Two unassisted shorthanded goals by junior Beau McLaughin helped Connecticut take an insurmountable lead over American International College in a game that ended 7-4 in favor of the Huskies. Freshman Scott McDougall also tallied two goals for UConn, scoring the first and second of the game to get the Huskies off to a strong start.
The win puts UConn at 3-4-2 overall and 2-2-1 in the Atlantic Hockey Association. AIC drops to 0-9-1 overall, and 0-3-1 in the AHA. The game was the second of a two-game weekend series between the two teams. The first, played November 14 at AIC, ended in a 2-2 tie.
The opening two periods were marked by drastically different outcomes, as a lone goal in period one was followed by six in period two. McDougall opened the high-scoring game with an unassisted power-play goal 7:43 into the opening period. The Yellow Jackets managed just four shots on goal in the period which were all saved by UConn goaltender Scott Tomes, while only one of the Huskies’ 12 shots found its way into the back of the net.
A flurry of activity gave the second period much excitement, as all six goals were scored within 11 minutes of each other, with two pairs of goals coming nearly back-to-back. McDougall’s second began the scoring barrage at the 4:56 mark, with assists from Marcus Baxter and Eric Helstedt. With 7:41 down in the second, Matt Scherer scored UConn’s second power play tally and third goal of the night, and Adam Rhein followed with the Huskies’ fourth goal just 24 seconds later.
Finding themselves down 4-0, AIC picked up the pace and scored two goals within a three- minute span in the middle of the period. C.J. McConnell and Guillame Caron scored, and each assisted the other. Forty seconds after Caron’s goal, UConn’s Mark Murphy scored his first goal of the season which later proved to be the game-winner.
McLaughin scored UConn’s two shorthanded goals single-handedly in the final period, and AIC’s Adam Sinewitz and Jeff Valdes also found the net on separate occasions. Tomes recorded 20 saves for UConn, while AIC goaltender Chad Davis stopped 38 shots.
