Every UMass fan has that moment when she or he started to believe the Minutemen would still be playing hockey in April.
For some, it came before the season even began with a cursory look at a roster that returned so much experience from last year’s team. Others waited until the Minutemen upset then-No. 1 Ohio State in the second weekend of the season or UMass swept Providence in early November.
By the time the Minutemen rose to No. 1 in the country the first week of December, few fans doubted UMass could be playing in Buffalo, New York, this week at the Frozen Four. It was at this moment when most fans started to plan their days off to ensure they would be in the stands for the most important games the Minutemen have played in more than a decade.
That was certainly the case for Matt Cahill, a 2005 graduate living in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The 35-year-old started to book his March and April trips in December after the Minutemen completed a 13-2-0 first half of the season.
“Just because being the cursed UMass fan so to speak, when you’ve got a team this good, there’s no way I could miss this,” said Cahill, who also received a master’s degree from UMass in 2006. “If they were able to pull it off and I wasn’t there to see it, I don’t think I could ever forgive myself for not seeing it.”
That sentiment seems to be popular among a fan base that is dying for some good news after disappointing years in basketball and football. Fans have flocked to wherever the Minutemen have played in 2019 to show their support and newfound pride in their alma mater. Outside of the trip to Maine in late January, UMass has played in front of friendly crowds, even on road trips to Boston College and Boston University in February.
But the peak of the support has come since the Minutemen started the postseason as fans have taken over the rink. The loudest moments of the Hockey East semifinals came when the Minutemen took the ice for warmups against Boston College, and then again when their starters were announced before the game. The maroon and white dominated SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire the following week for the NCAA Northeast Regional as well, drowning out the support for Harvard and Notre Dame in the two games.
The support has been appreciated by the players, but for longtime fans like Cahill, it’s been more heartwarming to see the pride being displayed in these big games.
“I grew up a Boston professional sports fan. When you have home playoff games you expect that type of atmosphere and you’re used to it with how good all the pro teams have been,” Cahill said. “That Friday night at the Garden when the UMass fans took over, I would rank that up there with a lot of the professional Boston team playoff games that I’ve been to. It’s just something we haven’t gotten to experience as UMass fans much.
“Those are memories I honestly won’t forget because you’ve got UMass and three Boston colleges but the UMass fans thoroughly from a loudness perspective, it really was special.”
What is lost in all that support are the personal sacrifices many of these fans have made to attend these games. That is especially true for Cahill, who has sat in the Milwaukee airport three of the last four weekends for flights to UMass games. He said his investment between tickets, flights and lodging in Buffalo has run him several thousand dollars, but that his wife has been very understanding of how important these games are to him.
Then there are those who won’t be able to make it to Buffalo this week, but still plan on following intently from afar. That group includes Jamie Halket, a 2015 alum living in London, who wrote in an email that his boss and him have an unspoken understanding that Halket will work from home the day after a UMass midweek basketball game. Halket wrote that he has already taken off Friday to allow himself time to “cry with depression or happiness.” He was one of the many who decided to purchase FloHockey to watch the Hockey East Tournament games and has snuck away several other times from gatherings to watch the Minutemen play this season.
They are the type of reactions from a fan base that knows all too well the fragility of success at the college level. It was 12 fairly lean years between postseason appearances for UMass, a stretch defined by as many single-digit win seasons as those with a winning percentage above .400. The support for the program has fluctuated with its success, but those who have been constant fixtures during the rough periods are now just appreciating the chance to take pride in their school.
Especially since success in college hockey doesn’t always mean being able to consistently reach the highest peaks of the sport.
“If they’re lucky enough to keep Greg Carvel around the hockey program, I think they’ll be good for the foreseeable future,” Cahill said. “Even when you’re good, though, that doesn’t mean you’re good enough to get to the Frozen Four and compete for a national championship.”