AMHERST — Everything about Saturday’s game screamed Greg Carvel’s “NewMass” playing style.
UMass played harder than Union for 60 minutes and it played faster than the Dutchmen for 60 minutes. Union was on its heels from the opening minute when sophomore Anthony Del Gaizo cruised in on a partial breakaway and calmly flipped the puck for the game’s first goal. And the Dutchmen didn’t have the puck enough to be able to put up much of a resistance to the Minutemen’s onslaught.
Although UMass will likely fall from its No. 4 national ranking when the new polls are released Monday, it certainly looked like the fourth-ranked team in the country this weekend. Saturday’s 5-0 win could have been more lopsided if not for a few posts and a timely save or three from Darion Hanson in goal for Union. But it was a statement for the Minutemen, who Del Gaizo said “imposed our culture on this team,” after disappointing efforts in the first two games.
“We have a lot of trust in our team and we feel like every single line can bring it every shift,” Del Gaizo said. “When one line goes after another and does the right things, it carries momentum and makes it easier for everyone.”
The Minutemen (3-1-0) asserted their will by simply playing keep away from Union and sustaining puck possession in the offensive zone. UMass was able to continually cycle the puck and create scoring chances by being patient and winning key battles along the boards to maintain possession. And when the Dutchmen (0-6-0) did control the puck, they were kept away from the dangerous areas and struggled to find the space and time to shoot.
The disparity in possession time between the two teams was so vast that UMass accomplished as much in a single period as Union did for the entire game. Without scoring in the third period, the Minutemen attempted 23 shots and were able to put 13 through on goal. The Dutchmen attempted 23 shots for the entire game, only 15 of which ever reached Filip Lindberg.
“We managed the puck much better this weekend, so we had the puck in the offensive zone a lot more,” Carvel said. “And we did a good job separating them (from the puck) in the defensive zone to get pucks up and out. It’s a combination of limiting their time in the zone and defending better.”
On Tuesday, Carvel called out his top-six forwards for not asserting themselves on the game, but for the second straight night, UMass received a large offensive spark from one of its top-two lines. It was the first line that made the impact Saturday, starting from the outset with Del Gaizo’s opening strike. The top trio almost perfectly executed a weave pattern between Del Gaizo, Oliver Chau and Mitchell Chaffee leading to Chaffee’s second goal of the night.
Carvel said Saturday that he wanted his best scorers to execute better and get into the dirty areas around the crease more. It was clearly an emphasis for the forwards as well with everyone rotating in front of Hanson at various points and scoring three goals in and around the blue paint.
“Everyone was kind of moving their feet and taking pucks to the net,” Chaffee said. “We really simplified our game as a team and it really showed on the ice.”
Lindberg barely had to break a sweat in making those 15 saves for his fifth career shutout – tying him with three other goalies, including teammate Matt Murray, for the most in program history. Most of the shots he faced were routine for Division I goalies and he made sure there were no second chances on any sneaky rebounds. He looked more focused and composed than he did on opening night against RPI and kept his confidence during the long lulls between action.
He came up with a pair of timely saves to preserve the shutout after his teammates made a pair of boneheaded mistakes in the neutral zone. Union’s best chance of the evening came off one of those miscues courtesy of Bobby Trivigno. The sophomore forward intercepted a pass on the penalty kill and skated the puck out to center ice to presumably dump the puck into the Union zone for a line change. Instead, he tried a pass back to a non-existent defenseman that Anthony Rinaldi intercepted and raced in on Lindberg, who stood tall and used his pad to cover up any opening for Rinaldi to tuck home a momentum-changing goal.
“He made a couple of really big saves when we made some really stupid puck decisions,” Carvel said. “He got left out to dry and made some really big saves look easy. Both goaltenders this weekend were excellent. Even though they were lopsided scores, those guys kept it lopsided.”