Two goals in the second period exorcised the UMass hockey team’s Tsongas Arena ghosts.
The Minutemen hadn’t beaten UMass-Lowell in Lowell since Jan. 14, 2011. That spanned the entire Greg Carvel era and 12 consecutive defeats. UMass’ senior class had raised a Frozen Four banner and won a Hockey East regular season title, but they still hadn’t won in Tsongas. That is until Saturday, when the Minutemen prevailed 2-1 to secure a weekend sweep.
“I’m not gonna lie, it was a bit of a monkey on our backs, not just mine, our whole program,” Carvel said. “It was real important in a lot of ways. We earned it.”
Garret Wait wasted little time putting the 10th-ranked Minutemen ahead in the second period. The Minnesota transfer opened the scoring 46 seconds into the frame from Zac Jones and Matthew Kessel. He redirected a shot after posting up in front of Lowell goalie Henry Welsch.
Senior George Mika doubled the advantage with 9:03 remaining. He buried a rebound from Anthony Del Gaizo and Colin Felix, following a shot. It was the second goal from the Minutemen’s fourth line in the series. Jerry Harding scored in Friday’s opener.
“(Mika’s) been a nice addition to it. We’ve been juggling people through there,” Carvel said. “George seems to be the best fit.”
They only had the opportunity to break the scoreless tie because Filip Lindberg was sensational in the first period. He made eight of his 28 saves in the opening frame, including a show-stopper with 6:24 left. The junior lunged from his right to his left, snatching a Reid Stefanson shot out of the air.
“The strength was going to be goaltending and our defense,” Carvel said. “When you play good defense, offense always follows.”
No. 16 Lowell (3-3) decided to make the Minutemen’s two-goal lead the most dangerous one in hockey to start the third period. The River Hawks controlled the first four minutes of the period, outshooting UMass (11-5-3) 8-1 before Lucas Condotta hammered home a rebound to make it a 2-1 game.
Enter UMass’ second line of Bobby Trivigno, Josh Lopina and Wait. Lopina won the next face off, and the Minutemen sustained offensive pressure for the next two minutes to even the game back out.
“They came out and the first two or three minutes we didn’t touch the puck. When that happens, you can feel it coming,” Carvel said. “We turned things around the middle 10 minutes of the period.”
Carson Gicewicz drew a penalty with 5:24 left, and Oliver Chau rang the post in the first 15 seconds. But Lowell killed the penalty, one of just three in the game. UMass only committed one infraction for the second consecutive game.
“The last three games the referees decided to let us play, and I think that’s great,” Carvel said. “It’s a good trend here.”
The River Hawks pulled Welsch with 52 seconds left and put three shots on Lindberg before the horn sounded.
“Down the stretch we were holding on. Too close to comfort for me,” Carvel said. “We lost a game here last year when they tossed a puck from the corner that somehow eluded our goaltender, that takes years off coaches’ lives. We needed to salt this one away. The kids were outstanding.”
The Minutemen have now won their last three games including a shootout at Providence, though it counts as a tie in the Hockey East standings. UMass leads Hockey East with 38 points and ranks third in points percentage at 66.7.
“I didn’t know exactly what we would be, but we’re being what I hoped we would be and a little more,” Carvel said.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.