Preferred Java way to ping an HTTP URL for availability

I need a monitor class that regularly checks whether a given HTTP URL is available. I can take care of the "regularly" part using the Spring TaskExecutor abstraction, so that's not the topic here. The question is: What is the preferred way to ping a URL in java?

Here is my current code as a starting point:

try {
    final URLConnection connection = new URL(url).openConnection();
    connection.connect();
    LOG.info("Service " + url + " available, yeah!");
    available = true;
} catch (final MalformedURLException e) {
    throw new IllegalStateException("Bad URL: " + url, e);
} catch (final IOException e) {
    LOG.info("Service " + url + " unavailable, oh no!", e);
    available = false;
}

1. Is this any good at all (will it do what I want)?
2. Do I have to somehow close the connection?
3. I suppose this is a GET request. Is there a way to send HEAD instead?