AMHERST — Six days after playing Providence almost even at Schneider Arena, the UMass hockey team will get another shot with more on the line.
The No. 12-seeded Minutemen (5-27-2, 2-19-1 Hockey East) will face the No. 5 Friars (20-9-5, 12-7-3 HE) in a best-of-three Hockey East Tournament series, Friday, Saturday and if necessary Sunday. All three games are at 7:05 p.m. at Schneider.
UMass coach Greg Carvel liked his team’s approach as the postseason arrives.
“We wanted to get to the playoffs and be a team that was difficult to play against,” he said. “Although we haven’t won a game in a long time, a lot of the games, we’ve played tight. To go into Providence and take them to overtime was almost like a win. To play a top-10 team tight gives us a little big of confidence. On Saturday we paid the price to block shots and dug deeper than we had all year to be a competitive hockey team. We’re going into this series respectful of how good a hockey program they are.”
Providence, which is ranked No. 10 in U.S. College Hockey’s Top 20 poll, swept last week’s home-and-home series, winning 6-2 Friday in Amherst and 2-1 in overtime in Rhode Island. Carvel thought the size of the rinks made a difference in the outcomes.
“Where our program is right now, we’re better suited to play on the small sheet,” Carvel said. “Bigger sheets are better for teams with good puck-possession skills and right now that’s not where we are. … We need the game to happen in a small area to have any chance.”
Carvel thought as long as his team could last in the postseason would be valuable experience for his younger players.
“We’re going to dress quite a few freshmen in this game. We’ve spent the entire year trying to teach and develop,” he said. “We’re going to dress a lot of young players, in the hope that we’re competitive and learn lots about the level of play, which will certainly rise. This is the best educations those kids will have this year.
“I love these situations because they reveal a lot about kids and what their true makeup is. We’ll find out who are the kids that really have the character and who can rise to the challenge,” Carvel continued. “We’re going into this series feeling like we can play these guys hard and find ways to win. I’m excited to see how are kids, especially out of the younger guys who are in our plans for the next couple of years, perform.”
UMass freshman goalie Ryan Wischow started Saturday’s game at PC and was eager to sample playoff hockey.
“We don’t have a lot of pressure on us. Nobody is really expecting us to do anything. That makes it easier for me as a young goalie out there. I’m at my best when I’m just having fun and playing. There’s probably going to be a little bit of nerves before the game. Hopefully that turns into a good thing,” he said. “If we’re going to go far in the playoffs, whatever goalie is playing is going to have to play extremely well, making some spectacular saves down the stretch. For our team keeping it within one goal is really important.”
His counterpart, Friar sophomore Hayden Hawkey, has been one of the league’s best goalies with a 20-9-5 record and a 2.22 goals against average.
Junior Brian Pinho leads PC in scoring with nine goals and 25 assists. Sophomore Eric Foley is their top goal scorer with 14 goals to go with 16 assists.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage