Men's Hockey Faces Sacred Heart in Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinal Series with spot in AHA Final Five On the Line

Game Notes - AHA Quarterfinals versus Sacred Heart

MILFORD, Conn. (March 6, 2008) - The University of Connecticut men's hockey team enters the Atlantic Hockey Association playoffs this weekend as the seventh seed. They have drawn fourth seed Sacred Heart for a best-of-three quarterfinal series that will take place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday if necessary. All games will start at 7:05 p.m. and take place at the Milford Ice Pavilion in Milford, Conn.

The AHA quarterfinals feature all 10 teams in five best-of three quarterfinal series based on their finish in the regular season standings. In addition to the Huskies versus the Pioneers, top seeded Army hosts 10th seed AIC, second seed RIT hosts nine seed Holy Cross, three seed Air Force hosts eighth seed Bentley and five seed Mercyhurst hosts sixth seed Canisius. The five winners will advance to the "Final Five" tournament in Rochester, N.Y. March 14-16. The teams will be reseeded with the lowest two remaining seeds playing in an opener on Friday, March 14. The semifinals will be on Saturday, March 15, with the championship game on Sunday, March 16. The AHA tournament champion earns an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

The Huskies (12-19-3 overall) enter the AHA tournament on a roll, having won their last four games, the longest winning streak of the season. Last weekend, goalie Beau Erickson (Hinton, Iowa) made a dramatic return from what was originally feared to be a season ending knee injury. In his first game back against Holy Cross Friday, February 29, Erickson made 27 saves en route to his second career shutout in a 3-0 win. He made 25 more saves the next night, and Chris Ochoa (Santa Monica, Calif.) scored twice to lead UConn to the 4-2 win over the Crusaders on senior night.

Sacred Heart is 14-17-3 overall, and finished in fourth place in the AHA with a 14-11-3 record. They closed the regular season dropping two games to regular season champion Army. They fell 6-1 on February 29, and followed it up on March 1 with a 3-2 defeat. The Pioneers are led by junior Bear Trapp, who leads the team with 12 goals and 24 assists for 36 points. The team’s top goal scorer is senior Alexandre Parent, with 16 goals scored on the year.

UConn has a 20-16-3 record all-time versus Sacred Heart. This season, the Pioneers swept UConn in all four meetings and were the only AHA team that the Huskies were unable to gain a victory against.

The teams first met for a home-and-home series on November 2-3. In the first game at Milford, Sacred Heart took early 2-0 and 3-1 leads. Ochoa scored midway through the third period to pull the Huskies within one, but Parent scored late in the third to give the Pioneers a 4-2 win. The next night in Storrs, Sacred Heart scored two goals early in the second period to break open a scoreless game and went on to win 5-0.

The teams met again for another home-and-home series February 8-9. In the first game in Storrs, UConn took a 3-1 lead in the second period but Sacred Heart tied the score late in the period. The Pioneers then outscored Connecticut 3-1 in the third to clinch a 6-4 win. Beau Erickson suffered a leg injury in that game that was thought to have been a season-ender until he returned last weekend. The next night as Brad McInnis took over as starter, Sacred Heart defeated UConn 4-0 in Milford.

UConn must win two of the three games in order for the season to continue. If they do, they will move onto the AHA “Final Five” tournament in Rochester, N.Y. March 14-16.