appear to be slotted just for that purpose. Shawn Pauly and Trevor Gerling (18G, 39 pts. combined) move up as upperclassmen leaders on the forward lines. UConn’s 75 goals in Atlantic Hockey play last season would have ranked it 10th out of 11 teams in their new conference, one behind Massachusetts (76) with only Merrimack (62) lighting fewer red lights.
Cavanaugh will have the next three months to set this machine in motion, and will have a straightforward course on which to run at the outset of the campaign.
In a curious twist, the curtain opens not at Alfond Arena or the Mullins Center, but at Pegula Ice Arena against Big Ten foe Penn State on October 10. The Huskies' first Hockey East trial won't occur until eight days later in North Andover against Merrimack and another road date looms at Vermont one week further on after a brief detour with Quinnipiac.
A weekend in Newark follows with games against Merrimack on Halloween night and another two days later against either Princeton or 2013 national champion Yale in the Liberty Hockey Invitational.
The young squad’s first true test, and true conference home game takes place November 5 on the big stage at XL Center in Hartford against all-time wins leader Jerry York -- Cavanaugh's former mentor and boss -- and his BC Eagles. Schedule makers inserted a familiar foe, nine days hence, when the Huskies face former AHA rival Sacred Heart in neutral territory to kick off a homestand which also includes RPI, Boston University and Vermont prior to Thanksgiving.