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Was it simply a stroke of bad luck, or was there a deeper motive when the lights abruptly went out during a tense overtime period between UMass and UConn, with the game tied at 3-3 and the Huskies poised for a potential victory?
This is likely the burning question on the minds of UConn hockey fans after their team, ranked 13th in the nation, succumbed in a shootout to the Minutemen. The game took an unexpected turn when the action was interrupted by a power outage at the Mullins Center over the weekend.
The drama unfolded as UMass nearly scored with under two minutes left in overtime. The puck flew out of the UConn zone, prompting the Huskies to launch a counterattack. Just as UConn’s Kai Janviriya crossed into the UMass zone, the lights began to flicker ominously. Suddenly, the arena was plunged into darkness, with the red lights flashing briefly before the entire venue went black, compelling the referees to halt the game.
As this was happening, the lights began flickering, and as Kai Janviriya crossed the blue line into the UMass zone, the red lights came on before the entire arena went pitch black — forcing the refs to stop play.
The UConn players were understandably frustrated when the lights came back up, with several players raising their arms up and one slamming his stick on the ice.
It appeared the issue with the lights stemmed from the arena ops staff thinking that UMass had scored, which triggered what appeared to be the goal celebration.
Earlier highlights in the game showed a similar flickering in the lights after several of UMass’ goals.
The Minutemen ended up winning the game in a shootout and picking up an additional point in the standings.
Jack Musa scored the winning goal in the shootout and called the emotion inside the Mullins Center during the game “surreal.”
“I’ve never heard Mullins that loud, and got scared a little bit before I even touched the puck because of the noise, but it was an awesome feeling after I saw it go in,” He told the Daily Collegian.