AMHERST — In its last 120 minutes before the long winter break, UMass was playing some of its best hockey of the season.
The Minutemen dominated home games against then-No. 8 Quinnipiac on Saturday and No. 18 Yale on Tuesday to finish the first half of the season with a 14-2-0 record and a No. 2 national ranking. They were aggressive on the forecheck, created dozens of scoring chances and kept sophomore Matt Murray relatively untested in goal.
“It’s a great way to finish off the semester,” third-year coach Greg Carvel said after Tuesday’s win. “They now get a well-deserved break, and then we have to crank it back up and get back to this level when we get back in January.”
And therein lies the issue for Carvel and his players.
In his first two seasons, the winter break has derailed the Minutemen a little bit. Two years ago, UMass won its first game back from the hiatus before losing its final 17 games. Last year, UMass won three of its final four games before the break to finish the first half 9-7-0, only to go 2-9-1 in the next 12 games.
Carvel said he learned from last year to give his team a shorter break away from Amherst this season. He said the Minutemen would practice the rest of this week and then allow the players to return home next week. They’ll then practice seven or eight times as a team before Jan. 4 when UMass resumes its schedule against UMass-Lowell at the Mullins Center.
Sophomore center Jake Gaudet said last year’s January struggles weighed heavily on the minds of the players entering this year’s winter break.
“We’re going to skate a lot during the break,” Gaudet said. “The last couple of years we’ve struggled right after Christmas, so it’s a focus for us to stay in the gym, stay strong, keep skating and hopefully only get better in the second half.”
The time between games is just as beneficial for UMass mentally as it is for the players and coaches physically. Carvel joked that he would hibernate during his time off because of how exhausted he was after the first three months of the season.
Murray said spending the next three weeks just focused on the team and self-improvement without the worries of games helps keeps the body as sharp as possible for the late-season push.
“The biggest part is going to be taking that time away and really focusing on healing yourself,” Murray said. “Making sure your body is healthy and really take advantage of that time away from the game so when you do step on the ice, you’re as prepared as you can be. Having that time when you can focus solely on practices and solely on being in the gym and you don’t have to worry about those Friday and Saturday night games, it really just helps your body re-cooperate.”
Carvel said he isn’t concerned about the break interrupting his team’s momentum from the first half of the year. He said although the Minutemen were playing well, he could sense the team was exhausting its final reserves just to make it to the break.
“A really big part of my job is managing their energy and their energy level,” Carvel said. “We need a break. Certain players on our team are starting to wear down, get sick, energy levels (are dipping). We could all see the light at the end of the tunnel. … Everything has been timed well this year, but we’re all ready for a little bit of a break.”
And Carvel has no reason to be weary of how his team will respond to the three-week hiatus.
Already this year, UMass has had to deal with increased attention from rocketing up the polls and taking over the No. 1 spot for the first time in program history. The Minutemen’s 14 wins are just the ninth time since the program was revived in 1993 that UMass has won that many games in a season.
Nothing has seemed to faze these players, most of whom are only in their first or second years of college hockey.
“This group has stayed steady,” Carvel said. “The records and rankings haven’t affected them. They’ve stayed true to expectations, and I expect that to continue. They’re an extremely mature group for a group that’s mostly freshmen and sophomores. There’s really nothing about this group that concerns me.”