A matchup with the University of Connecticut will kick off the back-half Hockey East sprint of the season for the Massachusetts hockey team. On Friday, Jan. 5, the Minutemen (11-5-2, 4-3-1 Hockey East) head back home to the Mullins Center to take on the Huskies (8-9-1, 4-6-0 Hockey East) for the first time this season.
The second half of the season started on a low for UMass as it placed fourth in the Adirondack Winter Invitational tournament after falling in the shootout to Cornell in the semifinal and allowing Clarkson to take the overtime win in the consolation match.
“We have the potential to be a really good team,” head coach Greg Carvel said. “We’re not playing to our full potential right now. We [have] to squeeze a little more out of our team and the players need to squeeze a little more out of each other.”
The Huskies will come into Amherst with momentum after they defeated Harvard 4-2 on Dec. 31, in just their second to last non-conference matchup of the season. UMass has the upper hand record-wise within Hockey East as it boasts a winning percentage of .562 compared to UConn’s .400.
Even so, the Minutemen are not underestimating the strength UConn has on the ice heading into the one-game weekend.
Despite its less-than-optimal record, UConn is a composed team and won’t make a lot of mistakes with the puck. When paired with the defensive nature of the Minutemen, the matchup is likely to follow the pattern from recent years and be a low-scoring night for both teams.
“[UConn head coach Mike Cavanaugh]’s got them going pretty well, especially in their building it’s a tough place to play,” Carvel said. “They can be offensively explosive, but we have played low-scoring games with them [over the] last couple years.”
A key part of the offensive game of the Huskies is sophomore forward Matthew Wood. In the wake of Team Canada’s loss in the World Junior quarterfinals, Wood is returning to the UConn lineup. He is second on the Huskies in points, trailing just behind junior forward Chase Bradley. The sophomore has 12 points on seven goals and five assists.
On the other side of the ice, the Minutemen continue to fill in the holes. During the Lake Placid tournament, UMass was down three key players: Graduate defenseman Samuli Niinisaarii, freshman goaltender Michael Hrabal, and freshman forward Dans Locmelis.
Just like Wood, the two freshmen have been focused on the World Juniors for Team Czechia and Team Latvia. Locmelis served as one of team Latvia’s captains and scored the only two goals against USA in the quarterfinals. As for Hrabal, he and the rest of Team Czechia advanced to the semifinals in their 3-2 victory over Canada.
With Latvia’s loss to the US in the quarterfinals, Locmelis’ time at the WJC has concluded. Whether or not he will be back for the game this weekend is unclear, and UMass fans may have to wait to see him again until the Merrimack series the following weekend.
The Minutemen will still bump up Cole Brady and Jackson Irving on the lineup in the absence of Hrabal.
“It’s great for those kids,” Carvel said. “Selfishly, I wish we had them on our team last weekend and this weekend, but we won’t. That’s the small price you pay to have really good players on your team.”
Heading into the matchup slated for 7 p.m. on the Mullins Center ice, the Minutemen look to continue playing aggressively and get back on the energy wave from their first half of the season.
“It doesn’t matter which Hockey East team we play,” Carvel said. “You better be ready to go.”
Sydney Ciano can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @SydneyCiano.
