When the 2007-08 season began, the Massachusetts hockey team planned to be in the race for home ice in the quarterfinals of the Hockey East Tournament.
Entering the final two weeks of the regular season, the Minutemen (11-13-6, 6-12-5 Hockey East) find themselves in a race, but rather than fighting for a spot in the top four, they are struggling to hold on to the eighth and final position in the conference tournament.
“It’s disappointing if we let it be disappointing. There’s no question that we wanted to have more wins in league than we have right now,” UMass coach Don Cahoon said. “We didn’t want to go through the drop off and the decline that we’ve experienced.”
UMass’s opponent this weekend, Boston University (14-14-4, 12-8-3 Hockey East), experienced a change in play this season but went in a direction opposite to the Minutemen. After losing 10 of its first 16 games, the Terriers have won 9-of-16 including their last six, and are currently tied for second place in Hockey East with Vermont.
The first meeting between these teams turned in favor of the Minutemen when sophomore winger Will Ortiz beat BU’s Brett Bennett at 13:14 of the third period. Senior P.J. Fenton added an empty-net goal in the final minute, capping off a 5-3 win.
Cahoon, however, doesn’t plan to use much of the meeting in November to prepare for the weekend.
The game resembled most of BU’s this season. Each goal changed the lead, and the momentum swung back forth throughout. The Terriers’ style has remained the same, but the wins have come more frequent in the second half of the season.
Sophomore Brett Bennett has emerged as the starting goaltender, but it appears to be a move made out of necessity more than merit. Senior Karson Gillespie saw a lot of time earlier in the season but struggled to find anything resembling consistency.
“Bennett has helped solved that issue, he’s played a little bit better for them,” Cahoon said. “[Goaltending] is still an area of concern for them. It’s just a question of whether we can put enough pressure on them to expose that end of their play.”
That system served UMass well early in the season, but the Minutemen got away from their strengths in losing 10 of their last 13. Junior Chris Davis scored a goal in Sunday’s 5-4 overtime loss to Maine, but he hasn’t had the offensive season he hoped.
His personal struggles sum up most of the team’s problems since the downslide began. He’s created chances with his natural ability but hasn’t taken advantage of the opportunities with goals.
“You get down some times, and that’s just the way the season’s been going for me,” Davis said. “But I’ve had enough chances and I had the feeling that I’d get one eventually.”
There are a number of reasons for the offensive decline, the easiest and most important adjustment the team has to make, according to Davis, is heading to the net to create second- and third-chance opportunities.
“Going to the net is the biggest thing. We’re not the biggest team, but we’re very fast in our league. Getting to the net isn’t about strength and size, it’s about getting there quicker,” Davis said.
Both losses to Maine last weekend were especially tough for the Minutemen to move past, but they understand that they must to get points this weekend.
“We showed that we’re not a team that’s going to give up. I think with a lot of the beatings we’ve taken in the last month, it shows the type of character of the guys in our locker room,” senior captain Mike Kostka said.
The four points at stake this weekend are crucial for the Minutemen who currently sit two points ahead of Maine for the final playoff spot.
“Wherever we play in our league, it’s a tough game whether it’s home or away,” Davis said. “I just know that I’m pretty pumped up to play both games this weekend. And I’m pretty sure that the rest of the guys are as well.”
Joe Meloni can be reached at [email protected]
