AMHERST – The University of Denver holds a special place in UMass hockey history.
Marc Del Gaizo unleashed a slapshot in overtime of the 2019 Frozen Four to send the Minutemen to their first national championship game in an instant classic that kept the then-greatest season in program history alive.
“We’ve scored some big goals and played in big situations, but that goal, for whatever reason, maybe because it’s overtime and there were actual fans in the building compared to maybe (Garrett) Wait’s overtime goal (against Minnesota Duluth in 2021) and it took us to a stratosphere that we hadn’t been to,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said. “I still – actually I just watched it (Tuesday) morning as we were preparing for Denver and using that clip as an example of – to me it was also on a personal level – that was a system beating a system as opposed to any individual play. That rings up there as well as one of the most memorable.”
But as the 13th-ranked Minutemen prepare to host Denver at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday – the No. 1-ranked, defending national champion Pioneers – it’s just that, a memory. Denver beat UMass in two games in Colorado during the 2019-2020 season and was supposed to come to the Mullins Center the following season before the COVID-19 pandemic limited college hockey teams to conference-only games.
Only one player remains from either team from the 2019 national semifinal: Denver senior defenseman Kyle Mayhew, who is in his fifth season of eligibility due to the NCAA’s blanket COVID-19 waiver. There are five Pioneers who remain from the Jan. 2020 series: goalie Magnus Chrona, forward Brett Edwards, defenseman Lane Krenzen, defenseman Justin Lee and Mayhew.
UMass retained three players with experience against Denver: its leadership group of seniors Eric Faith, Cal Kiefiuk and Reed Lebster.
“We know they’re gonna be a good team. It’s been a couple of years. Obviously, we have a whole different team than we had then and they have a whole different team, but I think some of the systems will probably be the same,” Kiefiuk said. “But we’re going to focus on ourselves and what we need to do. That’s what makes us successful is when we focus on ourselves and focus on our game.”
UMass (0-0-1) needed until the third period in its opener against AIC to find its game. That will be too late against Denver (2-0). The Pioneers poured in eight goals in their first two games – wins against Notre Dame and Maine at home – and scored six times in the first two periods.
“I don’t feel like I have to worry about us not being ready to play Denver,” Carvel said.
The Pioneers seemed to have found a cure to the post championship hangover that UMass needed a few weeks to shake last season. Perhaps winning nine national titles teaches a program the cure.
“Last year, there was concern of the hangover and complacency being national champions and I felt there was some of that even though we talked about it, it took us a while to get going last year,” Carvel said. “We went through the summer, and I thought we handled it really well. We weren’t national champions, but we are Hockey East defending champions. I don’t feel any kind of complacency.”
For the first time in more than a year, the Minutemen are aiming at the target rather than wearing it.
“God-damn, it feels good to be the underdog,” Carvel said. “It’s a lot easier to get excited for games when you’re the underdog as opposed to the – it’s not really pressure – you’re gonna get other teams’ best all the time. We’ve had a very good little history with Denver over the last couple of years, and I don’t expect them to come in here and take us lightly.”
Denver leads the all-time series 5-1, but that one win was one to remember.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.