AMHERST — Only one team in college hockey has not allowed a power-play goal this season.
That would be No. 3 UMass, which is 26-for-26 killing penalties so far this season. It certainly stands as a testament to the Minutemen’s aggressive, hard-working penalty killing units that they’ve remained perfect while down a man. But the team has also put a lot of pressure on those penalty killers in the past two weeks.
UMass took just two penalties in the season opener against RPI, but it’s taken at least five in every game since then, including eight last Friday against American International. The game against the Yellow Jackets included a reckless hit by Anthony Del Gaizo that resulted in his disqualification and automatic suspension for Friday’s game at No. 10 Northeastern.
“That’s just lack of engagement, it’s lack of mental preparedness, it’s selfish,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said after the win over AIC. “Our margin for error is not very big.”
With a few days to ruminate on the parade to the penalty box to start the season, Carvel said the amount of penalties can be tied into a team still trying to find its way this season. He said he hopes the Minutemen will be able to play more even-strength hockey once the players start to commit to the team’s identity on the ice more consistently.
“The lack of discipline comes when you’re not playing to your identity,” Carvel said Tuesday. “Whatever your team identity is, when there’s inconsistency in it, it leads to that lack of discipline. That’s why we’ve seen too many penalties, especially that game against Northeastern. When we start feeling good about the way we play, we’ll see the penalties go down.”
The last time the Minutemen (4-1-0, 0-1-0 Hockey East) and Huskies (4-1-1, 1-0-0) squared off, UMass took eight penalties and managed to survive an almost two-minute 5-on-3 without allowing a goal. It didn’t help in a 3-1 defeat at Matthews Arena 16 days ago, after which Carvel said his team needed to be more difficult to play against.
It was clear on the smaller ice rink that UMass wasn’t as gritty off the puck and it resulted in several major changes before the next weekend. The effort has been better at times over the past three games at home, but senior captain Niko Hildenbrand said the focus is making sure they play with the correct mentality for 60 minutes.
“It’s just a mental thing, it’s being harder, it’s playing heavier,” Hildenbrand said. “Some of (the penalties) are ticky-tacky, but that’s on us and we need just need to be a little more mentally disciplined.”
Perhaps what has angered Carvel the most about the uptick in penalties is how thoughtless some of them have been. Not including Del Gaizo’s hit to the head last week, the Minutemen have taken some silly minor penalties that come from not being in the correct position. Whether it be slashes or hooks because they got beat on a play, or interference penalties for being too late or early to a player, many of the penalties are easy corrections for the Minutemen to make.
“We just need to continue to work hard,” sophomore forward Bobby Trivigno said. “A couple of the penalties are lazy penalties, extending your arms when the guy’s not facing you. We just need to be smarter on the ice.”
The lone positive UMass can take from its penalty-killing success is that it does tend to swing the energy of the game in the Minutemen’s favor. AIC coach Eric Lang admitted his team was deflated after not being able to score on five power plays in the second period, which included a full two-minute 5-on-3 advantage.
Meanwhile, the kills motivated the Minutemen to start playing their game in the third period. UMass hopes it won’t have to use its perfect penalty kill to spark the energy on Friday, and simply will take the same aggressive mindset that makes the Minutemen dangerous down a man to even strength play.
“It’s one of those things now that we look at as kind of a momentum shifter,” Hildenbrand said. “We’re confident in our PK and we go out there and kill the penalties and it’s helping us shift momentum of games.”
Josh Walfish can be reached at jwalfish@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshWalfishDHG. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.