The year before Greg Carvel took over as head coach of the UMass hockey team, the Minutemen were 8-24-4 overall and were a mere 2-16-4 in the Hockey East. They hadn’t had a winning record in nine years, consistently sitting at the bottom of the league standings.
Carvel’s first year looked more of the same, with UMass finishing 5-29-2 in the 2016-17 season, 2-19-1 in the conference.
The team took strides in year two and we all know what happened in his third year. That’s when Carvel led the Minutemen all the way to the national title game.
Already having a run at the national level, the next thing on the list for Carvel was a Hockey East title, one he accomplished Saturday night with UMass’ 1-0 win over UMass Lowell at the Mullins Center.
The win was the first Hockey East title in program history, with Carvel pulling off the accomplishment in just his fifth year with the school.
The win earned the Minutemen the No. 2 seed in the Bridgeport Region of the NCAA Tournament. UMass is in action Friday against Lake Superior State (6:30 p.m., ESPNU).
“We really focused on three things this year,” Carvel said during ESPN’s selection show on Sunday. “We wanted to be a very good defensive team, we wanted to be more disciplined — by the end of the year we had the least penalized team in our league — and we wanted our special teams to be very good this year and we finished at the top of the league in that stat as well.”
It’s clear the Minutemen took that message to heart. They allowed a conference-low 1.91 goals-per-game against, had the top penalty kill percentage of 91.1 and also had the top special teams net of plus-15.
That stout defense certainly was a factor in the win Saturday. After Jake Gaudet’s bank shot off River Hawk goalie Henry Welsch dribbled into the net to put UMass up 1-0 just four minutes into the game, the Minutemen locked in on the defensive end to secure the shutout.
The surging Lowell offense — which entered coming off wins over Hockey East powerhouses Boston University and Boston College — had multiple chances late but the UMass defense stood tall, coming up with multiple blocked shots late to keep the River Hawks off the scoreboard.
More importantly, UMass always looked composed during the championship game, which is a direct reflection of their coach.
The Minutemen now enter the NCAA Tournament with momentum, but more importantly than that, experience. Having played on the big stage just two years ago, many players are familiar with the setting and environment, something that wasn’t the case last time around.
“Experience is huge,” Carvel said on ESPN Sunday. “You could tell when we went to the Frozen Four that Duluth had been there three years in a row. They knew exactly how to handle every situation while we were feeling our way through it. Having the experience in the Hockey East playoffs helped us this year and hopefully we can make a run in the NCAA like we did two years ago.”
While Carvel can use the fact his team got a No. 2 seed as motivation, the draw is very favorable. Lake Superior State (yes, that’s the name of a real college) is making its first tournament appearance since 1996, securing an automatic bid after winning the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) Championship on Saturday.
On ESPN, Carvel said he didn’t know much about them other than they play a pesky style which in theory would match up well with the physical brand of hockey UMass plays.
If they’re able to advance, they’d take on the winner of No. 1 Wisconsin and No. 4 Bemidji State, another WCHA team. Another Frozen Four run is in the cards for the Minutemen, something I don’t think anyone would have dreamed of five years ago, but that’s what happens when you hire the right guy for the job.
As long as Carvel is in Amherst, the expectations will remain high and I fully expect him to keep delivering.
Thomas Johnston is a sports reporter for the Recorder and a UMass alum. He can be reached at tjohnston@recorder.com.