by Adam Wodon/Managing Editor (@chn-adam-wodon)
John Spetz
After years of falling just short of an NCAA Tournament bid, this was not supposed to be one of those years. Most pundits had Connecticut near, or at, the bottom of an ultra-competitive Hockey East.
Well, that has not been the case. Following home-and-home wins against New Hampshire this past weekend, the Huskies moved up to No. 11 in the Pairwise. Here they are again, fighting for their first-ever NCAA Tournament berth.
Holding on won’t be easy — the schedule is as daunting as can be. But it’s also an opportunity.
“We went for so long, so many years at BC and haven’t done it here,” UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh said about making the NCAA Tournament regularly when he was an assistant coach at Boston College during their glory years. “I’m ithching to get there, yeah, but I also knew it would take a little time to build it. But I’ve been really happy with the progress of this team.
“We have 14 games left, 11 of them vs. top 25 teams in the countty. Some would say (that’s bad), but I’m looking at it the other way, because there are other teams that are like 14, 15, 16 (in the Pairwise) and don’t have one game vs. teams in the top 20. They almost gotta run the table or win their tournament to get in.
“But it’s not easy. This is toughest I’ve ever seen our league.”
Matthew Wood, a first-round NHL Draft pick, decided to leave UConn after two seasons. Samu Salminen and Arsenii Sergeev also left — all three juniors-to-be and all three drafted. These days, transferring is as easy as snapping your fingers.
But something special followed. Fifth-year players Hudson Schandor and John Spetz decided to stay. Not only stay, but take it upon themselves to challenge their teammates to step it up and follow their example, on and off the ice. Since the fifth-year option has been there, UConn has usually seen those players go elsewhere. But not this time.
“When all those guys left and everyone thought the sky was falling, the biggest thing was Schandor and Spetz chose to come back for a fifth year,” Cavanaugh said. “Both of them have created this playbook, not having to do with on-ice style, but their expectations for the team. They gave it to every player. And they have single-handedly helped this team along.
“It’s…
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