Throw out the calendar, the pocket schedules and promotional posters. For the Massachusetts hockey team, the playoffs begin tonight.
The Minutemen travel to Boston this evening to play the first of a two-game home and home series with Northeastern. The Huskies (9-16-7, 3-13-6 Hockey East) are two points out of the playoff picture behind Boston University (9-15-8, 5-13-4 HEA) in the Hockey East standings, and with the Terriers playing a weekend set with fourth-place New Hampshire, this weekend is NU’s last chance to sneak past BU for the eighth and final playoff spot.
As for the Minutemen, while their spot in the playoffs is clinched, their final position isn’t. UMass could finish either third or fourth, and while the Mullins Center is guaranteed to be hosting a playoff series next Thursday, the visitor could be any of four teams, as BU, NU, UMass Lowell and Merrimack have yet to finalize their travel plans.
“It’s one rung up the ladder,” UMass coach Don Cahoon said, “probably doesn’t matter in terms of an opponent, because you’re going to get an opponent that’s fighting for their life. Everyone wants to go to the FleetCenter. But we want to be third, it obviously puts us in a better position in the national picture.”
In addition, UMass has the eye of the nation on it, with the NCAA Tournament picture slowly starting to gain focus. The Minutemen are currently ranked 16th in U.S. College Hockey Online’s Pair-Wise Rankings. While the PWR is not the official method of NCAA tournament selection, it mimics the process used by the NCAA, and has predicted the exact tournament field in each of the last four years.
The Minutemen are tied with Colorado College, but the 18-13-3 Tigers have a slight edge on the 16-9-6 Minutemen (12-7-3 Hockey East).
“We’re really on the bubble right now, and without these wins coming up, I think our chances would be pretty slim,” UMass senior forward Mike Warner said. “We’re definitely working towards that, it’s been a major goal this season. It would definitely make our chances stronger with a couple of wins this weekend.”
So while the Huskies need to grab at least three points to have a shot at the Hockey East Tournament, the Minutemen need this weekend’s series nearly as much.
“From our standpoint, because of the NCAAs, the implication’s there,” Cahoon said. “They’re very important games. They’re not must-win games, but they’re very close to it.”
The Minutemen will be playing their first game in 13 days, after taking last weekend off from competition.
“It’s going to be tough, especially on Friday night, to come out flying, but it’s something we need to do, to finish strong Friday and Saturday night,” said Warner, one of the three captains who Cahoon entrusted with the responsibility of preparing the squad mentally. “I think we just have to let [the team] know what it was like last year, when we made that run, and how important the weekend before the playoffs is, as we figured out last year.”
The Minutemen finished the 2002-03 regular season with a 3-1 record in the final four games, including a 4-2 win over Maine at home on Feb. 21, 2003. The end-of-season spurt put the Minutemen in sixth place heading into the Hockey East quarterfinals, where they upset the Black Bears in Orono.
While the Minutemen could get away with a bad weekend, continuing their five-game winless streak – dating back to the 3-2 loss at New Hampshire on Feb. 7 – wouldn’t exactly bolster hopes for the playoffs.
“They’re really feeling the pressure, and maybe it’s not so heavy on us, but it’s something that every guy here wants,” Warner said, “we have to play as hard as them, the way they’re fighting.”
NOTES: Tickets are on sale for the first-ever playoff series at the Mullins Center, scheduled for March 11-13. Fans can buy tickets at the Mullins Center box office, or by calling 1-866-UMASS-TIX.
