All tuned up. At least, the UMass hockey team better be.
The Minutemen emerged from their two-week pause and dismantled Providence with eight goals Tuesday. Now they’ll face the No. 1 team in the nation, Boston College, at 7 p.m. Friday.
“We want to see what we can do here. Tuesday night’s game was a real statement game and we get to follow it up here, this is another statement game,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said. “BC’s proven to be the cream of the crop in our league. This as excited as I’ve been all year to go into a game.”
It’s the second time the two programs will meet as top-10 teams. The Eagles (15-3-1) swept two games in late November, putting away 10 goals in the series.
“BC exposed certain parts of our game. I’m going to use some of the goals they scored against us in the pre-scout to help remind our guys what BC is capable of doing, which is a fast strike offense, which not many teams in college hockey have,” Carvel said.
Ten BC players have at least 10 points led by Marc McLaughlin and Matt Boldy’s 22. No Eagles have hit double-digit goals, but five have at least seven. They lead the nation in scoring at four goals per game.
Because of that offensive depth, Carvel won’t worry about matching UMass’ top line with BC’s. He’s more concerned about keeping the Minutemen’s top defensive pairing, Colin Felix and Marc Del Gaizo, on the ice against threats like Boldy and Alex Newhook.
“They’ve got a team full of NHL prospects up and down their lineup. We don’t go in there worrying about one player. There’s a lot of players you’ve got to worry about,” Carvel said. “We want to make sure the whole crew of them aren’t getting odd man rushes because they’ll put them in the back of the net like they did last time.”
There are 13 NHL draft picks on Boston College’s roster, including goalie Spencer Knight. The sophomore leads Hockey East in goals against per game (1.92), save percentage (.938) and winning percentage (.906). He turned away 60 shots in the teams’ first series.
UMass (12-5-3) didn’t have Del Gaizo for those matchups. The Minutemen were still swapping between Matt Murray and Filip Lindberg in goal. They hadn’t crystallized their hard-nosed defensive identity yet.
“We got swept by them earlier in the year and the guys in the room aren’t happy about that,” Del Gaizo said. “It’s going to be a big statement game for either team heading into the playoffs.”
The Minutemen are the top defensive team in Hockey East, allowing 1.85 goals per game. They also own the conference’s top penalty kill at 91.9 percent.
“We’ve developed and gotten better, BC has too,” Carvel said. “I’m more excited for this challenge than I was in November when I didn’t know what we were. I’ve got a pretty good idea of what we are. Our identity has been solidified. This team’s grown a lot this year. They keep pushing past my expectations.”
In addition to holding the No. 1 spot in the USCHO coaches poll, the Eagles are atop the Hockey East Power Index (a formula the league is using the seed the conference tournament) and in line to play the entire Hockey East Tournament at Kelley Rink inside Conte Forum. UMass sits third (56.01), two points behind No. 2 Boston University (58.38). A win likely won’t push the Minutemen much higher, but it could shake up the final week of the regular season next week and pressure the Eagles to win to retain the top spot. The Terriers will play two games against Merrimack, the league’s eighth seed, this weekend.
“They’re ranked first in our league, and I think we deserve that spot,” UMass junior Bobby Trivigno said of BC. “They took two games from us earlier in the year, so we’re really looking forward to this.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twtiter
@kylegrbwsk.