Prior to last weekend, UMass hockey coach Greg Carvel’s media persona has been a mix of Clint Eastwood and Jack Webb: tough in the face of adversity, a “just the facts” demeanor and a submerged Mona Lisa smile.
Prior to his club’s COVID news bomb — no Carson Gicewicz, Filip Lindberg, Jerry Harding and Henry Graham — Carvel had been dealing with standard tourney fare — major penalties, an overtime thriller, and a disappointing 2019 finals loss. He entered the 2021 Frozen Four media day with a preposterous set of circumstances — the loss of two goalies and his leading goal scorer due to a pandemic. He used all his gruff charm and dry comedy to carry the day, as is becoming habit for the fifth-year coach.
He led led off with some vintage John Wayne: “I know people are thinking we are short handed, we’ve lost a couple of good players, but that’s all right, we like our depth. Just another obstacle. Every team has had to deal with obstacles along the way. Now we’re at a slight disadvantage. We’re not looking at it as big deal. Matt Murray is a very good goalie.”
To support his point, the man known in central Mass. as “Carvy” went into Webb’s “Dragnet” mode — just the facts, ma’am.
“I hate to call him (Murray) the backup goalie, because he owns the record for wins and shutouts in program history,” Carvel said Wednesday, with his team’s semifinal showdown looming Thursday night in Pittsburgh vs. Minnesota-Duluth (9 p.m. ET, ESPN2). “All these kids, especially the older ones, have been around long enough to know opportunities keep coming. This is a big one for him. He’s been a great teammate, been a great goalie for us. I’m excited for him.”
A pesky reporter sought to get a scoop on Thursday’s newly formed lines, and maybe even a hint as to the new power play. No dice. “Line charts will be out tomorrow; hopefully we’ll get a power play and you’ll get it then,” Carvel said.
The topic of how he arrived at his No. 4 goalie, equipment manager Zac Steigmeyer, a native of Ludlow, Mass., finally brought out Carvel’s very subtle humor, but not a smile.
“Somebody’s going to write a book about it, it’s getting ridiculous,” said Carvel. “This goalie thing has been a bit of a distraction, but it’s kind of funny, too.”
Carvel then transitioned to storyteller — the same Carvel who entertains UMass insiders all year long with his snappy blog. He spoke about seeking a position player to put on pads. “Nobody was stepping forward to do that, trust me.” He shared his mindset leading to the ultimate decision: “Zac’s a former goalie, can we roster this kid? Compliance did their job. That was great. We didn’t have to put pads on a player.”
Carvy realized he had captured a grateful audience, and he delivered more dessert.
“We get on the ice today, and first drill his (Steigmeyer’s) skate blade goes flying off in the corner; he missed 75 percent of practice. His couple of days in the spotlight got shortened by a large percentage. He claims he has experience, but he didn’t stop too many pucks in the two days I watched him. I hope that we don’t have to see him again.”
Cut and print. The media throng had its story, Carvy never departed from his role as master and commander, and the only one he teased was the kid who hit the lottery, getting to wear a varsity sweater on the bench of a Frozen Four.
Carvel has honed his craft facing down New England media every week at UMass, and the Globe and the Herald were in Pittsburgh in full force, winging both hardballs and curveballs Wednesday afternoon. Carvel has learned to handle pitches at the highest level of his sport. It comes with experience.
