This weekend’s trip to Vermont for two games won’t be a vacation for the UMass hockey team, regardless of what the Hockey East standings say.
The Minutemen are tied with UMass Lowell for first place with 40 points each. UMass (17-10-2, 13-8-1 Hockey East), the No. 10 team in the country, has four games left.
The Catamounts (6-21-2, 3-13) are at the bottom of the conference standings with just 14 points in 19 games. They’ve lost their last three games and six of their past seven. Vermont has the fewest goals scored in Hockey East (49) and has allowed the fourth most (79).
“You can never overlook an opponent,” UMass freshman Ryan Lautenbach said.
Especially not with what the Minutemen are trying to achieve. They control their own destiny for the regular season conference title – and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament that comes with it – and don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that possibility. UConn, which split with UMass last weekend, and Merimack are close behind with 38 points each.
“I think for us to win the league, we have to win all four games. That’s our goal every night: to win,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said. “We’re never happy with a loss. The expectation is to win every game, and it will stay the same going down the stretch. On the road, it’s going to be a tough opponent. We’re going to have to scratch and claw to win.”
UMass is 7-3-2 on the road this season. The Catamounts are just 3-13 in Gutterson Fieldhouse.
The Minutemen haven’t played at Vermont since Jan. 17-18, 2020. They swept both of those games. Normally Hockey East schedules home and home games on back to back days for series due to how close its teams are. Vermont and Maine are so far that they typically play either home or away consecutive games, and teams alternate which trip they make each season.
“We don’t have our weight room and our locker room, tubs, everything like that,” UMass senior Colin Felix said. “But I personally like Vermont and a long road trip. It’s a chance to be together all weekend and get ready from the time we get on the bus to the time the game starts.”
LET’S GET ANALYTICAL – UMass director of analytics Katie Yates is the Minutemen’s latest export to the NHL. The Philadelphia Flyers announced Feb. 10 that they’d hired Yates, a UMass grad student pursuing a dual-Masters in Business Administration and Sport Management.
“I wouldn’t know it because she’s here all the time. I don’t know when she goes to school or does homework,” Carvel said. “A lot of what she does makes us aware of just how effective certain players are. She’s been a great addition. Even if I never took anything out of analytics, she’s still been a great addition because she’s a high-quality person. As I said this before, we’ve just tried to amass quality people, high character people and so she fits into our culture really well.”
Carvel admitted he’s more old school and relies on what he sees during games and his video reviews after to glean information. But he didn’t dismiss what analytics bring to the program, far from it.
“It’s nice to have analytics because it’s hard to evaluate 20 guys correctly,” Carvel said. “We get stuck in our ways, but believe me if I don’t figure it out, the program and the world keeps growing. If I stopped then I’m in trouble.”
Carvel, who spent a decade in the NHL, recommended that Yates apply for the job in Philly and was a reference during the hiring process. She’ll join Philadelphia after the Minutemen conclude their season.
“The good and the bad part of college athletics is good people move on,” Carvel said. “She’s running out of time anyways, we only had two years with her. We’re gonna brag that we sent another person in our program straight to the NHL.”
FRESH VEGGIES FROM THE GARDEN – Carvel was just a fan and a dad Monday when he took his son Drew to see the Colorado Avalanche play the Boston Bruins for a President’s Day matinee.
They saw former UMass Hobey Baker winner Cale Makar and the Avalanche fall 5-1 in his former adopted state.
“It was great for me, a great day with great people. It was great to be in a full Garden,” Carvel said. “It was packed, it was energized. I was there with my son watching high-level hockey. It was a great day. Cale, I’m sure, wasn’t happy with the way he played or his team, they just didn’t have a lot of juice. That’s what happens, you don’t show up to compete, you don’t win, doesn’t matter what level.”