The push to the postseason begins now for the UMass hockey team.
At 9-8-2, the Minutemen have their work cut out for them in order to slide into the top-16 of the Pairwise rankings. Currently holding the 22nd spot, UMass will need more consistent results in the second half of the season to receive an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament and this weekend’s home and home against Northeastern is the first of many Hockey East clashes that’ll ultimately determine its Pairwise fate.
“The Pairwise for the first half of the year is determined by your non-conference schedule, now it’s going to be determined by what you do in the league,” UMass head coach Greg Carvel said. “That’s a positive for us because we’ve got about 10 games against teams in the top-10 in the country or top-12, so the opportunity is there for us, it’s there for Northeastern. The last number of years we keep saying Hockey East is getting stronger and stronger every year and it’s taken another step this year. I think we’re a pretty good hockey team but we’re near the bottom of the standings.”
Just about every one of the 11 Hockey East teams are feeling themselves right now. New Hampshire sits in last place in the Hockey East standings, but are the 17th-ranked team in the country. The top five teams in Hockey East are among the top-15 in the national polls, while UMass and Northeastern occupy the basement of the league standings, but both are within shouting distance of an automatic NCAA bid.
“I’ll say it again, I think this group, if we can get over a certain hurdle, get our mindset to a certain spot, which is my responsibility, I think we can consistently win even in as tough a league as Hockey East is right now,” Carvel said.
In short, there’s no softies in Hockey East this year and the Minutemen still have six series against league opponents lined up, beginning with Northeastern on Friday at Matthews Arena.
“They always have a lot of talent,” Carvel said on the Huskies. “Usually have a really strong goaltender, talented defensemen that can move pucks and be offensive. I think most of the teams in our league’s identities stay pretty consistent year to year.”
The Huskies have a winning percentage below .500 at 6-9-3, but will enter the series against the Minutemen on a high after downing then-No. 18 Quinnipiac, 5-1, last Saturday.
Northeastern’s three-headed monster on offense is composed of juniors Jack Williams and Cam Lund (both with 22 points), plus sophomore goal-leader Dylan Hryckowian (11).
Huskies junior defenseman Vinny Borgesi is fourth on the team in points (17) and first in assists (14).
In goal, sophomore Cameron Whitehead has turned it up of late winning his last two games by stopping a combined 55 shots. Whitehead has a 2.76 goals-against average and a .911 save-percentage in 18 games played.
Also of note with Northeastern is its ability in the faceoff circle. The Huskies have won 54.9 percent of their draws, which is third-best in the country.
UMass took the consolation game of the Desert Hockey Classic in convincing fashion by blasting Robert Morris, 8-0 last Saturday. The Minutemen surrendered three goals in the third period the game prior to Cornell in its 4-2 loss, however sophomore goalie Jackson Irving did enough to earn the Hockey East Goalie of the Week award as the starter in both games of the tournament in Arizona.
Sophomore Michael Hrabal is expected to return between the pipes for UMass this week after collecting another bronze medal with Czechia at the World Junior Championship. Hrabal became the first multi-medal winner in Minutemen program history following Czechia’s 3-2 shootout win over Sweden.
UMass’ power play went 3-for-5 during the Desert Hockey Classic, which improved its overall percentage to 30.5. Denver has the best power play in the country at 30.6 percent.
Sophomore Aydar Suniev finished with five combined points in Arizona and is currently on a five-game point streak. The Calgary Flames draft pick is second on the team in points (24) behind junior Cole O’Hara’s 25 points.
Minutemen junior forward Michael Cameron got the monkey off his back in the desert as well, tallying his first two goals of the season in both tournament contests.
“He was out for a while with a concussion,” Carvel said of Cameron. “He’s got such great speed, and it’s not just the speed, but when he’s feeling his game that speed seems even faster and that’s what I see from him right now.”
Matthews Arena, the nation’s oldest hockey rink, may be torn down at the end of this season to make room for a new rink for the Northeastern program, meaning Friday’s game could be UMass’ last time playing inside the historic barn.
Carvel is 4-7 at Matthews as the Minutemen’s head coach.
Puck drop Friday is set for 7 p.m. Saturday’s rematch at Mullins Center will commence at 6 p.m.
