Weekly Roundup: Ranking UConn's top 10 goals of the 2020-21 season
Of the Huskies' 70 goals on the year, 10 stood above the rest.
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Ranking UConn’s top 10 goals from the 2020-21 season
There’s one stat that perhaps best sums up UConn’s progression as a program over the last seven years since joining Hockey East.
It’s not the fact that the Huskies have finished fifth or higher in three of the last four years. It’s not that UConn earned a national ranking for the first time in program history in 2020-21.
In the Huskies’ first season in the league, they scored 66 goals in 36 games (1.83 Goals per game). This past year, they scored 70 goals in just 23 (3.04 Goals per game). That’s pretty substantial progress.
In addition to scoring more goals, UConn hockey is also scoring more well-orchestrated beauties and goals that are the result of incredible individual efforts.
These are the 10 best goals from the year.
No. 10: Ryan Tverberg snipes one through traffic
Ryan Tverberg took Hockey East by storm as an early-enrollee and scored his most impressive goal midway through the third period against UMass Lowell. Despite being on a tough angle as a righty, Tverberg sniped a shot through four River Hawks and just tucked it into the back post to bring UConn even at 2-2.
No. 9: Brian Rigali ties game with short-hander
Brian Rigali’s shorty in the home opener against UMass looked pretty easy at first glance, though it was really a remarkably difficult goal. The puck knuckles off the goaltender and Rigali closes in on the net at breakneck speed. In a split-second, he somehow manages to get his stick on the puck to punch it into the back of the net.
No. 8: Hudson Schandor goes top shelf
This goal is made even more spectacular since the shot lines up with the camera, though it’s still an impressive one-time finish by Hudson Schandor to find the top-left corner on a one-timer.
No. 7: Kale Howarth sprawls BC goaltender
Kale Howarth just flat-out embarrassed freshman goaltender Henry Wilder to tie the game. Don’t need to say much more than that.
T-No. 5: Jonny Evans and Carter Turnbull score goals on impossible angles
It was hard to give one of these goals the edge over the other, so they come in tied at fifth. Both Jonny Evans and Carter Turnbull took their turn scoring from nearly the same spot on the ice when it seemed like they had no angle at the net. But hey, shooters shoot, right?
No. 4: Jachym Kondelik gives Jaxson Stauber a haircut
Jachym Kondelik waited until the regular season finale to score his first goal and decided he may as well get a hat trick while he was at it. He saved his best for last, knocking the puck out of the air and into the goal just over PC goaltender Jaxson Stauber’s helmet.
No. 3: Jonny Evans sends no-look pass to Kale
UConn’s first goal of the year was a beauty. Evans faked the UMass goaltender out with a no-look pass from behind to the net to Howarth, who scored easily.
No. 2: Nick Capone bats in a back-hander
In Nick Capone’s first and only goal of the year, he somehow took the puck out of the air on the back-hand and snuck it past Wilder to put UConn up in commanding fashion over Boston College.
No. 1: John Spetz dangles UNH
Just as we all expected, UConn’s top goal came from a defenseman. Spetz got the puck at the blue line, beat one player with a deke and then figured he might as well go all the way with it. He added a nice toe drag, flipped to his backhand, and buried a nice finish to land the top spot on our rankings.