Winless Huskies hope to find rhythm during two-game weekend

The UConn men's hockey team is hungry for their first win of the season and will travel this weekend to Bentley and Merrimack.

UConn is 0-2 on the season after two losses last weekend at Ferris State. The Atlantic Hockey slate will start for both UConn and Bentley. The Falcons are 0-2 also, but their losses have come at No. 20 Northeastern and No. 18 Quinnipiac. Merrimack is 2-2 on the season coming off a two-win weekend versus Holy Cross and Army.

"Both Merrimack and Bentley are coming off good weekends," said coach Bruce Marshall. "Although Bentley lost they played very well in two non-conference games. Merrimack defeated two good teams from our conference so we will need to be ready from the start. Last weekend they had five different players score in one game."

Last weekend at Ferris State, the Huskies let a 1-0 lead slip on Friday night and lost to the Bulldogs 2-1. On Saturday, UConn was overmatched from the start in a 6-1 loss. The two UConn goals scored were from Sean Ambrosie and Daniel Naurato.

"We need to make better decisions with the puck at both blue lines," Marshall said. "We can't turn the puck over as much as we did and need to be more confident on the power play and move it quickly."

The Huskies also used both their goaltenders, Jeff Larson and Brad McInnis last weekend. This weekend, Larson is expected to start. Larson played in both games and received both losses. His goals-against-average is 4.54 on the season. McInnis is coming off an injury but still played over a period in Friday night's game. He allowed one goal in the 2-1 loss.

"We will use Jeff Larson in net," Marshall said. "I feel he has his feet wet now. He got thrown into a tough situation Friday night and handled it well."

Last year, the Huskies competed well against Bentley, going 1-1-1 in their three meetings. UConn lost 1-0 in Waltham but defeated the Falcons in overtime 2-1 in Storrs. In the last game of the regular season last year, UConn and Bentley skated to a tie. The Falcons finished last season 15-11-2 and fourth in the conference. The Huskies did not fare as well against the Warriors in their only meeting last season. Merrimack defeated UConn 5-2 in the UConn Toyota Classic. Merrimack finished last season 5-19-3. The Warrirors finished ninth in their conference. In the all-time series versus Bentley, the Huskies are 19-10-3. On the road they have fared well historically, going 9-5-2.

This weekend, UConn will have to improve in all facets of the game to have two wins in Massachusetts. The Huskies would also like to start off well in the Atlantic Hockey Conference.

"We all need to play well and do little things to keep it simple," Marshall said. "It is still early on and everyone on the team is hungry."