Thursday, June 30, 2011

Top 10 Games of 2010-11 #3: Men's Basketball vs. Villanova, 1/17/11

Note: I was supposed to post this back in July, when I was doing my Top 10 games countdown. Unfortunately, it got stuck in my drafts and I never got around to posting it. So here it is, in its entirety, as it was written then, with a few notations.

My apologies for not posting this yesterday. This is game #3 on the Top 10 games I attended in 2010-11 list.

What: Men's Basketball vs. Villanova (original link)

When: Monday, January 17, 2011, 3:30 PM

Where: Gampel Pavillion, Storrs, CT

Result: Win 61-59

This was my first game of the Spring 2011 Semester. It was also Martin Luther King Day. Since 2002, I had always gone to a Knicks game with my family on MLK Day. This year, however, because the semester (should have) started the next day, I was back at UConn attending this game. It was nice - other than the soccer exhibition vs. Boston University over WOW Weekend, it was the only time I got to go to a game without worrying about schoolwork.

As for the game itself, it was close all along. Villanova tied it with 22 seconds to go and Kemba Walker hit a game winning shot with a second left to make it 61-59. And as for classes the next day, they were cancelled due to snow. They would be cancelled several more times over the next couple weeks. But this was the first game I attended Spring Semester.

Game #2 will likely be posted this Sunday as I will be in New Jersey on Monday for a wedding (my cousin ironically is getting married on Independence Day). Game #1 will be revealed July 11, after which I will likely not be reposting until August when I go back to school. (So much for that. If only...)

On a side note, the men's ice hockey schedule was released today. A post on that is upcoming. (Find that here)

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Women's Ice Hockey Schedule Released!

The 2011-12 Women's Ice Hockey schedule was released today. You can find the press release here or the full schedule here. Here is a list of the home games for the Huskies, along with some notes below them.

Friday, September 23, 2011: vs. McGill (exh), 7:00 PM
Friday, September 30, 2011: vs. RPI, 7:00 PM
Saturday, October 1, 2011: vs. RPI, 3:00 PM
Friday, October 14, 2011: vs. Minnesota-Duluth, 7:00 PM
Saturday, October 15, 2011: vs. Minnesota-Duluth, 4:00 PM
Friday, October 21, 2011: vs. Maine, 7:00 PM
Saturday, October 22, 2011: vs. Maine, 2:00 PM
Saturday, November 5, 2011: vs. Northeastern, 4:00 PM
Saturday, November 12, 2011: vs. Providence, 1:00 PM
Sunday, November 20, 2011: vs. Vermont, 2:00 PM
Friday, November 25, 2011: Nutmeg Classic vs. Quinnipiac, 4:00 PM
Saturday, November 26, 2011: Nutmeg Classic vs. Robert Morris or Yale, time TBD
Tuesday, January 3, 2012: vs. Harvard, 7:00 PM
Saturday, January 7, 2012: vs. Brown, 1:00 PM
Tuesday, January 10, 2012: vs . Union NY, 7:00 PM
Sunday, January 22, 2012: vs. Boston College, 2:00 PM
Sunday, January 29, 2012: vs. Providence, 2:00 PM
Sunday, February 5, 2012: vs. New Hampshire, 2:00 PM
Saturday, February 11, 2012: vs. Boston College, 1:00 PM
Saturday, February 18, 2012: vs. Boston University, 2:00 PM

 

Notes:

  • As mentioned before, if the homecoming football game vs. USF on October 15 is at noon, I could attend three UConn games that day. In addition to football, there will be the MN-Duluth game and soccer vs. Pittsburgh at 7:30

  • It was reported earlier that women's basketball will once again be hosting the Worldvision Challenge over Thanksgiving Weekend. Times are still TBD but if they were what they were last year, I probably won't attend the Nutmeg Classic.

  • Harvard, Brown, and Union are all over Winter Break, so I obviously won't be at those games.

  • RPI on October 1 will likely conflict with the football game vs. Western Michigan, as if the game starts at noon, its end will conflict with the hockey beginning, if it starts at 3:30 the whole thing will conflict, and if it's a night game I would need to leave hockey early to get to Rentschler.

  • Maine on October 22nd is the same day as men's soccer vs. Georgetown, but the latter is at 7:30 PM, so no issue.


Hopefully men's ice hockey is announced soon. Until then, Go Huskies!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Top 10 Games I Attended 2010-11 #4: Baseball Doubleheader vs. St. John's

Sorry for not posting this yesterday. Anyway, this is game #4 on my Top 10 games I attended of 2010-11. Game #3 will be posted next Monday. Game #2 should be posted the Monday after that, but it's Independence Day and I'm going to my cousin's wedding in New Jersey, so it might not be up until Tuesday. Or, I might post it on Sunday, July 3rd. So stay tuned.

What: Baseball Doubleheader vs. St. John's (original post)

When: Game 1 - Saturday, April 2, 2011, 12:00 PM. Game 2 - Same day, roughly 2:50 PM

Where: J.O. Christian Field

Result: Game 1 - win 9-1 Game 2- Win 6-5

I had left early or missed entirely all the games of the series vs. Pittsburgh. Mainly this was due to the miserable weather for those games. These had slightly better weather but not by much. The Friday game was rained out and made up as a doubleheader that Saturday. And it was really the first time the K-9 Unit got that large a crowd. Despite the periodical snow squalls, we all had a good time watching 18 innings worth of baseball.

The first game was relatively uneventful, aside from an apparent threat by Red Storm pitcher Kyle Hanson to several members of the K-9 Unit. I wasn't one of them, but I'm told he said something to the effect of "I'm going to [expletive] beat the [expletive] out of you", presumably due to all the heckling we gave him. And he's Tommy Hanson's brother. Yes, that Tommy Hanson, the one who struggled with the Boston Red Sox and is now out of baseball. Kyle is supposedly better but it didn't show in Game 1 as we won 9-1.

Now, for those of you who don't know, St. John's is probably the closest thing we have to a rival in baseball. We are close geographically, and  are by far the Top two teams in the Northeastern United States. Within the Big East, Providence doesn't play baseball, Seton Hall is not typically that good but made a good run in the conference tournament, and Villanova, Rutgers, and Georgetown are perennial Big East cellar dwellers. So these were big games.

As for game two, it was a lot better. It was close throughout, and with the score tied 5-5 with two out in the bottom of the ninth and Tim Martin on first, LJ Mazilli hit what appeared to be a routine, inning-ending flyball to centerfield. But Kyle Richardson DROPPED it and Martin came all the way around from first to score the winning run. And that could, looking back on it, have been the turning point of our season. We'd beaten Pittsburgh two out of three in the first Big East series, but Pitt is a middle-of-the-pack Big East team. We had made the NCAA Tournament the year before and probably should have swept them at home. But we were struggling. We beat St. John's in game 1, which was good, but it's interesting to think about how our season might have turned out if Richardson had caught that fly ball and the Red Storm had won in extra innings. Would we have merely finished the season with one more loss? Or would we have never gone on that winning streak, and finished the season in the middle of the conference (or worse)? Who knows. Nobody could have known at the time what would happen later though.

Anyway, that's that for this game. Game 3 will be posted next Monday. Perhaps one or both ice hockey teams will release their schedule(s) for next year before then, in which case I will have a post. Until then, Go Huskies!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Men's Soccer Schedule Released

The UConn Huskies 2011 Men's Soccer Schedule was released today. With this, all fall sports which I follow have released their schedule. Men's and women's ice hockey generally release their schedules around this time too since the season starts in early October but they have not yet. In any case, you can view the full release here or the full schedule here. Below, please find the home schedule and some notes.

Sunday, August 14: exh. vs NJIT, 7:30 PM
Saturday, August 20: exhibition vs. Stony Brook, 7:30 PM
Saturday, August 27: vs. St. Francis (NY), 7:30 PM
Thursday, September 1: vs. Michigan State, 7:30 PM
Sunday, September 4: vs. California, 7:30 PM
Saturday, September 24: vs. St. John's, 7:30 PM
Tuesday, September 27: vs. Yale, 7:30 PM
Tuesday, October 4: vs. Manhattan, 7:30 PM
Wednesday, October 12: vs. Providence, 7:30 PM
Saturday, October 15: vs. Pittsburgh, 7:30 PM
Saturday, October 22: vs. Georgetown, 7:30 PM
Wednesday, October 26: vs. Marquette, 7:30 PM

Notes:

  • I do not know yet if Goal Patrol will be planning a trip to another away game. It will be trickier this year because there is not an away game which is that close to Storrs and on a weekend. Last year's trip to St. John's was, according to google maps, two hours and 40 minutes. To get to Boston for the game against Boston University would be about an hour shorter, but that game is on a Friday night (September 16) not a Saturday, and is also the night of a nationally televised football game. Weekend road games against Louisville and Notre Dame the first two Saturdays in October are almost certainly not feasible. And our only other road game on a Saturday is at Seton Hall on October 29. Google Maps says it is roughly three hours from Storrs to South Orange (two hours and 59 minutes to be exact) which isn't much longer than the St. John's game. So that may be the most likely candidate. We'll see.

  • With Women's Ice Hockey vs. Minnesota-Duluth also scheduled for October 15th (see this post) as well as a football game vs. USF with time TBD, this could be a three-game day thus being the first time I ever attended three UConn games in one day.

  • The game against Michigan State is the same day as the football opener vs. Fordham. I unfortunately have a 9:00 AM class on Fridays so I don't particularly want to just get back to campus at midnight. And if the football game starts at 8 PM it won't end until after 11:00. If it starts at 7 PM I might attend that instead of soccer, although since football will likely be a blowout, I may not. Ideally I'd like to attend football, but I also want to get up for class the next day. I'll decide that later.


Stay posted for more information. Also, game #4 in my Top 10 games of 2010-11 will be posted on Monday.

Friday, June 17, 2011

More Known UConn Games

More known UConn games from sports which haven't been announced yet, compiled through various sources. At this point, rather than list them chronologically or by sport, I am listing them in the order I find them and providing links to where I find them.

Friday, October 14: Men's Ice Hockey at Army, 7:05 PM
Saturday, October 29: Men's Ice Hockey vs. Army, 7:05 PM
Thursday, December 29: Men's Ice Hockey vs. Army, TBD (UConn Classic)
Friday, December 30: Men's Ice Hockey vs. RPI or UMass Lowell, TBD  (UConn Classic)
Citation for all of the above is this and this.

Thursday, December 22: Men's Basktball vs. Fairfield, TBD, "most likely" at XL Center (citation)

No more for now. If you find anything, email me.

Top 10 Games of 2011 Countdown Game #5: Men's Ice Hockey vs. Sacred Heart @ Rentschler Field

What: Men's Ice Hockey vs. Sacred Heart (Whalers Hockey Fest) (original post)

Where: Rentschler Field

When: Sunday, February 13, 1:00 PM

Result: Win 3-1

What a day. This was an absolutely amazing game. Even though there were apparently only about 1,000 fans here, it was still amazing. I had a seat at center ice/midfield which would probably have cost several thousand dollars for a football game. And there's something marvelous about outdoor hockey to begin with.

Granted, this wasn't quite the success of the "Big Chill at the Big House" but for a hockey program like the Huskies and Pioneers, it was nice. And I kind of like the idea of using Rentschler for UConn sports other than football. There were a couple men's lacrosse games there earlier this year, but since we don't have a men's lacrosse team, we weren't involved. And it's hosted FIFA events before so why not have the soccer team play a game there and try to sell the place out? Morrone is frequently sold out, so perhaps try the Rentsch.

Looking ahead to next year, we will be playing all our games indoors at the Mark Edward Frietas Ice Forum (or perhaps at XL - the impromptu experiment last year due to snow on FIF's roof failed miserably, but I could see it working if they planned it better). But it was still nice to watch the hockey game outdoors. And it also happened to be the ONLY time I was outdoors for a sporting event in between the Big East field hockey final  on November 7 and the baseball home opener on March 22. So it was nice to get ouside.

Game 4 will be posted on Monday as we get back to our regular schedule. Until then, Go Huskies!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

More Known UConn Games

Here are more known UConn games from the sports that haven't been announced, built using other teams' schedules (all games that are known are listed, but I am making more of an effort to find home than away games so road contests may not be listed even if known). As always, if you discover something, email me at gregory.koch@uconn.edu

Women's Ice Hockey:

Friday, October 14: vs. MN-Duluth, 7:00 PM
Saturday, October 15: vs. MN-Duluth, 4:00 PM
Saturday, November 12: vs. Providence, 1:00 PM
Friday, November 25: Nutmeg Classic Tourney vs. Quinnipiac, 4:00 PM
Saturday, November 26: Nutmeg Classic Final/3rd Place Game vs. Yale or Robert Morris, TBD
Saturday, January 28: @ Providence, 2:00 PM
Saturday, January 29: vs. Providence, 2:00 PM

Men's Soccer:

Saturday, August 27: vs. St. Francis, 7:30 PM (this was listed on the Husky WOW Website. I do not know if it is St. Francis of NY or St. Francis of PA, but I am guessing NY since we played them last year too)

Women's Volleyball Schedule for Next Year Released

My birthday is one day away, and just like last year, that means it is time for more teams to release their schedules. Today, women's volleyball released theirs, joining field hockey and women's soccer in having done so. Below is their home schedule. Click here for the full schedule or here for the release. Also, I have been able to find a few more games by looking at other schools' schedules. More on that in my next post. But for now, find the home schedule:

UConn Toyota Classic:
Friday, September 2: vs. Holy Cross, 7:30 PM
Saturday, September 3: vs. Howard, 12:30 PM, vs. Binghamton, 7:30 PM
____________________
Tuesday, September 6: vs. Sacred Heart, 7:00 PM
Saturday, October 1: vs. Marquette, 2:00 PM
Sunday, October 2: vs. Syracuse, 2:00 PM
Tuesday, October 4: vs. Hartford, 7:00 PM
Tuesday, October 11: vs. Fordham, 7:00 PM
Saturday, October 15: vs. St. John's, 7:00 PM
Saturday, October 29: vs. Notre Dame, 2:00 PM
Sunday, October 30: vs. DePaul, 2:00 PM
Friday, November 4: vs. West Virginia, 7:00 PM
Sunday, November 6: vs. Pittsburgh, 2:00 PM

 

Some notes:

  • Marquette and St. John's both conflict with football games, however neither football game has an announced time yet. So, those could be two-game days potentially.

  • I'm looking forward to the UConn Classic over Labor Day Weekend. Multi-team tournaments are always fun.

  • We'll know more about conflicts with other sports when their schedules are announced.

  • Neither women's basketball exhibition game (against Assumption on Nov. 3 and Pace on Nov. 9) are the same day as volleyball, so either of those could be at Gampel.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Top 10 Games Countdown #6: Men's Basketball vs. Stony Brook, November 12, 2010

Note: I neglected to post this entry this past week on Monday as I should have. Therefore, it will be posted now, game #5, which should have been posted today, will be posted on FRIDAY, and I will resume the normal schedule next Monday with game #4.

What: Men's Basketball vs Stony Brook

When: Friday, November 12, 2010 (original post)

Where: Gampel Pavillion

Result: Win 79-52

This was my first UConn basketball game that actually counted. I had been to a men's and women's  exhibition game, and I had been at Gampel several times for women's volleyball, but this was something else entirely. The game was nearly sold out, it was opening night, and the student section was crazy.

This was not a remarkable game in itself. UConn won in a blowout, as would be expected against a lesser opponent like the Seawolves. However, as has been a theme throughout this countdown, the fact that it was the FIRST basketball game I attended (or at least the first that meant anything) was enough to get it this high on the list. I would attend many more basketball games throughout the season, both at Gampel and XL Center, but this was one of the most memorable contests I have seen merely because it was the first. As a spoiler (roll over to highlight it and see it if you want to, otherwise don't do it) there is only one other men's game on this list as well as one women's game, and they were both much more exciting in terms of on-the court action than this one was.

In any case, we all remember what came first. I remember far more about this game than I do about the second men's game I attended, November 30 against New Hampshire (which apparently I didn't make a blog post about here, although I know I was at that game and the Game Log agrees with me). So, this game will always be memorable for me, even if it was a blowout.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Women's Soccer Schedule Released!

The 2011 women's soccer schedule has been released, making it the third fall sport to release its schedule, after football and field hockey. You can view it all here. Below are the home games.

Thursday, August 11: vs. UMass, 7:00 PM (exh.)
Friday, August 19: vs. Northeastern, 7:00 PM
Thursday, August 25: vs. Colgate, 1:00 PM
Sunday, August 28: vs. Central Connecticut, 1:00 PM
Friday, September 9: vs. Boston University, 7:00 PM
Thursday, September 15: vs. Syracuse, 7:00 PM
Friday, September 23: vs. Louisville, 7:00 PM
Sunday, September 25: vs. Cincinnati, 1:00 PM
Friday, October 14: vs. Pittsburgh, 7:00 PM
Sunday, October 16: vs. West Virginia, 1:00 PM

Some notes:

  • Since the women's soccer is not played on Saturdays, none of these conflict with UConn football games. Normally Big East games are played Friday/Sunday which would have created a conflict with the Syracuse game and the football game  vs. Iowa State, but the soccer game was moved up to Thursday.

  • One conflict is between field hockey and women's soccer. Once again, we play Princeton in Field Hockey the same day as women's soccer senior Day. West Virginia is at 1:00 PM, Princeton is at 2:00 PM. I don't know which one I'll be at yet. We'll see come October.

  • I definitely won't be at any before CCSU. I have to do student organization officer training sometime on Sunday the 28th but I don't know when yet. So I may miss the CCSU game or the field hockey game vs. Stanford, but it is highly unlikely I will miss both. Stay tuned.


More schedules should be released over the coming weeks. Until then, Go Huskies!