UMass hockey: Minutemen stunned by Merrimack in 2-0 Hockey East semifinals loss

BOSTON — The UMass hockey team suffered a heartbreaking 2-0 loss to Merrimack in the Hockey East semifinal round on Friday night at TD Garden. A few costly turnovers from the Minutemen made all the difference in what proved to be a defensive battle on both ends.

Early in the third period, UMass controlled possession in the offensive zone, before a Charlie Lieberman turnover on a pass that rolled off his stick at the blue line sent the Warriors the other way in a hurry. 

Ty Daneault carried the puck through the neutral zone for Merrimack, seeing his teammate Ryan O’Connell streaking up the left side. Weaving a pass in between two Minutemen, O’Connell found himself one-on-one with Michael Hrabal in net.

Maintaining his speed, O’Connell flicked a hard wrister blocker side on the Hockey East Player of the Year, beating the goaltender for the night’s first goal exactly three minutes into the final period of play.

“I thought we should’ve been able to recover and not give up basically a breakaway,” UMass head coach Greg Carvel said. “It’s tough when the one goal in the game was kind of created by us.”

The Minutemen struggled to capitalize on a few great scoring chances of their own in the loss, unable to make a comeback after falling behind. It wasn’t for a lack of good chances, however, with UMass generating some great looks throughout all three periods that just never found the back of the net.

Max Lundgren put together an impressive performance between the pipes for the Warriors, making 24 saves in what was his first shutout of the season despite starting all 37 games this year.

The shutout for Merrimack was the sixth time any team has ever held a team scoreless in the Hockey East semifinals.

“I liked our game,” Carvel said. “I thought we had enough chances. Our best players had pucks on their stick to score goals. Just couldn’t find a way to get one past their goalie, who played particularly well.”

Hrabal did his best to keep UMass in the game on Friday, making 27 saves on the night. Unfortunately for him, the missed offensive opportunities on the other end proved to make more of an impact down the stretch, as time continued to drain off the clock.

With roughly two minutes to play, the Minutemen pulled their goalie down 1-0, winning an offensive zone faceoff. Larry Keenan received a pass and surveyed the other 10 skaters inside the blue line from his spot at the point, sending the puck toward the left corner.

Austin Oravetz was there to intercept the pass for the Warriors, relaying a pass to Parker Lalonde, who then found Caden Cranston blowing past Francesco Dell’Elce, who scrambled to get back on defense. Cranston tucked the breakaway chance into the empty net, putting the game officially out of reach with 1:39 to play.

Finishing the game on top, Merrimack completed a sweep of the top two seeds in the tournament, becoming the first eight seed to ever make the finals.

The trip to the Hockey East finals will be the Warriors’ third in program history.

“We didn’t come to [TD] Garden to just play,” Merrimack head coach Scott Borek said. “We wanted to win this thing, earn some respect. We’re trying to do that every day. I couldn’t be happier for our group. We have an unbelievable group of guys.”

The loss for UMass essentially eliminates its chances for a trip to the NCAA Tournament. With a laundry list of outcomes that have to play out around the country for a spot to open up, Carvel communicated that he saw Friday night as a win-or-go-home game.

For the Minutemen, this season has featured a rollercoaster of emotions, from finding themselves in last place at one point in the conference, to playing in the semifinal round of the tournament.

“What I’ll remember from this year is that we took the pieces we had, [and] we figured out how to put them all together and win games,” Carvel said. “[It’s] not the most talented group I’ve had, but maybe the group that played the best together to figure out how to win games.”