AMHERST — On paper, not much has changed from April 11, 2019.
Denver has most of the same team that competed in the national semifinals that night in Buffalo, New York. UMass returns 16 of the 21 players who dressed in that thrilling 4-3 overtime victory that sent the Minutemen to the national championship game.
Yet when the puck drops Friday and Saturday (both 9 p.m. EST starts) in a rematch of that classic Frozen Four game, it will be two different teams facing off. Both teams have grown in the past eight months from the experiences in Buffalo, and now have a more battle-tested roster that’s played in big games before.
“We’re just an older team that can manage themselves in a game a little bit better because we’ve got a little bit more experience than we had last year,” Denver coach David Carle said. “But other than that, it’s not much different.”
There are two main differences with this season’s UMass squad, and both of them are playing in the NHL right now. Although the ninth-ranked Minutemen (13-4-1) return many of the key contributors from last season, they lost their two anchors on the blue line in Mario Ferraro and Cale Makar.
Those defensemen were able to hide some of UMass’ deficiencies last season and made up for the fact the Minutemen weren’t as deep as they are this season. With a third full recruiting class on the roster, coach Greg Carvel has crafted a team filled with depth, but lacks the obvious NHL-ready talent.
“Ours is a different makeup where we’ve got a little more depth, but we don’t have the high-end talent that helped us separate ourselves last year,” Carvel said. “I do like the fact we’re becoming a deeper, stable, consistent team. (But) these games are going to tell me a lot about what we are.”
In some ways, UMass is trying to emulate what No. 7 Denver has accomplished in the past 16 years. The Pioneers (11-4-3) hold the longest active streak of postseason appearances at 12 and have won three national titles since 2004. They have maintained that success through two coaching changes while continuing to manage their program identity.
“Their strength is that they’re a very deep, skilled team that plays good defensively,” Carvel said. “People look at us and the first thing they say is ‘Well, they don’t have Cale Makar anymore.’ I don’t know if that’s the case with Denver, they’re an extremely deep offensively skilled team that plays a good defensive system as well.”
FIRST 10 MINUTES — The first period will be vital for both teams for different reasons.
Denver has not played a game since sweeping a two-game series with Colorado College on Dec. 13-14 while UMass played Sunday, defeating RPI 5-3. In the Minutemen’s case, a strong start is always important for the visitors, especially in a hostile environment like Magness Arena will likely be this weekend.
“It is important for us to come out and set the tone,” Carvel said. “I thought we did that when we played them in the national semifinal game, we had a little bit of momentum from when the game started until the penalties started happening. Especially as the road team, you don’t want to be on your heels early or you might be on your heels all weekend long.”
Carle said Denver has practiced well since returning from the winter break, but that his team is eager to play a game. He said he liked how his team was playing before the break, and the challenge will be for the Pioneers to match that form as early as possible against UMass.
“We just need to pick up where we left off against CC and play to our identity,” Carle said. “It’s real important to us because when we do do that, usually things go well for us. It’s about playing Denver hockey as quickly as we can coming out of the break.”
RETURN TRIP — Carvel confirmed that the Pioneers would make the trip to Amherst for the 2021-22 season, though the dates of those matchups have not been confirmed yet.
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.