AMHERST — When Cale Makar was representing Canada in the 2018 World Juniors, he left in awe of how calm Carter Hart was in goal.
The Philadelphia Flyers rookie goalie impressed Makar with the proverbial ice in his veins and how nothing seemed to faze him before or after the game. The pair ended up winning a gold medal together and one year later, the sophomore defenseman is seeing similar traits appear in UMass goalie Matt Murray.
“He’s just a very calm player,” Makar said. “Murray has a lot of that in him and he’s able to be a brick wall for us back there, and that’s what keeps us going through the entire year.”
Murray has been a cerebral presence for the top-ranked Minutemen and can sometimes be seen calmly listening to music in the hallway outside the UMass locker room before games. Whatever work Murray has put into his mentality has clearly translated well onto the ice this season. He leads Hockey East in goals against average (1.74) and save percentage (.933) with numbers that rank fourth nationally in both statistics despite playing at least 200 more minutes than any of the goalies ahead of him.
Yet, the seemingly laid-back persona Murray has on the ice is something he said he’s had his whole career as a goalie. He said he never really had to expel much energy to get himself focused or ready and believes that’s only been enhanced by the sessions he’s had with UMass’ sports psychologists before and during the season.
“I’ve never really been the kind of guy who’s jumping around or flopping around like you see with other goalies,” Murray said. “We’ve done a lot of work with our sports psychologist here with the team, and he’s helped tremendously as well with keeping things mellow and staying in the right process.”
Although Murray’s composure in net has been his trademark most of the season, the difference in his play this year was most evident early in Saturday’s 5-1 win over Vermont. Cory Thomas exited the penalty box just as the Catamounts happened to push the puck out of their defensive zone, springing the defenseman on a breakaway. Without a second thought, Murray charged out of his net and slid forward to poke check the puck between the tops of the faceoff circles.
Murray credited that play to his offseason work on his footwork and skating, but all of that physical work came in conjunction with work on the mental side of the game. The sophomore said the two sides of the game need to be in balance for goalies to have success, and he works hard to keep the mental and physical aspects of the sport in check during practices and games.
“It starts in the head where you have to make sure you have that drive and that you’re focused and you’re into it, and you’re ready to go,” Murray said. “Then once you step on the ice and you’re working, that’s when it becomes a lot more physical and you just have to carry it over from the mental to the physical and make sure you have a balance of both throughout the practice and never let one get too high or too low.”
UMass should be able to keep riding its star goaltender, too, thanks to the way college hockey’s schedule is structured. With most games being played on Fridays and Saturdays, there is plenty of time for Murray to recuperate after 120 minutes of action to be ready for the next week’s games. The night between those back-to-back games, Murray said he has an extensive routine to keep himself fresh, but it focused on making sure he hydrates well and gets to sleep at a decent hour.
Murray has started all four games for UMass since it returned from winter break, and that streak will almost certainly extend to five on Friday at 7 p.m. when the Minutemen (17-3-0, 9-1-0 Hockey East) welcome No. 8 Northeastern (14-4-1, 8-2-1 HEA) for the start of a home-and-home weekend series. UMass will have backup goalie Filip Lindberg back in uniform after the freshman missed four games playing in and then recovering from representing Finland at the 2019 World Juniors.
Coach Greg Carvel said he has no issue playing Murray every game because his play has dictated it, but added he views the situation very similarly to how he managed his goalies in the first half of the season.
“He’ll play until we decide Fille is ready to play the same standard that Matt’s given us,” Carvel said. “… It’s a game of trying to keep both on top of their game, but at the same time making decisions that help us win games. Matt’s made it hard for us to go away from him.”