This past weekend’s series between Massachusetts and Michigan may have pitted the defending champions against the “anointed champions for this coming year” in the Division 1 men’s college hockey world, but Greg Carvel didn’t want to make his Minutemen’s trip to Ann Arbor out to be anything more than two hockey games.
Michigan’s top two lines, of course, include four of the top five NHL draft picks from last year, including the Bay State’s own Matty Beniers of Hingham and likely future Seattle Kraken fame. But, high-caliber talent is nothing new to the Minutemen and their competitors in Hockey East.
“We’ve played against BU, BC and Providence. They all have lots of draft picks. We have lots of draft picks,” Carvel said last Wednesday. “This is just another game. We’ll play as hard as we can. It doesn’t matter what team we’re playing.”
Like any other weekend against any other team, the Minutemen will take away important lessons from their weekend in Ann Arbor. The 4-1 and 4-2 losses to the Wolverines snapped their 14-game span without a regulation loss dating back to a season-opening home sweep at the hands of now-No. 1 Minnesota State.
Carvel was displeased with his team’s effort in the series opener, stating that the group was “in awe” and gave Michigan too much respect.
By Sunday, despite being outshot by a 46-30 margin, there were signs of the fight that turned UMass into a first-time champion last April. Michigan took a 3-0 lead after two periods, but senior captain Bobby Trivigno outraced New Jersey’s No. 4 overall pick Luke Hughes through the neutral zone and snatched a loose puck for a rocket of a shorthanded goal to get the Minutemen on the board with 6:10 left.
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“We could have used a little more of that this weekend, but that’s what he is. He outwills people,” Carvel said after Sunday’s game. “I don’t want to say it was too little too late because we had some good chances at 3-1 before (Bruins prospect Johnny Beecher’s empty-net goal). We need Bobby to score goals like that down the stretch. He’s been a little quiet lately (with just two goals in his last seven games), so hopefully that gets him going.”
The goal was also Trivigno’s 100th career point, making him the 14th player in program history to accomplish the feat. Freshman defenseman Ryan Ufko also scored in the third period.
Though he didn’t have any results to show for it, Matt Murray stood tall in the Minutemen net all weekend. The fifth-year senior goaltender’s 37 saves on Saturday were two shy of his career-high, but he eclipsed the 40-save mark for the first time in his college career the next night as he stopped 42 shots.
Murray was tested often throughout the weekend as Carvel praised his steadiness and ability to keep the Minutemen in both games, making several high-end saves.
“He was equally as good (on Sunday) as he was last night,” Carvel said of Murray, whose .926 save percentage is tied for third-best in Hockey East. “He made a lot of huge saves. Matt’s the type of goalie that makes some big saves look routine. … He made a couple side-to-side saves. Even the first goal, he made the first save. He stopped anything on the strong side all weekend.”
The Minutemen have just returned a full complement of players since the semester break, so a full complement should be well-rested and raring to go by the time they take the ice on Jan. 21 against Northeastern.
After “finding ways to not lose” throughout the first half, there will be plenty for Carvel’s club to gain from the weekend just as there was following their early-season results.
“I want them to feel pissed off,” Carvel said. “We just lost two games. I want them to realize the complete level that’s necessary, which was there (Sunday). I want them to realize how important turnovers are, and the management of the puck. … Some things that have been a little bit of an issue got exposed this weekend. I’m glad we played these games. This is a tough place to play.”
Resilient win for Huskies
UConn’s first Hockey East game since Nov. 21 was a resilient effort. Yale graduate transfer Kevin O’Neil scored with 32.2 seconds left in regulation to decide a 5-4 Saturday win at Boston College, which was unbeaten in six consecutive games entering 2022.
O’Neil’s tally ensured the Huskies’ first win in 10 all-time meetings at Conte Forum and sixth in 10 Hockey East games this season, which moved them into a sixth-place tie with their next opponent on the schedule for Friday night, Boston University.
“It was a good team win,” UConn head coach Mike Cavanaugh said. “There’s going to be more (adversity) to come. Adversity never ends in a season. We may be on the wrong end of it, but you have to keep grinding and understanding that there is no other option.”
The Huskies bounced back throughout the night, putting in three straight goals to erase a 2-0 deficit before O’Neil and Jachym Kondelik scored goals — the latter just the team’s second on the power play in an eight-game stretch — in response to BC’s pair in the third period.
Adversity doesn’t just come on the ice. The Huskies were among the first local teams to have their schedule impacted by COVID-19 protocols as they had four games postponed prior to the holiday break.
“We had some of our best practices all year in the first week back, so I think our guys were really fresh,” Cavanaugh said. “We went to Harvard and played a pretty good game, but special teams cost us the game. I'm knocking on wood that we don't have to pause again because I'd like to try to get into some type of rhythm going forward before the playoffs.”
Weekend of firsts
American International rose back into the first-place spot in the Atlantic Hockey standings after sweeping in-state rival Holy Cross, 2-0 and 5-2. Redshirt sophomore Jake Kucharski began the weekend with a 21-save shutout before two power-play goals and a shorthanded goal led the Yellow Jackets to Sunday’s win -- their fifth straight.
Bentley had won five straight entering its five-week holiday break before losing Saturday’s return to play at Merrimack, 5-2. The Warriors received former St. Andrew’s College star Mark Hillier’s first collegiate goal.
Northeastern has reached the 15-win mark in just 20 games for the first time in program history after sweeping a non-conference set with Long Island. Junior Aidan McDonough (Milton, Mass.) scored two goals in Saturday’s 6-0 win. Sophomore Devon Levi pitched shutouts in both games and now leads Hockey East and the nation with eight on the season, already putting him four shy of tying the NCAA’s single-season record.
Boston University freshman defenseman and Bruins prospect Ty Gallagher scored in the Terriers’ 7-1 and 5-2 wins over Arizona State, making them unbeaten in six straight games. Junior Jay O’Brien (Hingham, Mass.) scored two goals and three assists in the series, while Tristan Amonte’s (Norwell, Mass.) first collegiate goal on Friday included an assist from his brother, Ty.
The most unique first of the weekend belonged to New Hampshire, where former Bishop Fenwick High School goaltender Jake Moniz (Wakefield, Mass.) made two saves in the final 36 seconds of Saturday’s 5-1 win over Clarkson. Moniz, who was scheduled to attend Sunday’s Patriots-Dolphins game in Miami according to our own Mark Divver’s Twitter thread, backed up senior Mike Robinson as both junior David Fessenden and sophomore Jeremy Forman were unavailable for the game.
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THREE MORE STARS:
Hockey East - Donavan Villeneuve-Houle, Maine
Houle has been an offensive bright spot for Maine despite its win-loss struggles under first-year coach Ben Barr. Playing a top-line role, the Montreal native continues to pace the team’s freshman class with six goals and ranks second among all Black Bears with nine points.
The winger was a driving force behind Maine’s 4-2 Saturday win over Alaska, which ensured a non-conference series split, scoring a goal and adding two assists. He set up Lynden Breen’s game-tying goal on the power play, his first of two in the third period.
ECAC - Sean Farrell & Nick Abruzzese, Harvard
Farrell (Hopkinton, Mass.) and Abruzzese each had a goal and an assist to lead Harvard to Saturday’s 4-1 win over Union in the only ECAC Hockey game of the weekend and the only action for any of the league’s New England schools.
Helping the Crimson establish a 3-0 lead, the top-line duo scored back-to-back goals to start the game. The Chicago Steel products continue to pace Harvard’s scoring for the season, with the junior captain Abruzzese currently leading the way with five goals and 15 assists in just 13 games.
Atlantic - Luke Lush, Sacred Heart
Lush became the third goaltender to start and win a game for the Pioneers this season as he made his season debut in Saturday’s 2-1 win at Niagara, stopping a career-high 33 of the 34 shots he faced. The Alberta native allowed a game-tying goal in the second period, but his team never trailed.
Northeastern junior transfer Neil Shea (Marshfield, Mass.) got the scoring going in support of Lush and now has points in six consecutive games. Sophomore John Jaworski scored the game-winning goal.
THIS WEEK’S HAT TRICK:
1. Starting the week off right (again!): Another busy week begins with a pair of intriguing non-conference games on Tuesday as Arizona State remains in Boston to face Northeastern and American International hosts UConn at the MassMutual Center. Additionally, the Yellow Jackets’ rivals from Sacred Heart play an Atlantic Hockey game at RIT.
Northeastern’s game was recently added to the schedule following the cancellation of the World University Games in which the Huskies were slated to compete before Christmas. The AIC-UConn meeting was part of a postponed home-and-home series last month. UConn will be the fourth non-conference opponent to visit the Yellow Jackets in Springfield, following Providence, UMass and Quinnipiac.
2. Full Hockey East slate scheduled: Hockey East play resumes in full with nine games between Friday and Saturday nights, beginning with a crucial standalone game featuring BU and UConn at the XL Center in Hartford. The teams sit neck-and-neck in the league standings, though the Huskies will still have two games in hand at the end of the night due to COVID-19 postponements.
The slate also includes a two-game home set for first-place UMass Lowell against Maine, Providence-Merrimack and BC-New Hampshire home-and-home series and two games for Northeastern in Vermont. Providence will be playing its first games of 2022.
3. More non-league highlights: Quinnipiac is still waiting to return to the ice in 2022 following two postponed series, so it will carry a 13-game unbeaten streak into ECAC Hockey home games with Harvard and Dartmouth. The Bobcats’ opponents are also slated to play Princeton during the weekend. Brown and Yale will also be at home, facing Colgate and Cornell.
Bentley is set for its first Atlantic Hockey challenge of the new year when Sacred Heart visits Waltham for a pair of games, while Holy Cross and AIC will also be at home for two-game sets, facing Canisius and Mercyhurst, respectively.
