Filed under:
With Darion Hanson off to the pros, the Huskies’ two main choices between the pipes are a sophomore and a freshman.
Last season, Darion Hanson put together the best season of any goaltender in UConn’s Hockey East Era. He set new high marks with a 2.24 goals against average, .923 save percentage and 20 wins while leading the team to the Hockey East championship game.
Now, the Huskies will turn to two far less established options: sophomore Logan Terness and freshman Arsenii Sergeev.
Terness made just one appearance last year — a 3-1 loss at AIC in which UConn put together its worst performance of the season. The netminder held his own by saving 28 of 31 shots and certainly wasn’t the reason the Huskies lost. Terness would’ve seen more action but he suffered an ankle injury early in the year and by the time he was back to full health, Hanson was playing so well that the coaching staff didn’t want to put him on the bench.
There’s value to the fact that Terness has a year of experience at UConn under his belt and has already spent time with most of the defensemen in practice, but it’s fair to wonder if his lack of playing time last season has left any rust.
Even with so little action, UConn remains high on Terness. The staff doesn’t view him any differently now than when he stepped on campus as a highly-touted prospect last fall.
Subscribe to the UConn Hockey Hub!
Sergeev is also an elite prospect between the pipes. The Calgary Flames selected him in the seventh round (205th overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft and he earned USHL Goaltender of the Year honors this past season after leading the league in GAA (2.01), save percentage (9.18), wins (30) and shutouts (six).
Listed at 6-foot-3, Sergeev is an athletic goalie whose style of play has been compared to the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Andrei Vasilevskiy. Sergeev’s biggest adjustment to the college game will be learning how to be more efficient with his movements and improving his technique so he doesn’t rely solely on his athleticism.
Related
Terness and Sergeev will compete for the starting job with juniors Ryan Keane and Matt Pasquale serving as depth. Keane missed all of last season after undergoing hip labrum surgery but held the top backup role in 2020-21. Pasquale has yet to see game action in a UConn uniform.
With Terness and Sergeev’s lack of experience, it’s likely the two split time until one of the goalies establishes himself. In the opening weekend against Vermont, we’ll predict that Terness gets the start on Saturday since he’s already been at UConn for a season while Sergeev makes his debut on Sunday.
* 21+ (18+ NH/WY). AZ, CO, CT, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, LS (select parishes), MI, NH, NJ, NY, OR, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY only.
Eligibility restrictions apply. Terms at draftkings.com/sportsbook. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Odds & lines subject to change.
