A lot of college hockey coaches ride one goalie because, to be honest, one decent one is all they have.
Greg Carvel of UMass is one of the fortunate ones.
In senior Matt Murray and junior Filip Lindberg, the Minutemen have a pair of capable, proven netminders. “I think they are two number 1’s. It’s not 1 and 1A,’’ Carvel said.
In Carvel’s last few seasons at St. Lawrence, before he took over at UMass, there was no question who was No. 1. Kyle Hayton delivered save percentages of .937, .935 and .929 for the Saints from 2014 to 2016.
“It sure made life easy when I never had to have to worry about goaltending. You knew you were going to get a stellar performance. It was one less decision you had to worry about, but then if he gets hurt there’s quite a dropoff,’’ Carvel said.
“I think that’s an ideal situation for a coach and a team because it provides consistency, but the next best thing is to have two really good goalies.’’
That describes the Murray-Lindberg duo. Murray posted a .919 save percentage and 13 wins a year ago, while Lindberg’s save percentage was .927 with eight victories.
Finding playing time for both has been a challenge.
“In the last two years it’s been difficult. They both want the net. A goalie needs time in the net to develop. We try to be very aware as to who deserves it. They both deserve it. They have rarely if ever dropped the ball,’’ Carvel said.
“This summer I challenged both of them. I said, ‘Make me look like an idiot to take you out of the net. You put up a .940 save percentage and a 1.00 goals-against average, I can’t take you out of the net,’ ’’ Carvel said.
“Matt Murray plays Friday night (in a season-opening 5-1 victory against Connecticut) and he basically does that, plays very well, gives up one goal that’s not his fault at all.’’
Then, with the Minutemen playing on relatively short rest on Saturday afternoon, Lindberg got the net.
“We’re playing at 4 o’clock the next day and we just thought, it’s early in the season, put a fresh goalie in. Filip was outstanding (in a 2-2 tie) at UConn, made 36-37 saves and played extremely well,’’ he said.
As far as coaching the goalies, “I’m almost completely hands-off. (Assistant coach) Jared (DeMichiel) has complete ownership over the goaltending situation,’’ Carvel said.
“We’ll discuss as a staff who we think should play, but it’ll usually come down to Jared’s decision because he works with them mostly every day. We do a tremendous amount of goalie development work because I’ve got a guy like Jared. I’ve been very fortunate to have very good assistants who were also former goalies. I’ve been hands-off for a long time.’’
When Carvel was an assistant coach with the Anaheim Ducks in 2003-04, the legendary Francois Allaire was the goalie coach. Allaire was Patrick Roy’s goalie coach when Montreal won the Stanley Cup in 1986 and 1993 and was Jean-Sebastian Giguere’s coach when Anaheim won in 2006.
“It was very eye-opening for me. The little bit of goalie knowledge that I have I think I gleaned off him. What I really respected about Francois was how detailed he was with his goalies and how hard he made them work and how repetitious he was. He really broke down their game and created exercises, drills and after practice he would make the goalies work extremely hard.
“I think Jared does a very similar job here. Practices can be fairly easy on goalies sometimes. We do a lot of goalie sessions here, which is part of our development plan. I think goalies need to get that very focused, intense training, especially if they’re not getting it through a normal practice.’’
The work put in by the coaching staff with the undrafted Murray and Lindberg, a seventh-round pick of Minnesota in 2019, appears to be paying off.
“Early on both look like they’ve taken a step forward, but believe me, I would love to just turn to one. But it’s not fair. They’re both great kids, tremendous students, great teammates,’’ Carvel said.
“The hardest decision always for a coach is the lineup decision, telling someone they’re not playing. These two guys, I give them a ton of credit. And hopefully we get goaltending like this all year. It’s going to be a huge plus for us.’’
Adams to Providence
Jack Adams (Boxford, Mass.), transferring to Providence College from Union College, could be one of the feel-good stories of this difficult season.
Adams’ older brother, Mark, played on PC’s national championship team in 2015. He died of a heart attack at age 27 in 2018. Jack Adams, who missed last season because of a knee injury, will wear No. 4, which was Mark’s number.
“Providence is always where I wanted to be,’’ said Adams, who is transferring in as a junior.
“I’m excited. It’s going to be a fun team. I think we can do something special if we all work hard and buy in. I’m fired up.’”
The 6-foot-6 winger adds size and scoring touch to a talented Friars forward group led by Tyce Thompson and Patrick Moynihan.
Adams was drafted in the sixth round by the Detroit Red Wings after leading the USHL with 37 goals for Fargo in 2017.
Big win for Berard
The college hockey season is barely under way and the list of things that none of us expected grows longer by the day.
For example, the circumstances surrounding David Berard’s 100th victory as a head coach.
Berard reached the milestone number on Sunday when Holy Cross beat Long Island University, 5-2, in Worcester. Due to what the school called “a COVID-19 potential close contact situation,’’ Berard was not on the bench. Assistant coach Peter Roundy served as acting head coach.
“It was a wacky situation, but I guess 2020 kind of pushes you to have some wacky situations,’’ said Berard, who called watching the game from home “the weirdest feeling I have had as a coach.’’
“I felt better about us getting our first win of the year than (the 100th win). It’s a great milestone and all that, but getting the first win was the priority, so that was great.’’
Berard’s first win was a 5-3 win over Sacred Heart in 2012 when he was interim head coach at Connecticut.
“I remember it distinctly. We were up 5-1 and they pushed back at the end and made it 5-3. That was the first one. (Ninety-nine wins later) I have a lot more gray hair,’’ he said.
“We ended up having a great year with 19 wins after starting out 0-4-1 and we had a good run in the playoffs.’’
You’d be hard-pressed to find a busier man than Berard during hockey season. In addition to riding herd over his own team, he has two sons who are high-level players.
Brett, drafted by the New York Rangers in the fifth round last month, is a freshman at Providence College. Brady, a Friars commit, is playing for USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program U-17 team.
“I’m sure there are going to be some long nights,’’ he said, when Holy Cross and the two boys are playing at the same time, but Berard looks forward to it.
“My wife Lynne will have the advantage of having a laptap, a TV and an iPad and watching all three at home. I don’t have that same advantage (while coaching). We’re blessed to have them playing at the level that they are playing at.
“It’s a lot of fun. I find it therapeutic, to be honest with you, when I watch them play because I can just be a dad. I’m not steaming or evaluating every little thing. I’m just being a dad and watching them play,’’ he said.
