Good morning!
Goaltending is a mysterious art, as crucial to hockey as pitching is to baseball and quarterbacking is to football. “Goaltending,” said former NHL executive Brian Burke, “is 80 percent of the game unless you don’t have one, then it’s 100 percent.”
UMass goaltenders Matt Murray and Filip Lindberg have started every other game this season. Both have a 2.04 goals against average, but the postseason is a one pony show and coach Greg Carvel has to decide which one to ride.
Using two goalies wasn’t always Carvel’s modus operandi. His last year at St. Lawrence, he started sophomore Kyle Hayton all but three games, including the Saints’ 2-1 overtime loss to Harvard in the ECAC semifinals.
The UMass goaltending merry-go-round began two years ago when sophomore Ryan Wischow split time with Murray. Buoyed by the arrival of defenseman Cale Makar, UMass beat Vermont in the first round of the playoffs. Murray was injured however, and Wischow allowed nine goals in back-to-back losses to Northeastern.
Exit Wischow (now “retired” according to eliteprospects.com) and enter Lindberg. UMass has long sought to find a successor to Jon Quick, and the Espoo, Finland, native was said to be The One. Carvel embarked on another battle of dueling goaltenders last year that ended in February when Lindberg came down with mono.
Murray started the first playoff game against New Hampshire but was yanked after he let in three early goals. Lindberg backstopped the Minutemen during the wild 5-4 comeback and had shutout wins against Harvard and Notre Dame en route to the NCAA Frozen Four, where they beat Denver and lost to Minnesota-Duluth.
That was the end of the Matt Murray era until Lindberg committed the mortal sin of letting in three goals in the season opener against RPI. It’s been back-and-forth ever since, with Lindberg one night and Murray the next. Against UConn last week, Murray, a junior, made saves that had Huskies players shaking their heads. Against BC on Jan. 10, Lindberg, a sophomore, backstopped a 3-1 win that Hockey East commissioner Joe Bertagna called the finest performance he’d seen all season.
Ultimately, it’s not who Carvel likes, but who the opposition fears. “Thirty-five’s a stud,” said a Hockey East coach, referring to Lindberg and relieved Murray was getting the start. (UMass lost).
Lindberg also has an off-ice advantage. He was drafted by Minnesota and can turn pro if he feels he’s not getting enough ice time at UMass.
Carvel’s proven he can win without his Tom Brady. Indeed, Cale Makar missed five games in two years at UMass, and the Minutemen were 0-5 without him. Now he’s in the NHL, yet the ninth-ranked Minutemen have maintained their level of excellence.
The Minutemen have beaten every Hockey East team except UNH at least once this season, but attrition has begun taking its toll. Their second-leading scorer, Mitchell Chaffee, missed four games after he was injured against Providence on Feb. 8, and Philip Lagunov, Bobby Kaiser, George Mika and Cal Kiefuk are all out for the season. “Kiefuk’s jaw is wired shut,” said Carvel, underscoring the severity of the injury.
Other Minutemen simply aren’t tweaking the twine. Oliver Chau has one goal since Dec. 10, Jeremy Davidson hasn’t registered a point since Nov. 23, and Eric Faith is scoreless in all 16 games he’s played. Welcome to Hockey East, fellas, you’re not in Brockville any more.
“We’re trying to squeeze what we can out of the guys,” said Carvel.
Nobody felt Makar’s absence more than Marc Del Gaizo. Partnered with Makar on the blue line, Del Gaizo was named to the All-Rookie team a year ago. He had 29 points and three game-winning goals, and in June was drafted by Nashville. “I think he can crush it this year,” Carvel said in October. “He can skate pucks out of trouble.”
As it turned out, Del Gaizo was hobbled by an ankle injury and missed 12 of the first 14 games. It’s taken all season for him to return to form, but his two goals in Saturday’s crucial 4-3 win against UConn helped keep UMass in second place in Hockey East.
If not for John Leonard, the dearth of goals would harken back to the Great Scoring Drought of 2010-2017. Leonard’s 27 goals are more than his first two seasons combined, and his upside has inspired hope of a Hockey East title and a second Hobey Baker winner in as many years.
It’s a far cry from Jan. 25, when Leonard was listed as a healthy scratch against UNH. On WHMP’s pregame show last week, Carvel told Brock Hines that Leonard hadn’t been doing enough away from the puck, which would be like Miller Huggins saying he benched Babe Ruth for not bunting.
Leonard went scoreless his next two games, but lately he’s been on a man-against-boys tear with 10 goals in five games.
After the Hockey East playoffs, the Minutemen will compete in the NCAA tournament, and how they fare will largely depend on the goaltending. Whomever Carvel chooses to put between the pipes — be it Murray or Lindberg — he’ll swear it’s a blessing and pray it won’t be a curse.
SQUIBBERS: AIC hockey coach Eric Lang is the front runner to succeed Kevin Sneddon at UVM, as per Adam Wodon of the College Hockey News. … Instead of trading him to the Dodgers for three no-names, it would have been better to trade Mookie Betts to the Giants for Mike Yastrzemski. … Either Chris Sale’s pneumonia spread to his elbow, or the Red Sox don’t like to tell the whole truth. “Chris is going to be healthy in 2020, he feels great,” Red Sox asst. GM Brian O’Halloran told the MLB Network two months ago. … Matt Youmans reported in the Post this week that the William Hill Sportsbook lists Tom Brady at 1-to-2 ($150 to make $100) he’s back in Foxborough. … Greenfield’s Todd Boynton flew to Miami on Wednesday to watch the Bruins play the Panthers. The former Lunt Silver netminder arrived a day early to get some rays and find a cheap beer and pizza joint. … Diamondbacks infielder Eduardo Escobar has ailurophobia, a fear of cats, reports arizonasports.com. Last season, he bolted out of the dugout when teammate David Peralta showed up with a black cat (turned out to be fake). … Others can better relate to Tom Suchanek’s tale from when he was in the minors and someone put a dead rattlesnake in Cliff Johnson’s locker. … Boston’s $6 million free agent southpaw Martin Perez gave up six runs (one earned) in two-thirds of an inning against the Yankees on Tuesday. … The Vegas Golden Knights are building a 6,000-seat arena in Henderson to house the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage. They purchased the franchise last month, and the team will play at the Orleans Hotel and Casino until the new rink is ready. … Shohei Ohtani is expected to make his first start for the Angels in mid-May, and Joe Maddon plans to let him hit for himself.… John Leonard’s brother, Ryan, had hat tricks in 7-4 and 6-1 victories for Pope Francis “against a good Catholic Memorial team,” reports our Springfield insider. … Nice move by UMass football coach Walt Bell to hire Jim Reid, who will begin work as a defensive analyst after his BC contract expires at the end of the month. Reid’s mellowed since his grad assistant days in Amherst when he’d run around the field pounding his chest in a gorilla costume.
Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for four decades in the Pioneer Valley.