MANCHESTER, N.H. — Forward Lewis Zerter-Gossage was asked about the success of Harvard’s power play and began his response by joking that it helped to have Adam Fox on the unit.
It was a similar response any UMass player could have given about its own success with the man advantage, just substituting Cale Makar’s name for Fox’s. Both players have proven to be among the best in college hockey this year and both are deservedly among the 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award. As similar as their stats might be on paper, Harvard coach Ted Donato said they are different except for one major similarity.
“The similarity is that they’re both the straw that stirs the drink for both teams,” Donato said. “There’s similarities in the sense that when each team needs a guy to step up in a big moment, those are the two guys the teams are looking towards.”
Both Fox and Makar typically log the most ice time for each team and play in every situation, but they seem to be at their best on the man advantage. Makar has mostly worked as the quarterback of the Minutemen’s attack, not scoring a power-play goal until Feb. 28 at Merrimack after coach Greg Carvel switched his position within the system. Fox has tallied four times on the power play to go along with 19 assists, more than the 14 power-play points Makar has this season.
Carvel has experience playing against a Harvard team with a dynamic difference-maker. His last game as coach at St. Lawrence was a 2-1 overtime loss to the Crimson in the 2016 ECAC semifinals when current New York Ranger Jimmy Vesey scored the game’s first goal and then blasted a shot off Kyle Criscuolo’s facemask in overtime for the win. He said Fox is a similar player in how much he can affect the game and said trying to contain him will be a tall task but an important one for the Minutemen.
“Yeah, he’s on the ice all the time,” Carvel said Tuesday. “He might have a point or two more than Cale. We’ve watched a number of their games here over the last couple of days and he’s just really, really effective. If you don’t neutralize him, he’s going to be a big factor in the game.”
The differences between the two are more about the style of game the two play. Makar is not afraid to throw around his 6-foot, 192-pound frame and be physical. His toughness is an often overlooked element to his game, but something New Hampshire coach Mike Souza pointed out several times when talking about Makar leading into the Hockey East quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, Donato said Fox is a little more deceptive in clearing space for himself and his teammates.
SPECIAL TEAMS — Friday’s matchup features the two best power plays in college hockey this season. Harvard’s 28.8 percent success rate barely edges out the Minutemen’s 28.7 percent rate, but the difference is on the penalty kill. UMass is one of two teams in the country with both special teams units ranked in the top five nationally. The Minutemen kill off 87.1 percent of penalties – fourth-best rate in the country – but the Crimson kill off just 77.2 percent – ranked 49th out of 60 teams.
BENCH EXPERIENCE — Although the UMass players don’t have experience in the NCAA Tournament, the coaches behind the bench have been in this position plenty of times before.
Carvel was an assistant coach on two teams that made the Stanley Cup Finals during his 12-year career coaching in the NHL. Associate head coach Ben Barr was an assistant coach in two NCAA Tournament appearances and assistant coach Jared DeMichiel was the starting goaltender during RIT’s run to the Frozen Four in 2010.
It is hard to translate that experience to the players. Carvel found that out the hard way last week when he was comfortable on the bench at TD Garden, where he’s been dozens of times before, but the players were nervous in the first 10 minutes. He said there isn’t much he can say to impart wisdom into the players and they just need to experience it for themselves.
“It’s one of those things you have to go through to get the experience,” Carvel said. “The message this week is you guys have had an unbelievable year, you know what makes you good, just go out and have fun and play hard. You know what you can do.”
ROCK FIGHT — The other regional semifinal in Manchester features Clarkson and Notre Dame. Both teams are known for their goaltending with the Fighting Irish boasting reigning Richter Award winner Cale Morris between the pipes.