AMHERST, Mass. — It didn’t take long for Jacob Pritchard to make an impact for his new team.
The graduate transfer from St. Lawrence scored the first goal of the game and added two assists in the first period, as UMass jumped out to a commanding lead to beat RPI, 6-1, Friday night at the William D. Mullins Center.
Pritchard was waiting in the slot for a pass from sophomore defenseman Cale Makar, who was down near the goal line. The pass was in his feet, but he kicked it to his stick blade and blasted the puck home to give the Minutemen the lead 11:03 into the opening period.
“The puck just goes in for some guys and it goes in for him,"said UMass head coach Greg Carvel of his team's first of four power-play goals. "It was good to get that and tilt the ice our way."
Pritchard, who had 27 goals in 96 games over three seasons at St. Lawrence, is a goal-scorer who's expected to add be an attacking leader in UMass' lineup.
“What I remembered of Pritch is that he’s very offensive-minded," said Carvel, who coached Pritchard as a freshman at St. Lawrence. "He likes to shoot the puck. There were times he could make plays to his teammates, but he’s a shooter. A lot of times you get guys who won’t shoot the puck, but he shoots the puck."
Turns out that Carvel's intuition was spot on.
“I definitely like to shoot the puck," Pritchard said. "My biggest asset is my offense. Our power play now, I have Cale on one side and (John) Leonard down low so I might start passing more."
Pritchard wasn’t kidding about passing the puck. He assisted on two more power-play goals in the opening period. Both were instances where he won a battle for a loose puck along the right wing wall, then dished to an open teammate.
“The biggest thing with our power play is we were going to win the retrievals and get more scoring chances,” Pritchard explained.
Pritchard finished the night with five shots on goal, but didn’t find the score sheet over the final 40 minutes. Despite the three-point night, Carvel is expecting more from his team’s second-oldest player.
“He’s still adjusting to how we play the game," Carvel said. "He likes the game to be free flow and just go around and find ice. We need him to be a little more structured within what we do."
Pritchard is coming around to that approach.
“He’s demanding, but at the end of the day, everyone enjoys going to the rink," Pritchard said of Carvel's style. "The culture he creates, we work hard, we’re prepared and we’re fast. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t enjoy playing for him."
Due to a relatively new NCAA rule allowing players to transfer if they graduate in three years, Pritchard can play right away without sitting out a season. The Macomb Township, Mich., native had no doubt about where he wanted to play his final season of college hockey. He wanted to reconnect with Carvel and assistant coach Jared DeMichiel, who recruited him to SLU.
“I had a great experience with them as a freshman," Pritchard said. "I believe everything Coach Carvel and Coach (DeMichiel) preach and coach. They create a great environment. Everyone enjoys playing hockey. We play hard and work hard, and that’s our identity."
UMass won its season opener for the second time in three seasons under Carvel’s guidance. This is a rejuvenated UMass team that could push for home-ice advantage in the Hockey East quarterfinals.
“Everyone comes to the rink working hard and having a great time," Pritchard concluded. "When you combine those two things, more times than not you’re going to be successful. It’s awesome to be around that culture."
Makar dazzles again
To the surprise of no one, Makar stole the show with two goals and two assists. His first goal was a highlight-reel play, where he took the puck in the neutral zone and turned on the afterburners to blow right by the RPI defense.
“His skating level is elite," Carvel said. "He can control the game with his puck skills and hockey sense. He’s able to slow the game down. His change of pace with the puck is really hard to defend."
Makar, the fourth-overall pick of the Colorado Avalanche in the 2017 NHL Draft, is arguably the best player in college hockey. He’s coming off a freshman campaign of five goals and 16 assists. Alongside classmate Mario Ferraro and freshman Marc Del Gaizo, there is a shot of energy into the offense from the blue line.
“If Cale Makar isn’t one of the best players at our level, I don’t know who is," Carvel said. "He’s outstanding. He’s gotten quicker, he’s gotten faster and he’s gotten stronger. Same with Mario Ferraro. Those two guys are elite players at this level."
Assertive PK
In what was an expectedly sloppy game for opening night, UMass was forced to kill seven penalties. However, the Engineers scored only once on those attempts.
It was immediately evident that the Minutemen were going to play up-tempo and force the issue. They made it difficult for RPI to gain the zone and didn’t give much time for the defensemen to get shots off from the point.
“We’re trying to be more aggressive this year," Carvel said. "We kept putting more and more pressure on them. They had a hard time entering the zone on the power play. Last year we were too passive, so it was a focus point for us."
“It paid off tonight being able to read plays and jump on them right away,” Makar added.
Less heralded ‘D’ come through
While the top two defensive pairings got into the offense and receive plenty of publicity, it was a solid night for UMass’ fifth and sixth defensemen, freshmen Colin Felix and Kolby Vegara.
“Those two kids have come a long way. Skating was an issue early on, but they’ve caught up to the speed,” said Carvel.
“Colin Felix – for a big body, hard-nose kid – is good with the puck," Carvel said of the former St. George’s blue liner. "He can make plays and he shoots it a ton."
“Vegara is working hard to find a comfort zone," Carvel said of the Malden, Mass., native. "Understandably, he was brought in as a walk-on and as our eighth ‘D,’ but he’s playing right away. He’s a big, heavy boy. He can out-muscle guys."
A lack of discipline and sloppy play at times led to the six RPI power plays. The Minutemen took two offensive-zone penalties in the first period, one which led to a power-play goal for the Engineers.
“We’ll need to manage the puck much better and be harder to play against," Carvel said. "I saw some good things tonight, but we still have a ways to go."
UMass will trek to Troy, N.Y. on Saturday night, looking for the weekend sweep of RPI.
