BOSTON — The seconds couldn’t tick off the clock fast enough for UMass in the third period Saturday.
The Minutemen entered the final frame with a one-goal lead and less than four minutes into the third, they were short-handed. It didn’t get better when UMass took another penalty and were forced to kill off a brief 5-on-3. But for that 3 minutes, 40 seconds when the Minutemen were down a man, they stuck together and grinded against the Boston College power play.
It was a mentality that was prevalent among the third-ranked Minutemen for all 60 minutes as they completed the weekend sweep of Boston College with a 4-2 victory over the Eagles at Conte Forum.
“I just liked the way the whole game, the guys you could tell they were committed to being above the puck and being really heavy and making Boston go through our bodies to get into the offensive zone,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said. “It was more just a mindset. The 5-on-3 obviously helps a lot with your confidence, but our guys had the right mindset.”
Right from the start, UMass (23-6-0, 15-4-0 Hockey East) showed its commitment to slowing down the game and using its size as an advantage. The Minutemen applied a lot of pressure on Boston College below the goal line at both ends of the rink to neutralize the Eagles’ speed and skill. The hitting took a toll on the Eagles and led directly to Oliver Chau’s second-period tally when UMass won a battle near the goal and the puck ended up on Chau’s stick for the power-play goal.
As Boston College (10-16-3, 9-7-3) pressed for an equalizer down 3-2 in the third period, UMass stifled the Eagles’ space and made it difficult for them to get shots onto Matt Murray. BC attempted 21 shots in the final 20 minutes, but only seven made its way on Murray while four were blocked and 10 were forced off target.
“We got a good forecheck in the third period, we didn’t give them anything,” winger Jacob Pritchard said. “We stuck to our game plan and for the most part, it was a really structured game.”
The Minutemen’s top line set the tone for the gritty affair, using their size and tenacity to hem the Eagles’ first line deep in its own zone. Sophomores Mitchell Chaffee and Jake Gaudet led the charge in that department for UMass by shielding the puck with their bodies and making Boston College work to dig it out of the corners.
That grittiness eventually led to the empty-net tally as Gaudet was able to grind the puck out of the defensive zone and put it in a spot where Chaffee was able to win a foot race and slide the puck in front for Gaudet to tap it home.
“He’s a big-bodied center, those guys are hard to find,” Carvel said. “We match him up against the top lines when we can. He and Chaffee, two big-bodied guys that can really be hard to play against. If you’re matching against their top line and you can grind the puck in the offensive zone, that’s quite an asset to have to make the other team’s top line play in their own zone a lot.”
For the second night in a row, UMass entered the second period down by a goal and once again it didn’t take long for the Minutemen to tie the game.
On the carryover power play from the end of the first period, Pritchard received the puck near the left faceoff dot and sent a pass into the skates of sophomore John Leonard. The Amherst native quickly kicked the puck onto his stick and sent a slap shot sailing over Joseph Woll’s shoulder just 42 seconds into the period.
“John’s really good at putting himself in a spot to score goals,” Pritchard said. “(He) gives himself space, so really you kind of have to know where he is and if you give him the puck, there’s a good chance he’s in a scoring area.”
A little more than a minute after Leonard tied the game, Chau put UMass in front with his goal on a feed from Gaudet. Pritchard then extended the lead with a quick shot midway through the second that surprised Woll and beat him over his glove hand.
The victory tied the program record for conference wins, tying this year’s team with the 2006-07 squad that stands as the only one to make the NCAA Tournament thus far. It was also the third time in the last four games the Minutemen have allowed the first goal and came back to win, including both games against the Eagles this weekend.
“It’s never easy to win in a place like this and in Boston in general,” Leonard said. “It’s been a long time since this program won a game in this building, and for us to do it in that way and we never quit. We came back 1-0 (Saturday) and 2-0 (Friday), there’s a lot of pride in this team to never quit and just keep going.”