The second week of the season is an odd spot for an off week.
But for new UMass hockey coach Greg Carvel, the timing seemed advantageous. After seeing his team split with Colorado College on Oct. 7 and 8, the Minutemen could evaluate how they’d looked and use the 13 days to address their issues before hosting Army at 7 p.m. Friday.
“I was real happy that we had the break. Until you play the games, you don’t know exactly where your weaknesses are,” Carvel said. “We were able to identify a couple things and really focus on them. I know this team has taken a few steps forward. Our practice habits are getting better. We’re competing harder and getting more comfortable with the system. We’re nowhere near where we need to be, but we are moving forward.”
Carvel excused some of his team’s shortcomings as the natural product of not knowing the systems yet. But he said raising their level of competitiveness was essential.
“We’ve done a lot of battle drills with the guys. You need to be able to compete,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how much skill you have or what system you play. The bottom line is your team has to have an identity where competing at the highest level is part of it. If you don’t you’re not going to be very successful.”
Carvel said sophomore defenseman William Lagesson has stood out among the veterans and that the freshman are further along than most.
“William Lagesson is a gamer. I was really impressed. He’s competing at a level that’s necessary at this level,” Carvel said. “As a group, the freshman are a mature group and very committed kids. We’re trying to change a lot around here. We need help from the upperclassmen and veterans, but it helps a lot when you don’t have to convince your freshmen how committed they have to be at this level. They’re a good group. You’re going to see the program grow and change with this group. That’s been one of the bright points for me right now.”
Few teams in the country compete as hard as Friday’s foe.
“Army is going to be a good test of our compete level because Army competes very hard,” Carvel said. “They’re well-coached. It’ll be a real good test for us to see if we can compete anywhere near the level that Army does.”
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage