HARTFORD, Conn. — When the referees retreated into the scorer’s box to watch video, UMass coach Greg Carvel prayed a little. Cale Makar, whose would-be go-ahead goal was on trial, tried to stay positive.
The ruling with 68 seconds left would be the difference between a win and tie, between heartbreak and late-season momentum, and very possibly the difference whether UMass would host a first-round series in the Hockey East playoffs or go on the road.
The play in question came just 12 seconds after UConn tied a game UMass had controlled most of the way. Minuteman freshman George Mika won the ensuing faceoff and headed to the front of the net to set a screen. Austin Albrecht slid the puck to Makar at the right point. His slapshot beat Husky goalie Tanner Creel, but the referees elected to investigate whether Mika had made contract with the goalie.
The Minuteman bench celebrated when the referee pointed to center ice confirming the goal and then survived another the final 1:08 for a 3-2 win Thursday.
“I was just trying to believe. With the amount of stuff that have gone wrong for us this year, it’s got to go right at some point,” Makar said. “I was kind of thinking that way. When they said it was a goal, it was a pretty big relief for everyone on our team. … To have this go our way was a big momentum shift for us.”
Carvel, who has seen rulings and calls he’s disagreed with potentially cost his team in recent weeks, was elated.
“That’s huge for our team. For us to find a way to come back and score like that is huge for our group,” Carvel said. “We haven’t done that. It will serve us well going forward.
“I don’t know why every goal we score gets reviewed,” Carvel added. “I was just praying ‘don’t call this one back. We need this one.’”
The win puts UMass in eighth place, a spot that comes with home-ice advantage in the first round of the Hockey East Tournament. The Minutemen (8-13-2, 18 points) are one point ahead of Vermont (6-11-5, 17 points). Even if UMass beats Providence (Saturday, 7 p.m. Mullins Center), it will still need some help to hold on to the eighth seed. The Catamounts play at Boston University, Friday and Saturday.
UMass led for most of the game, but UConn tied the game on a pinball goal when Jesse Schwartz’s shot from diagonally left behind the net caromed off goalie Matt Murray’s outstretched leg into the goal with 1:20 left.
The goal hadn’t even been announced before Makar tied it.
“We knew this was going to be a playoff-style game,” Carvel said. “It wasn’t going to be pretty. We just ended up getting one more bounce than they did.”
UConn got on the board first when Spencer Naas, who was breaking in down the left wing, flipped a wrist shot inside the left post by Murray’s blocker with 7:54 left in the first.
Shortly after, matching roughing penalties set up a four-on-four and UMass took advantage. Niko Hildenbrand set up Mika in the left-wing faceoff circle and the freshman’s shot squirted through Creel tying the game at 1-1 with 5:12 left in the first.
Less than two minutes later, Hildenbrand picked up his second assist. Albrecht redirected his shot from the right wing by Creel to make it 2-1 with 3:41 remaining.
The Huskies had a good chances to tie the game at the end of the first and beginning of the second. Makar showed off his skating ability as he recovered to stop a breakaway from happening with 11 second left.
UConn got a mini breakaway early in the second, but Murray stoned Adam Karashik, 1:23 into the frame.
Murray had 24 saves for the Minutemen.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage