Breaking down UConn men's hockey's 2021-22 schedule
The Huskies' full slate finally came out this past week.
15 thoughts on UConn men’s hockey’s 2021-22 schedule:
It’s great to have a normal slate once again. Last year sucked for a multitude of reasons — no fans, watching on web streams, zero non-conference games, and constant changes — so a return to some normalcy is a welcome sight.
I’m not sure how to process this feeling: I … miss the XL Center? I didn’t know that was possible. But I really do. UConn men’s hockey games there are a lot of fun. It wasn’t the same watching empty stands on TV. I can’t wait to get back to the old barn on Nov. 2.
We now have times for most of the games now on UConn’s official schedule. Those were added about half an hour after the slate was released.
One of the first things that jumped out to me: The Huskies will only play two mid-week games — both of which are on the road: Tuesday, Oct. 26 at Northeastern and Thursday, Dec. 9 at AIC. That should help attendance at the XL Center.
The non-conference schedule doesn’t jump off the page, but it’s not terrible. Using Pairwise from the 2020 season (last year’s isn’t all the helpful), here’s where UConn’s opponents finished: Ohio State (10), Quinnipiac (14), Sacred Heart (23), AIC (27), Harvard (29), Yale (38), Dartmouth (40) and Colgate (44).
At the very least, there are some good trips in there. The one game that you’d have to get on a plane for, Ohio State, is in Columbus, a very underrated city. The Dartmouth area is a great place to visit as well and Thompson Arena is one of my favorite college hockey rinks.
Other road games I’m looking forward to: Nov. 26 at Northeastern (Matthews Arena is at the top of my list to get to), Nov. 5-6 at Maine (I’ve heard nothing but good things about Alfond Arena), Dec. 3 at Merrimack (Haven’t been there yet) and Feb. 5 at UNH (Love the Whit). As a reminder, your support of the UConn Hockey Hub will help us cover road games and get pictures and interviews throughout the season.
The Huskies won’t be home much early in the year. After opening the campaign with back-to-back games at the XL Center, UConn will hit the road for seven straight. There are some longer trips in there as well with Ohio State and Maine both in that stretch.
The last series before the winter break will be a home-and-home with AIC. The Huskies aren’t playing their typical Christmas/NYE tournament either, so they won’t return to action until Jan. 2. One of the few quirks in this year’s schedule.
Great to see CT Ice back, but UConn really needs to make some noise in that tournament this year. In 2020, the Huskies outplayed their opponent in two games and somehow walked away with a pair of losses. While the team certainly has higher aims for this season, starting off the stretch run with a CT Ice trophy would be a nice boost.
While we don’t know how good Hockey East teams are going to be, the last month projects to be tough. UConn will close the season against Providence, at UNH, at BC, and then has home-and-homes with UMass and Northeastern before two games at XL against UVM. Those nine games will play a big part in defining the regular season.
Closing the season with UVM is slightly terrifying. The Catamounts won just a single game last season and it’s hard to imagine they’ll be dramatically better this year. I still don’t know if I trust UConn to beat bad teams consistently and that series could have massive postseason implications.
What should expectations be for the Huskies this year? After finishing fourth last season, that should be the floor. The ceiling is winning the Hockey East regular season, though that shouldn’t be the expectation either. As long as they fall somewhere in between those two points, that should be considered a successful regular season. But as we all know, whatever happens in the postseason will define the year.
My way-too-early prediction is a third-place finish.
58 days until the season opener against Sacred Heart.