Bridgeport - Rand Pecknold, who coaches hockey quite well at Quinnipiac, was waiting impatiently outside the interview room Tuesday night, irritated at what could possibly be taking so long. This is what: Media members kept firing questions at UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh, the guy who had just orchestrated an upset of the No. 15 team in the country.

Pecknold paced. Mumbled. Stared at the stat sheet. Finally, he said to no one in particular, "This isn't the Frozen Four."

And there it was.

Arrival.

The UConn Huskies.

A thorn.

In hockey.

Not long before, UConn fans were heard doing a little hollerin' inside Webster Bank Arena, reveling in victory. (Bet the Quinnipiac folks loved that). UConn owns three wins over Top 20 teams in its hockey history. Cavanaugh has coached two of them.

In a span of eight months.

Not sure yet if athletic director Warde Manuel got his football hire correct. But Cavanaugh? Grand slam.

This is UConn hockey now:

• Attendees at Cavanaugh's summer camp got to hear from a Hobey Baker Award finalist and current NHL forward (Nathan Gerbe).

• Current players learn from a former NHL Rookie of the Year (Andrew Raycroft, a volunteer assistant coach, who played for the Bruins, among others).

• Current players got to meet a former Hobey Baker Award winner Tuesday night, a recently retired, 14-year NHL veteran (Mike Mottau, the first player Cavanaugh recruited in his 18 years at Boston College).

This is UConn hockey now.

Home to the stars.

"UConn has the name recognition in athletics to begin with," said Mottau, a scout for the Blackhawks now, who played for six different teams in the NHL between 2000 and 2014. "This will be a process. The way college hockey goes, you get a couple of good ones and a goalie and it starts rolling. Cav's the guy to take them to that next step."

They might have the goalie. Sophomore Rob Nichols has stopped 77 shots in his last two games. He's not exactly a kid from Moose Jaw or Sault Ste. Marie. Try Dallas, by way of Houston.

He started playing street hockey. By the time he won his first state title at Dallas Jesuit, rinks in the Dallas/Fort Worth area had more than tripled. He committed to UConn from his junior team in Wenatchee, Wash., with current teammates Shawn Pauly and Kyle Huson.

"Robbie's a great goalie," teammate Trevor Gerling said. "If he sees that first shot, he's going to stop it. And as you saw (Tuesday, 36 saves) even the second ones. He's really quick at getting back across. It gives us confidence that if we make a mistake, which we will, Robbie's back there for us."

Nichols also gets daily tutelage from Raycroft, who found his way to Storrs via a Starbucks in Hyannis.

"Our goaltending coach left to take a job overseas after last year," Cavanaugh said. "Andrew's agent (Jordan Neumann) is a good friend of mine. He happened to be at UConn that day. He tells me Andrew would love a job like that.

"It turned out that Andrew and I were going to be on the Cape at the same time, so we met at the Starbucks in Hyannis," Cavanaugh said. "I really liked a lot of the things he said. With his NHL pedigree, it can only add to our locker room, not just the goalies. We're going to recruit players who aspire to play in the NHL."

Cavanaugh knows nothing else. He did that for 18 years at BC, sending scores of players to the league. He was Jerry York's recruiting right arm for four national championship teams.

And so while defeating the No. 15 team in the country on a Tuesday night in October is reason for the fans to celebrate - and a fan base to grow - Cavanaugh's been there, done that.

"When I came here, I expected to win here against top 20 teams. I didn't come here thinking 'This is going to be monumental for us, let's tear down the goalposts when we beat a top 20 team,'" Cavanaugh said. "The beach head we're aiming for is that we're a top 20 team. I'll be more excited when we're a top 10 team and competing for championships year in and out."

Remember Mottau's words: This is a process. UConn may well finish last in Hockey East this year. Or it may not. But the Huskies are comin,' folks. There's NHL players teaching them and encouraging them. There's a coach who has made a line change or two. And a fan base that's might grow enough to irritate the bejesus out of Quinnipiac and Yale, the state's old money.

The innocent climb begins.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius