BOSTON — If you were at Friday night’s 5-0 win for the Massachusetts hockey team over Northeastern (6-10-3, 1-7-3 Hockey East) and you have keen hearing, you probably heard one voice louder than all of the others during TV timeouts: that voice being Lucas Mercuri’s, shouting “This is UMass hockey!” to his teammates.
As an alternate captain, Mercuri is arguably the best example of what any team wants from its leaders; a strong vocal presence off the ice who has the ability to back up what he says with his on-ice play.
He did just that by burying a dagger into the Huskies’ back two and a half minutes into the third period.
Mercuri entered the zone on a 2-on-2 with his linemate Aydar Suniev, both recognizing where the Northeastern coverage was, Mercuri drove to the net while Suniev hit the brakes. Suniev feathered a pass to the slot where Mercuri deflected the puck past Northeastern goaltender Cameron Whitehead.
“That [third goal] probably deflated them I’m guessing; it would probably deflate any team going down three in the third period, so that was a big goal for the team,” Mercuri said.
Daniel Jenčko opened the scoring for the Minutemen (10-8-2, 3-5-2 HEA), but he was only given a chance to score because Mercuri won several puck battles in the offensive zone that didn’t allow Northeastern to clear the puck.
With a UMass defender holding the blue line by himself against two Huskies, Mercuri jumped right into the play and deflected the puck away from the fray. As it was creeping towards the blue line, he extended his stick to keep the puck in and tapped it to a streaking Jenčko who buried his fourth goal of the season.
“He’s our identity in a lot of ways,” head coach Greg Carvel said of his alternate captain. “He’s a very good leader, he’s a very good captain. He’s a great leader and then he follows up with his actions what he preaches.”
Outside of his two points, there was almost a guarantee that anytime Mercuri was on the ice, he was seeking contact, itching for a way to get under Northeastern’s skin. Every time either goaltender froze the puck and Mercuri was on the puck, he was easy to spot; right in the scrum, agitating any opponent who crossed him.
“That’s my identity as a player, just being hard and just kind of dragging our team into the fight,” Mercuri said. “I’m just trying to do that every night.”
His vocal input during TV timeouts was his way of firing his teammates up, reminding them what they were doing well and to keep doing it.
“When we’re playing hard and we’re hounding the puck and they can’t get out of their own zone, that’s what it’s been for my past four years here,” Mercuri said. “Getting the puck deep, having good second quicks and getting pucks to the net, that’s UMass hockey from my perspective.”
As a leader, Mercuri recognizes that Friday night’s game was a great starting point for the second half of the season’s heavy HEA slate, but that continuing to play “UMass hockey” needs to be the focal point every game.
“Obviously we weren’t too happy with how last weekend went with the Cornell game,” Mercuri said. “So, going into the third period a lot of guys started leading and that’s what we’re looking for going forward. Tonight’s good but it doesn’t mean too much without a big win tomorrow at home.”
Mercuri and the Minutemen will travel back to Amherst for a Saturday night rematch with Northeastern. Puck drop at the Mullins Center on Jan. 11 is set for 6 p.m.
Matt Skillings can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @matt_skillings.
