Every team playing for the national championship this weekend in Buffalo, New York, has a story. Some type of journey that separated them from the pack and made them contenders to not only make the NCAA Tournament but then survive the regionals.
In October, it wasn’t crazy to think Denver, Minnesota-Duluth or Providence would wind up playing in the Frozen Four. There was still a lot of work ahead of those three teams, but it made sense that their stories would include a trip to Buffalo.
UMass wasn’t on that same radar when the season opened on Oct. 12 against RPI, even among its own fans who were just hoping for a taste of the national postseason. So how did the Minutemen go from a national afterthought to the most talked-about team at the Frozen Four? These five moments helped put them on the road to Buffalo.
The win over then-No. 1 Ohio State on the road in the second weekend of the season was impressive, but the jury was still out on this team until the home-and-home series with Providence. UMass somehow won both games after jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first period and then holding on for dear life before scoring a late winner. The victories were the grittiest the Minutemen had in the first half of the season and proved this team had the temperament to withstand a postseason run. It also cemented Matt Murray as a much-improved goalie from last season, the missing piece of the puzzle that helped UMass reach its potential.
The Minutemen reached No. 1 for the first time in program history in the first week of December and then promptly lost its first game as the top team in the nation. The loss at Quinnipiac didn’t damper the mood the following night when the Bobcats played at the Mullins Center in front of the first of many sellout crowds. The atmosphere in Amherst that night was electric and UMass responded to the loss with a strong performance against the same team that bulldozed it a night before. Even after allowing a goal against the run of play in the second period, the Minutemen’s “pound the rock” philosophy paid off with three third-period goals for the win. It was the first time UMass had less than 24 hours to respond to a loss and it passed that test with flying colors.
Only the most skeptical critics around were still unsure of the Minutemen entering February, waiting to see how they would do against the traditional blue bloods of Hockey East. UMass proceeded to sweep Boston University and then sweep the home-and-home with Boston College two weeks later to take firm control of the conference. All four games were vastly different ways to win as well, which helped erase the shreds of doubt about this team. The Minutemen won an offensive slugfest at BU, won the game late at home against BC and then defended well at BC to seal the sweep. It was the start of a stretch of strong defensive hockey for the Minutemen that has taken them to the Frozen Four.
It was a Thursday night that will live in UMass lore for the rest of eternity, but the Minutemen didn’t make it easy on themselves. They trailed 2-1 against last-place Merrimack after a disjointed second period and the first chance to clinch the Hockey East regular-season title seemed to be slipping away. But UMass scored twice in 18 seconds early in the third period and then just dominated the rest of the game to secure the program’s first conference title. The fact they followed that performance with a 6-0 thrashing of Maine two days later, only solidified how impressive the Minutemen were this season.
It’s odd to put a 3-0 loss to a sub-.500 Boston College team on this list, but there is no doubt that setback set the tone for the Minutemen in the NCAA Tournament. The lessons they learned from that loss are what propelled them to a dominating performance in the Northeast Regional. UMass played an uninspired 60 minutes that night in Boston and squandered its chance to win both Hockey East titles in the same season. That moment also served as a wake-up call for the players and coaches with the next loss ending the season, and that sense of urgency led to an aggressive but controlled performance in Manchester, New Hampshire.