Brooke Campbell calls her shot and lands in history books with first goal at Toscano Family Ice Forum
Despite being the youngest player on the team, the freshman predicted she'd score first in the new arena.
Brooke Campbell called her shot.
As UConn women’s hockey prepared to open Toscano Family Ice Forum against Merrimack on Friday night, the team went around guessing who would score the first goal in the new arena. Despite being a freshman — and the youngest player on the team, no less — Campbell picked herself.
“I had a gut feeling,” she said. “Like, ‘I think I'm gonna get it.’”
Campbell, whose nickname on the team is ‘Soupy’, wasn’t alone in that line of thinking, either.
“A few people did say, ‘Soupy, you're gonna get it,’” Campbell said. “So it was nice to see that people had faith in me.”
The premonition came true with 3:33 left in the first period. On UConn’s first full power play of the day, Camryn Wong kicked the puck out to Claire Peterson at the point. Peterson fired a shot on net and Campbell re-directed it past Merrimack goalie Emma Gorski to etch her name in the history books.
“I saw Claire shooting and I know she’s always looking for a stick so I was just trying to bear down and that’s exactly what happened,” Campbell said. “So great shot and great help by everybody.”
“Everyone was buzzing and just to get that first power play goal in a brand-new building, it was phenomenal,” she added later.
Tom Richardson scored the first goal at UConn’s old outdoor rink in 1965. William Zago opened the scoring at Freitas Ice Forum in 1998. Campbell joined those two in the history books on Friday night.
“Dan Toscano (whose family the new arena is named after) came up to me and he was like, ‘You know what, you're going to be the answer to a media question for the rest of your life,’” Campbell relayed. “So maybe I'll come back after I graduate and look up there and be like, ‘I know the answer that question.’ That'd be pretty cool.”
There’s a reason Campbell was one of the betting favorites to be the first, though. She came into the game tied for second on the team with five goals and has proven herself to be one of UConn’s top options despite her age.
“She has a knack around the net, she's comfortable and she's earned her way onto the power play now as a freshman,” head coach Chris MacKenzie said. “She’s just really doing a lot of good things. We kind of expected it and we're excited. She gets what she deserves.”
“She's just so dedicated and she's vocal,” captain Coryn Tormala added about Campbell. “She's so motivating to all of us — even as a freshman. It's crazy. Sometimes she'll just pick me up. She just puts her head down and works and she just goes. She has so much skill but she also just knows how to play the game.”
That goal helped UConn take a much-needed breath in the first period. The excitement, pomp and circumstance, as well as the 1,829 fans in attendance affected the Huskies in the early going. By getting on the board first, UConn could finally start to settle in.
“It was a little nerve wracking. I mean the first period, we knew it was gonna be a lot for us,” Tormala said. “I was nervous. I'm the captain and I'm nervous. Like, that's not a great way to start. But after you get settled in for the first period, you figure it out and you just keep playing your game.”
For awhile, that meant lockdown defense. Through two periods, the Huskies had more goals (2) than shots allowed (1). They eventually extended the lead to 3-0 early in the third, though MacKenzie would’ve liked to see his team put the game away sooner.
“If we can get a little more polish in this game, there's a chance it could have been maybe four or five to nothing,” he said.
Still, three goals gave UConn a comfortable advantage, although perhaps it was too comfortable. In the span of 32 seconds, Merrimack turned what looked like a blowout into a close game with back-to-back goals to make it a 3-2 scoreline with 12:38 still to play.
“It got away from us there for about a minute,” MacKenzie said.
But with 36 seconds remaining, Kate Thurman made those two goals a footnote in a night to remember for the Huskies. She took the puck out of the defensive zone, crossed center ice and scored a long empty-netter to seal the victory. As the final horn sounded, UConn rushed goalie Megan Warrener, shook hands with Merrimack and then saluted the fans by lining up across the ice and tapping their sticks towards both sides of the stands.
Mission accomplished.
“To win the first game is — I am speechless, honestly,” Tormala said.
“When we finally got that empty-netter, we really felt that sense of relief,” Campbell said. “It's just so exciting. Huge for us.”
“Obviously that was the plan — to try to get a win,” MacKenzie said. “I thought we played really well.”