Two of college hockey’s up-and-coming goaltenders faced off against each other in this past weekend’s playoff series between Massachusetts and Maine.

On one end stood Minutemen’s rookie Gabe Winer, who entering Thursday had seen in action in 28 of 34 UMass games, and had shown signs of brilliance throughout the year despite average numbers (3.19 GAA, .870 save percentage). Standing in the other net was Maine’s Jimmy Howard, a leading contender for Hockey East Rookie of the Year. Howard, while cooling off as of late, still posted brilliant stats for his rookie year, with a microscopic 2.21 average and a save percentage of .924.

But it was Winer who performed like a cagey veteran, while the Black Bears will spend the next few weeks trying to get their once invincible goaltender out of his funk.

“Gabe was solid and gave us a lot of confidence by the way he composed himself,” UMass coach Don Cahoon said of his young netminder.

Winer steered aside 46 of Maine’s 51 shots on goal on the weekend, but more importantly provided the backbone of the UMass defensive effort that stood tall when the Black Bears sustained a furious pressure in Friday’s second period. Maine outshot the Minutemen 10-1 in the frame, but could only squeeze one past Winer, a put-back by Todd Jackson on a rebound.

“Gabe came up huge,” senior Tim Turner said. “He was poised, he made the saves, and we weathered the storm and came in to regroup for the third period.”

Winer has stepped up and shown the most poise this season in several of the team’s biggest wins. He regrouped from a poor start to defeat Boston University in December, he performed brilliantly in UMass’ 4-2 win over Maine at home in February, and now he has led the Minutemen to the program’s two biggest wins in its young history.

Not bad for an 18-year-old.

Conversely, Maine coach Tim Whitehead probably shouldn’t start a School of Goaltender Management in the near future. Pulling Howard in the first game after only 23 minutes could be questioned, since only one of the three goals surrendered (Matt Anderson’s backhander which deflected off Howard’s shoulder) could have been steered aside.

Still, his replacement Frank Doyle played well (making 13 of 14 stops) and gave the Black Bears a much-needed lift after being down 3-1. Furthermore, Doyle had played well all year in splitting time nearly down the middle with Howard, including a shutout against UMass just two weeks ago.

So why not go with the hot goaltender in Doyle? Instead, after starting, and subsequently yanking Howard on a second consecutive night, Maine’s coaching staff has probably shattered its young goaltender’s confidence for the rest of the season.

“I was shocked that he was starting [on Friday],” UMass’ Mike Warner said. “I knew we had to get at him early, because he was going to be thinking about [Thursday].”

So while Howard might win the league honor for best freshman, Winer and UMass have something much more important: a trip to the FleetCenter.

Andy Vogt is a Collegian Columnist.