Tough times have fallen upon the Massachusetts hockey team of late. The Minutemen haven’t won a game in over a month, and haven’t won a Hockey East contest in nearly two.
And now it looks like they have lost Matt Anderson for the remainder of the season.
Anderson, who was the team’s leading point-scorer before breaking his right ankle against New Hampshire on Dec. 9, said after UMass’ 6-0 loss to Boston College on Friday night that the broken bone hasn’t recovered according to plan.
“I’ll be getting my cast off sometime this week, hopefully, depending on how my bone is healing,” Anderson said. “It’s not healing properly at the time. I’ll be in an air cast for another two weeks after [getting my hard cast off], and I’m going to be starting my rehab in about another three weeks.
“It doesn’t look like I’ll return at the end of the season. It looks like it’s going to be a long shot at this point in time. There’s not much I can really do about it. I drank my milk and tried my hardest, but it’s just not coming along as expected.”
Originally, the best-case scenario for his recovery time was eight weeks, which would have brought him back on Feb. 11, fittingly enough, at the Whittemore Center in Durham.
But with only about five weeks left in the regular season, time isn’t on Anderson’s side, especially with the setback.
Anderson was an integral part of the Mass Attack’s offense, scoring seven goals and dishing out 13 assists, during his return to the lineup after missing all of last year with a shoulder injury.
Fresh Faces
The freshman class hasn’t disappointed this season. Coming off their best postseason run since joining Hockey East, the Minutemen were going to really need contributions from their newcomers after losing Thomas Pock, Nick Kuiper and Greg Mauldin to the NHL.
Forwards P.J. Fenton (10 goals-nine assists-19 points), Matt Burto (5-3-8) and Dan Gordon (0-4-4) along with defenseman David Leaderer (4-7-11) have all shown great potential as the future of Minuteman hockey, and there is another one waiting in the wings.
Goaltender Jamie Gilbert made his second career appearance in net against Boston College on Friday night at Kelley Rink.
He relieved Tim Warner at the start of the third period and made four saves while letting up one goal.
“Other than the first goal, I thought he hung in there and battled and made a couple of good saves,” UMass coach Don Cahoon said. “I think that is a good baptism for him.”
Gilbert’s collegiate debut came on Nov. 5 during UMass’ 8-2 victory over Merrimack at the Mullins Center. He made two saves in 4:47 of work that night.
First line of defense
Marvin Degon is having another stellar year as UMass’ top defenseman.
The All-America and Hockey East Defenseman of the Year candidate is near the top of a couple national statistical categories.
His eight goals and six power play goals rank him second in the nation among defensemen.
It’s Miller time against UMass
With the game well in hand for the Eagles on Friday night, the Conte Forum crowd began chanting for no apparent cause.
It was 6-0 halfway through the third period, and nothing unusual seemed to be happening, making the crowd chants completely impossible to understand.
But during a timeout to prepare for a faceoff, senior goalie Robbie Miller skated onto the ice to replace Matti Kaltiainen, and the crowd erupted with a clearer chant of “Robbie!”
Miller has been on the roster for four years, but he has never started a game. In fact, Friday night’s 6:54 cameo marked just his third career appearance, and ironically, they have all come at Conte Forum during BC victories over the Minutemen.
He made four saves on Jan. 31, 2003, one save on Feb. 14, 2004, and three saves on Friday night.
Miller has never given up a goal in his collegiate career, but his playing days might be over, as the Minutemen aren’t scheduled to return to Conte Forum for the rest of the year.
