Greg Carvel has a request for UMass’ student population: Come to the Mullins Center for the last two UMass hockey games of the regular season.
The Minutemen, ranked No. 10 in the country, are tied for first place in Hockey East with UMass Lowell at 37 points. Their last two home games come when they host No. 20 UConn at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and close the regular season against Boston College on March 5. UMass is offering a free pair of sunglasses to the first 500 students in the door against the Huskies.
“The last couple games hasn’t been a great turnout,” the UMass head coach said at his Tuesday media availability, completely unprompted. “And I hope that we can count on the student body and the community to come out and cheer the team on. Let’s come out and support the teams that win.”
Students before Saturday night’s game: ðŸ˜
Students after Saturday nights game: 😎
FREE Flagship sunglasses for the first 500 students this weekend as we take on UConn in a top-20 matchup! Doors open at 6:00 p.m.#NewMass x #Flagship🚩 pic.twitter.com/YZ4aVHFks2
— UMass Hockey (@UMassHockey) February 15, 2022
UMass (16-9-2, 11-5-2 Hockey East) ranks 14th out of 59 college hockey teams averaging 4,289 fans per game. That’s second in the conference behind the River Hawks.
But the Mullins Center capacity is 8,373, so it has only been 51.2 percent full this season. That figure ranks 38th and is just the sixth-highest mark in the league, behind BC (ninth in Hockey East), Boston University (tied for third), New Hampshire (eighth), Maine (last), Vermont (10th), Lowell and Providence (seventh).
Students aren’t entirely responsible for the attendance figure, obviously, that falls on the general public and other UMass hockey fans, as well. However, the student body showed earlier this season against the Terriers that they can nearly fill the Mullins Center on their own. The “student section” spilled out into 70 percent of the arena when UMass hosted BU on Jan. 25, the first game with students back on campus after winter break.
“We have two home games left and we are fighting for first place,” Carvel said. “When we have students in the crowd, it makes a huge factor.”
The game against UConn would be an ideal place to start. The Huskies are tied for third in Hockey East and have won seven of their past eight games. The only loss in that stretch was against then-No. 2 Quinnipiac.
UConn (16-11, 9-6) was picked sixth in the conference’s preseason poll. It’s just the second time the Huskies have been ranked after also cracking the top 20 last year.
“I’m a little bit surprised in some ways, but some ways not. They’ve been a really solid team the last couple of years. They’re big and play heavy and have a good skill level,” Carvel said. “We haven’t had to think about them all year until now. I just watched them manhandle BC. They look like a good team, very deserving.”
Senior forward Jachym Kondelik ranks sixth in Hockey East with 26 points.
The Huskies played a challenging nonconference schedule and emerged stronger for it. They lost two games at Ohio State and also faced Harvard and Quinnipiac. UConn has beaten BU and Northeastern and split two games with Lowell.
“They’ve got a real understanding of what their recruiting niche is and their identity. We’ve not played well against them on the road. We’ve had a lot of success at home. We haven’t played well on the road,” Carvel said. “It did kind of sneak up on us that if one of the two teams sweeps this weekend it puts them in a pretty good spot to to win the regular season championship.”
UMass controls its own destiny for the title. It has two more games left than Lowell, so if the Minutemen win out they will claim their second regular-season conference title.
The Huskies, meanwhile, could leapfrog UMass with a split and gain the inside track for the championship. It’s a position the Minutemen have grown accustomed to over the past few seasons battling atop the conference.
“We’re getting ready for playoff hockey. We’ve been here before,” UMass forward Anthony Del Gaizo said. “We like to go into the playoffs on a little bit of a run. We have a stretch here where we can do that.”
INJURY UPDATE – UMass hopes to have forward Cal Kiefiuk back after he injured himself in the series opener against Maine last Friday. He has been day to day this week and “I haven’t seen him today,” Carvel said Tuesday.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.