Atlantic Hockey Preview - UConn
Now we get to the teams that are projected to have home ice in the first round of the AHA playoffs. I predict that UConn will be the fifth place team in the conference.
UConn enjoyed it's finest season since the 1999-2000 season when the Huskies posted 16 wins. They rallied with 7 wins in their last 10 games to get the achivement. That included a AHA tournament win before they lost to Army in the AHA semifinals.
The offense for UConn will feature a lot of new players. They lost a lot of scoring from last year. Leading the charge for the Huskies will be junior Chris Myhro. Myhro had 20 goals and 11 assists last year. He will be counted on to do the same this year. There were some freshman last year that chipped in last year. They will need to improve the power play from last year. The Huskies only scored on 14.9% of their chances last year. If some of last year's freshman improve from last year and some of this year's freshman step up, the Huskies could find themselves in the AHA Final Five again.
The defensemen for the Huskies will be a mix of youth and experience. They have 5 returning defensemen from last year. They were decent last year - allowing 31.8 shots on goal last year. They also allowed scores on 18.7% of opponents power plays. They are bringing in 5 freshman to attempt to replace the 3 seniors from last year. They will be counted on to keep up these stats.
The real backbone and strength of the Huskies is at goaltender. Beau Erickson is one of the better goaltenders in the league and will definately be a factor in the AHA race. Erickson had great numbers last year. He posted a 2.92 goals against average last year with a .907 save percentage. He was a big reason why UConn made it as far as they did last year. He will be the reason why I don't think they will slide that far back in the standings.
UConn has holes in it's team from last year. They lost a lot of seniors from last year's outstanding season. However, they found a goaltender that they can hang their hat on for the next couple years. If the freshman do real well, they could be higher. But I think this is the ceiling for UConn at this time.
Projected record: 16-12
UConn enjoyed it's finest season since the 1999-2000 season when the Huskies posted 16 wins. They rallied with 7 wins in their last 10 games to get the achivement. That included a AHA tournament win before they lost to Army in the AHA semifinals.
The offense for UConn will feature a lot of new players. They lost a lot of scoring from last year. Leading the charge for the Huskies will be junior Chris Myhro. Myhro had 20 goals and 11 assists last year. He will be counted on to do the same this year. There were some freshman last year that chipped in last year. They will need to improve the power play from last year. The Huskies only scored on 14.9% of their chances last year. If some of last year's freshman improve from last year and some of this year's freshman step up, the Huskies could find themselves in the AHA Final Five again.
The defensemen for the Huskies will be a mix of youth and experience. They have 5 returning defensemen from last year. They were decent last year - allowing 31.8 shots on goal last year. They also allowed scores on 18.7% of opponents power plays. They are bringing in 5 freshman to attempt to replace the 3 seniors from last year. They will be counted on to keep up these stats.
The real backbone and strength of the Huskies is at goaltender. Beau Erickson is one of the better goaltenders in the league and will definately be a factor in the AHA race. Erickson had great numbers last year. He posted a 2.92 goals against average last year with a .907 save percentage. He was a big reason why UConn made it as far as they did last year. He will be the reason why I don't think they will slide that far back in the standings.
UConn has holes in it's team from last year. They lost a lot of seniors from last year's outstanding season. However, they found a goaltender that they can hang their hat on for the next couple years. If the freshman do real well, they could be higher. But I think this is the ceiling for UConn at this time.
Projected record: 16-12
posted by Komey at 3:15 PM
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