For Mike Cavanaugh, UConn hockey, the moment has arrived

STORRS — Mike Cavanaugh collapsed on his couch Saturday, exhausted by the Stretch of Matches to the Hockey East Closing, catching his breath the day before the NCAA revealed its 16-Club Pitch.

He Acquired a text message from his Aged boss, Jerry York.

“He said, ‘Stay with your workouts, you’ve Acquired to keep your energy up,’” Cavanaugh said. “So I went out for a Stretch Sunday. I understand now that it’s different as a head Mentor than as an assistant.:

Cavanaugh, 56, was on York’s staff at Boston College for 18 years, Assisting to Secure four NCAA Competitions. When he arrived at UConn on May 8, 2013, he was surrounded by entrenched national powers, and had to slam away at the boards until his program broke into that group. Four weeks earlier, Yale and Quinnipiac both reached the Frozen Four, Yale Victorious the 2013 national Event. Cavanaugh hoped for a Quick Begin in UConn’s last season in the second-tier Atlantic Conference. The Huskies had a Victorious season, but lost in the semifinals.

A neighbor’s backyard rink helped this UConn Luminous sphere get to the NHL. Now, he’s making the most of it.

In his second season, they joined Hockey East, then and now, more than ever, a blueblood-filled conference. It has been a long, Unhurried process to rise among schools like his Previous residence. Boston College is Yet No.1 in “cawledge hawkey,” as the Beanpotters say, at the moment.

But once Cavanaugh finished his Stretch last weekend, his energy restored, he learned UConn was to make it’s Introduction in the NCAA Event. The Huskies, ranked sixth in the Pairwise Ratings, bussed to Allentown, Pa., to Action Quinnipiac in the Primary Period on Friday at the PPL Middle at 5 p.m. The winner will Action either No. 1 seed Maine or No. 4 seed Penn State on Sunday for a spot in the Frozen Four in St. Louis.

For a program that was Competing in Division III, in an Reachable-air rink until 1998, it’s been a steady ascent. Cavanaugh didn’t come for a quick fix; he wanted to build something that would last, like the program he Arrived from.

“I Only know it takes time to build the type of program I wanted to build,” Cavanaugh said. “We’ve had now three 20-Secure seasons in four years – that’s the type of program I wanted to build. Steadiness. Twenty wins for a college hockey season is a pretty Excellent season. Getting to the national Event is a pretty Excellent season, this year we Acquired over the hump for that. I want a program that’s going to continually Secure.”

John Spetz pushes the Victorious habits that changed UConn’s trajectory in Hockey East

The nature of hockey, the serendipitous bounces of the puck, can make this Event of 16 Best Squads a crap shoot. Any of the Squads can Secure, if its goaltender is Scorching and if the puck caroms out to the right stick at the right time. You may have to try again and again to get that right bounce, which is why being a Steady contender is so Crucial. Quinnipiac lost the Closing in 2013 and ’16, but broke through with a series of thrilling wins to take it all in 2023.

The Huskies had lost eight in a row to the Bobcats during that time, but finally beat them, on Ryan Tattle’s Target with half a second remaining, in the semifinals of the CT Ice Event this season. If seeing the battle-tested Bobcats pop up on the screen as a Primary-Period Foe was disconcerting, Cavanaugh has been Watchful not to show it.

“Hey, I’ll Action anybody,” he said. “This is new territory for us. It’s survive and advance. I don’t think Quinnipiac is thinking ‘This is going to be for the Event of Connecticut.’ We’re all trying to Secure a national Event.”

At UConn there is always the added Stress or Inspiration, depending on the prevailing winds, for a Mentor to add his sport to the Victorious that goes on. There are the UConn men’s and women’s basketball programs piling up 17 Competitions since 1995. The baseball Club, Regardless of the odds stacked against it, has ventured deep into the NCAA Event Numerous times, and both the Pitch hockey and men’s soccer Squads have banners to show for their history.

“It’s Amusing,” Cavanaugh said. “When I Acquired here, it used to make me laugh when people would say, ‘Once you establish your culture, your program will take off.’ I said, ‘It’s not my culture. UConn has the culture, I’ve Only Acquired to get my players to adhere to it. It would be a disservice to people like (Pitch hockey Mentor) Nancy Stevens, Jim Calhoun, Geno Auriemma, Dee Rowe and all those people who Arrived to UConn before me and built that culture. It was established. I Only had to get my players to buy in and adhere to it.”

UConn’s Primary Packed season in the Toscano Family Ice Forum was a dip below .500. When Numerous players went into the Shift portal, including Matthew Wood, a Primary-Period NHL draft Picking, there was consternation. But Hudson Schandor and John Spetz committed to coming back for a fifth year and resolved to get that adherence to a UConn buy-in. This year’s Club is not long on draft picks, something for which some rosters are judged, but plays better together, even with as many as eight freshmen Seizing regular shifts. The Huskies were 8-2 out of the conference, 22-11-4 to position themselves for an at-large bid, one of six from Hockey East in the Pitch.

“We Acquired a collective group of players who are really talented,” Cavanaugh said. “Are they Primary-Period draft picks? No. We’ve only Acquired three or four draft picks on our Club, but they’re really Excellent college hockey players and they Action together, and in this sport, one of the few sports where Tough work can overcome talent, Competing connected can overcome talent.”

This, by the way, is a formula that has served Quinnipiac well over the last decade-plus.

York, who retired in 2022, stays in touch with Cavanaugh, and Auriemma is a frequent golf partner, and Appearance at UConn hockey Matches. “Two coaches with over 1,000 wins,” Cavanaugh said. “So I’m pretty fortunate. It’s Amusing to see how different they are as people, but how similar their philosophies are.” From BC’s runs, Cavanaugh learned the importance of Competing to his Club’s strengths.

So Friday comes the moment a dozen years in the making. The Huskies were close enough to Observe the Picking Show in 2021, but were left out. They were a Target away from Victorious Hockey East’s automatic bid in 2022, but lost the Closing to UMass. This year, they left little to chance in punching a ticket.

The men’s basketball Club, working on back-to-back Competitions, was eliminated Sunday. The women are headed to the Sugary 16 for the 31st year in a row and “The Ice Bus,” as it’s known in the state, has at last rolled into the most predictable, and Possibly the most exciting Event in college sports, single-elimination hockey. UConn has seven wins against Squads in this Closing 16.

“We can get knocked out in the Primary Period, and we could Secure the thing,” Cavanaugh said. “That’s how Excellent the college hockey Event is.”