The UMass hockey team faces a stiff challenge this weekend at top-ranked Ohio State, but Friday at the Mullins Center the players and fans savored a 6-1 win against RPI.
Third-year coach Greg Carvel scrambled his four lines and three sets of defense from last season’s playoffs.
New faces, new linemates and the new power play unit capitalized midway into the first period when RPI was whistled for hooking and a minute later for cross-checking.
If the man-advantage was effective, the two-man advantage was the Red Army power play. The wingers crept down along the boards and frenetically moved the puck closer and closer until a player got open for the kill shot.
Jacob Pritchard tallied the first goal from Cale Makar and Marc DelGaizo, and a minute later DelGaizo tweaked the twine from Makar and Pritchard. Those three skaters — Pritchard the transfer who followed Carvel from St. Lawrence, Makar the sophomore hot shot who could be playing in the NHL, and DelGaizo the rookie blueliner who strutted his playmaking prowess in the USHL — capsulized the team’s effective transformation from one year to the next.
When it was over, UMass had scored four power play goals and registered a pair of even strength markers by Makar. After the following night’s win, a dozen different players had their names etched on the stat sheet, proving this won’t be a one-line team.
Carvel will change the lines again when sophomore forward Oliver Chau and defenseman Ivan Chukarov return to the ice. Chau sat out with the flu, while Chukarov didn’t dress for unspecified reasons.
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Sophomore Matt Murray was between the pipes for the season opener and had his own student cheering section. “We love Matty!” they chanted. He made 27 saves, including the first four of the game while the Minutemen sought to find their sea legs.
The following night in Troy, Carvel opted to use Fille Lindberg. The prized recruit from Finland allowed one first period goal and stopped 20 shots in the 3-1 win. “He looked good,” said radio commentator Brock Hines. “There were the first period nerves, but then he settled down. It was non-conference, and I think he was playing just so the braintrust could see what they had. Murray starts Friday unless Carvel changes his mind.”
Even in tough times — and times have been plenty tough the last decade — UMass has always started strong. They won two of their first three games last year, were undefeated in their first five games in 2015-16, won three of the first five in 2014-15 and were 3-2-3 to start 2013-14. The legs were strong, the opponents were weak and the lack of depth wasn’t a factor until they hit the iron of the Hockey East schedule.
It makes this weekend’s two-games in Columbus all the more intriguing. The Buckeyes swept Arizona State in Tempe over the weekend, beating the Sun Devils, 3-2, before 945 fans at Oceanside Ice Arena on Friday, and 3-0 before a similar-sized crowd on Saturday.
Mason Jobst, the current active D-1 assists leader, had two goals and a helper.
The Buckeyes are No. 1 in both national polls that were released on Monday, but more important is that UMass has moved from off the charts in the preseason and into the realm of respectability.
USCHO.com ranks them 21st nationally and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine puts them 22nd. The Ohio State games start at 7 p.m. on Friday and at 5 p.m. on Saturday and will be broadcast on WHMP (AM 1400/1240; FM 96.9/107.5).
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A crowd of 4,517 watched Friday’s win against RPI, the most since UMass beat Michigan State, 3-1, in front of 7,078 in 2013-14.
They were treated to free “NewMass” T-shirts and music by Ozzy Osbourne (Crazy Town) and Foreigner (Hot Blooded). Coffee was a reasonable two dollars, and nobody minded the $8 beer prices judging from the long lines that formed on the east side of the concourse between periods.
There’s always something to bark about. Whoever was in charge of the Chuck-a-Puck contest plucked a puck from near center ice and walked away before they’d all landed. A few landed closer than the puck he grabbed. A few fans booed but he ignored them and announced the “winner.” Where’s the justice? Somebody call a lawyer.
One woman stared at her $12 general admission ticket and compared it to the $10 ticket her friend had dug out of his pocket. Finally she concluded, “I used a credit card. They charged me $2.”
“They made me pour out my water,” she added. “He said people try to sneak in vodka.”
Anyone who’s been aboard a cruise ship know that security knows how to spot bottled water from vodka, something to do with the bubbles.
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The UMass football team is a 3½-point favorite to beat Coastal Carolina (3-3) on Saturday at McGuirk Stadium (3:30 p.m.).
The Minutemen (2-5) have had two weeks to rework a defense that’s ranked 10th-worst in the FBS against a Coastal Carolina team that’s 53rd in total offense and averages 421 yards a game.
The Chanticleers lost nine straight games after they beat UMass last season. This season, they handed the University of Alabama-Birmingham its only loss (47-24), but have since lost by 45 points back-to-back against Troy (5-2) and the UL-Monroe Warhawks (3-4).
The Chanticleer is a roostery takeoff on its in-state brethren the University of South Carolina Gamecocks. In 2016, the Chanticleers’ baseball team beat top-ranked Florida and took two of three from TCU to win the College World Series.
Their campus in Conway, S.C. was hard hit by Hurricane Florence last month, prompting a visit by President Trump.
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Boston College (5-2) doesn’t play until Oct. 27 when it hosts Miami. During their 38-20 win against Louisville on Saturday, the Eagles unveiled 250-pound running back David Bailey, who had 112 yards on 28 carries. … Running back A.J. Dillon is expected to return against Miami. He’s been sidelined by a high ankle sprain he suffered on Sept. 29 against Temple. … The Hurricanes have the top-rated defense in the FBS.
Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for four decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached by email at sports@recorder.com.