Men's Hockey Falls 4-1 in Deciding Game Three of AHA Quarterfinal Series

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MILFORD, Conn. (March 9, 2008) - The University of Connecticut men's hockey team fell in the deciding game three of their Atlantic Hockey Association quarterfinal series 4-1 to Sacred Heart Sunday night. UConn finishes the season 13-21-3, while the Pioneers improve to 16-18-3. 

Beau Erickson (Hinton, Iowa) had to be sharp early as he made 11 saves in the first three and a half minutes of the game. That included a glove save off Evan Mladenoff, who had gotten a clear shot off right from right in front of the net. The Pioneers kept on the pressure and Adam DeJong was able to put them up 1-0 with a goal that beat snuck past Erickson at the 4:22 mark.  The Huskies were able to refocus their defense from there, and while Sacred Heart had several more shots in the period, they were not quality chances. In the first period, the Pioneers out shot Connecticut 22-10.

UConn had two good chances early in the second period when on a power play, Chris Ochoa (Santa Monica, Calif.) had a shot from the left side of the net that Sacred Heart goalie Stefan Drewn kicked away. Later in the power play, Jordan Behler (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) attempted a one-timer from the left face-off circle that Drew was able to jump in front of and catch.

DeJong made it 2-0 at the 7:12 mark of the second period when he was able intercept a Husky pass and shot it into the right corner of the net. At the 14:10 mark, the Huskies had their best chance of the game to that point when Ochoa received a pass at the midline and skated it in to the Pioneer zone. He put on a move to get past his defender, but that gave Drew the chance to get in position to make the save.

With the Sacred Heart defensemen both pinching forward at the 5:03 mark of the third period,  Matt Miller (Bayonne, N.J.) sent a long pass that found Chris Spicer (Syracuse, N.Y.) just past the midline. He skated into the zone and beat Drew over his right shoulder to pull the Huskies within one. UConn kept the pressure up, as Spicer had another shot that was stopped by Drew a minute later. The Pioneers made it 3-1 at the 11:45 mark when Mladenoff scored off a rebounded shot. Sacred Heart added an empty net goal with a minute to go to set the final score.

Sacred Heart out shot Connecticut 48-33. Ochoa led the team with nine shots. Erickson made 44 saves in net, one off his career high. He finished the season with 947 saves, which sets a new all-time single season record for the Huskies, beating Scott Tomes mark of 942 saves set in 2003-04.

Charles Solberg (Barrington, Ill.) was the only senior for UConn and played in his final game tonight. He finished the game with one shot on net.