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The Season at a Glance

by surferben182

To quell the vicious attacks I have been going through at every home game from other writers *cough Derek*, I have decided to update the fans on where the Mass Attack sits in their season so far.

Here are the current standings:

With the least amount of in-conference games, the minutemen are actually in a good place considering the shaky start. We sit within the playoff bracket, one win behind Northeastern, with 4 games in hand. Now I think that the term “must-win” gets thrown around a little too much since in Hockey East, every game is a must-win to do well, but here I go anyways.

We have at least one game in hand against every other team and in some cases, 5 games in hand. This leverage could easily skyrocket us in the rankings. The way I see it, winning against Maine is going to be a crucial step in setting ourselves up for the post season.

Now, let’s look at who is likely to lead us to our post season. It starts with Michael Pereira who is +9 on the season and leads the team in scoring with 7 goals and 6 assists.  Another key player is Adam Phillips, who despite only having 8 shots on goal, has 3 Goals and two of them are game winning. Paul Dainton has also been playing well of late and his stats have started to come back up from their lows earlier this season. He is now at a .915 save % and has a GAA of 2.87.

We really need to see more results from Brian Keane in the next few Hockey East games. He has played in 11 games this season, has an assist to his name, but also a -4 rating. This might have been acceptable when almost everyone on the team had a negative +/-, but now that the team has started to put the puck in the net on a more consistent basis, we need our seniors to start pulling their weight a little more.

Another player who is completely slacking of late is Michael Marcou. Marcou wears an A on his sweater, but also carries a -5 rating as a defenseman. He does have 7 points, 2 of those goals, but some of his shots of late have been very wild and maybe he should continue the family tradition of being the playmaker, rather than the goal scorer.

All in all we finally have a team that we do not have to cringe thinking about. As fans, it looks like we can move past the loss to Army and move on to bigger and more important games that will actually count for us. We sit at 45 in the RPI (http://siouxsports.com/hockey/rankings/rpi/), which is much better than the 54 we were in not too long ago.

Here are the upcoming games as we look into the break:

At Maine 12/12 4:00

At Wisconsin 12/30, 12/31 7:00 Central

vs. Northeastern 1/7 7:00

vs. New Hampshire 1/8 7:00

We could count the two at Wisconsin’s as throwaways, practice, or momentum games, since our chances of getting an NCAA bid this season without winning Hockey East is slim to none. But the upcoming games against Maine, Northeastern and New Hampshire will be very important to finishing the season strong.

I also don’t think we can have a second half meltdown since there isn’t all that much to melt….

~Ben (Flag Guy)

Hockey East Quarterfinals Game One

by surferben182

Well, no, we didn’t win. But we did put the Eagles on their toes. UMass is now do-or-die. If they loose tonight, they are out of the hockey east playoffs, and they loose any small hope to getting an NCAA bid.

Lets look at where they stand right now:

In the series with BC UMass is trailing 1-0 out of 3 games. In the pairwise, UMass is ranked 17. The pairwise determines the 16 teams that make the playoffs. So you have to figure that to be a consideration you have to be at least top 16. Well after Niagara had a huge upset last night against Bemidji State, We now know that there is one less spot available to us Since the winner of the Niagara-Alabama Huntsville game will get an automatic bid.

So where does this leave UMass? We need to win tonight, and then depending on the other scores around, we will probably have to win tomorrow night as well.

UMass seemed to be outplayed in every aspect of the game early on. BC was dominating the scoreboard, and UMass was never leading the game. Going into the locker room after two periods, UMass trailed 6-3. I want to know what was said in the locker room because out of nowhere, UMass scores not one, but two goals in the first minute of the third period to bring it to a 6-5 hockey game. We had a game.

The excitement continued throughout the rest of the third. UMass held BC to 6 goals, but had trouble finding one more. Dainton was pulled with 1:27 left, giving UMass a 6-5 skating advantage, but we just couldn’t keep the puck. BC had a breakaway, No UMass players, no goalie, just him a puck and a net, but he couldn’t catch up to the puck, resulting in an awkward angle shot that missed. UMass had one last drive.

At the buzzer, Martin Nolet fires a shot from the blue line into traffic, and BC goalie Milner (who played extremely well) covered it up to end the game.

So, yes we lost. And yes, it would have been great to have won, but what we need is to carry that momentum of the third period into this game. We need to stay out of the penalty box (BC was 3/4 on the PP and another goal came seconds after one of the power plays ended).

This could be the last game of the season tonight, so it is time to bring it all onto the ice. There is no point to playing half-ass, there is no tomorrow if we loose. It’s now. BC now sees the pressure that we can put. Their normal starting goalie, Muse, is recovering from an injury and the coaches did not think he was 100% yesterday. We need to breakdown Parker Milner, score early, and have BC trailing for once.

Side note to any BC fans reading this post: Thank you so much for your tax dollars. paying $15,000 to go to school is really nice. And a lot of us pay even less than that. If you cheer “state school” at us, we do not take that as an insult. We are proud of our school. We know the odds are stacked way against us, but we still come out cheering for our team, after all, this could be the last time our seniors ever put on a University of Massachusetts uniform.

side note 2: Yesterday was my birthday. UMass did not win. UMass: now you owe me two. Let’s start with tonight.

Ben (flag guy).

Oh and if anyone was wondering why the flag was not waving from the student section but being held instead: BC won’t let me in with the flag pole because I obstruct views. Just so everyone knows.

GO UMASS.

Important Updates to Hockey East Play

by surferben182

First, if you haven’t read mark anderson’s post, see below for a complete analysis on what the playoff situation is going up to game one of the Merrimack Game.

Some recent updates of changed hockey east since this post.

First, Vermont (the maple loving hippies) have dismissed one of their better players Milo (I know, I know, we were all hoping for stacey, but think of it this way: we can still sing to stacey). Milo who had 26 points last season and helped drive Vermont to the quarterfinals. The coaching staff thinks that it will be better for the team if he were not there. See the full article here: http://www.uscho.com/news/college-hockey/id,18136/VermontDismissesMilo.html

Even better than Vermont giving Milo the boot, is the Update to Boston University’s Corey Trivino. Trivino has played in all 28 BU games thus far, and is a sophomore with 15 points. During last weekend’s 5-2 win against Maine, Trivino was injured. He will be out for the rest of the season according to the USCHO article.

What does this mean for UMass? We are currently tied with BU for fourth place, and BU owns the tie breaker. We need BU to either get into third place, or drop down to fifth since UMass does not fair well in the Agganis Arena. BU faces Providence this weekend for a home-and-home series. PC has already beaten BU once this season at home.

Vermont is hanging onto 8th place with 19 points, two points above Merrimack. MC has seen the light at the end of the tunnel that is making the playoffs. They need a mere 2 points (since they own the tie-breaker with VT) to make the final seed of the playoffs.

UMass and MC play a home-and-home this weekend, starting in North Andover, and finishing with senior night at the Mullins Center. We can be sure that with Merrimack on a roll, and with a solid hope at a playoff run, that they will be fighting hard for a win.

But don’t count UMass out. The offense came back during game two of the Northeastern series. Yes, they did score 6 goals on us, so defense is still not all there, but most of that had to do with a ton of penalties. UMass was constantly on the penalty kill, and were tired. Despite that, Ortiz had a Shorthanded goal from Wellman in the third, as well as a goal from Michael Marcou and a goal from Danny Hobbs.

UMass has lost 3 in a row, and 5 of their last 6. They almost ousted themselves from the NCAA playoffs, and are clinging onto hope for a home playoff spot. Their fate is no longer 100% in their hands, but loosing is not an option anymore. It was do or die last weekend with northeastern, and UMass should now be in full crisis mode. 10 points are up for grabs, and boy do we need them.

I will be in attendance at the Lawler arena where Merrimack seems to play extremely well being 10-2-0. UMass has defeated Merrimack 4-1 earlier in the season. For updates on the game, please follow UMass Hockey on Facebook where I will try to post the UMass goals and score updates.

Keep the faith. Come to Saturday’s game and help thank the seniors for their dedication to the team and our school, and sign up for the bus trip to Boston College: 20$ (more details on the facebook page).

~Ben (Flag Guy)

Thoughts from AFormerSam

by surferben182

Mark Anderson, a UMass alum and former mascot for our university has sent me an interesting post:
22 games played, 11-11-0, 22 points.
With the preseason projections, not many of you would be disappointed if I told you that on Valentines Day, UM would be tied for 4th place, and just 4 points out of second. After the blistering start to this season, however, it’s time to get serious. This team had a phenomenal opportunity when the calendar turned to 2010, sitting at 6-4, towards the top of the HE rankings. Since then, the team has gone 5-7-0, falling into a tie for fourth. Realistically, it feels worse than that, and mathematically this team is in 5th, as not only do 3 of the 4 teams ahead of them hold the tiebreaker (including BU who is currently tied with UM, and with ME to be determined), everyone in HE also has a game in hand to UM. Having one more game played then every team in HE is not advantageous towards getting a home playoff series, especially when you are on the bubble. Crucial can’t really describe every single game left on this schedule, be it Merrimack, Maine, or BC.

Looking at the playoffs mathematically, the only sure thing is that any eight of the 10 teams can make the playoffs. Yes, even Providence is still alive, and statistically, UNH could end up outside of the playoffs. If the playoffs started today however, UM would get to travel down the pike, and play at Agganis. I think everyone would agree with me when I say that I do not want to see UM play at BU, ever again.

NU, UNH, BU, and BC all hold the tiebreaker over UM. Um does hold the tiebreaker on Lowell, PC, and UVM. UM is set to own the tiebreaker with ME and MC by winning 1 of their next two vs. Maine, and 1 of their next two vs. Merrimack. Weekend splits however are not acceptable. Merrimack weekend is a must sweep, especially given BU’s home and home with Providence, the team that UM could not sweep losing at home on Halloween.

MC’s numbers are not that bad with a GF-GA at 62-68, eerily similar to those of UM (61-72). I don’t care about the “typical second half slump”, or the fact that MC has scored more, and allowed less in HE play than UM. UM SHOULD sweep MC, and they need to in order to have any hope of playing at home in the first round. I’ll say it later, but all of the points are moot if UM does not sweep Merrimack weekend.

After this weekend, there are a number of different possibilities, including one where BC, ME, BU, and UM are all tied for second with 26 points. With the game in hand that everyone else holds, and the tiebreaker scenario, UM would STILL be on the outside looking in for a home playoff game.

So what should you be looking at on the out of town scoreboard this weekend? A lot of scenarios here, but before we even look out of town, you have to look no farther then the home and home with Merrimack. Without a sweep, the points I bring up below are moot. If UM comes away with anything less than 4 points from this weekend, the quest to play at The Bill in the playoffs is going to be in the hands of other teams collapsing. With that thought, let’s leave Amherst for a bit, and see what we have. The biggest games are going to be BU and PC. BU lost 3-1 at PC earlier this year, so PC has to have at least SOME mojo heading into this weekend. I still expect BU to sweep this weekend, as PC has won two games since Thanksgiving. It would be a huge victory for UM even if PC can manage a single point with a tie in one of two games. A PC win would be amazing. A PC sweep, and there would be cause to riot in Southwest. Next up, UVM will be traveling to play two at UNH. In reality, UNH has all but secured home ice, and I would much rather see UNH sweep, all but ending UVMs chances to overtake UM. Also up north, Lowell travels for two games AT ME. Lowell does have a game in hand to UM, but UM holds the tiebreaker. ME has a knack for collapsing in the last few weekends (WILLLLLLLLSONNNNNN) of HE play recently, and although it would bring them into the home ice discussion, especially with a weekend PC series up next (Looks like PC may become my favorite team for the next three weeks), a Lowell sweep would be great. A trip to eastern Mass brings up the BC/NU series. I may be in the minority here, but once again, with the sweep of MC being the parameters for this entire discussion, I would prefer to see BC sweep NU. Like I discussed with UNH above, I would prefer if BC could win out (of course minus one game later this month). Obviously nothing can be this easy, as BC and UNH play each other in the last weekend of HE play. If and when we get to that part of the season, we can deal with rooting allegiances then.

My gut instinct right now, is that UNH, BC, and BU will be the 1-3 seeds in the HE playoffs, with BC holding a slight edge over BU for the #2 seed. Looking ahead is never a good thing, but in the blog world, I will do a bit of that. Similar to the 06-07 season, where a last weekend series with Maine determined home ice and the fourth seed, history could repeat itself again. There will be a dogfight for the fourth seed, between UM, UML, NU, and ME. I wouldn’t be surprised to see UVM step into the discussion, but they have arguably the toughest remaining schedule with two games AT UNH, two games AT UML, and two games vs. BU. I hope to have a reason to add some playoff scenarios in the upcoming weeks. For now, will the real UMass hockey team please stand up? If you are going to lay down, I’d just prefer you do it this weekend, so our hopes and expectations for a home playoff game can be crushed quickly.

The quest for the 4 seed is on, and it begins this weekend with a home and home vs. Merrimack. Show some love to your seniors, for what could be their last home game Saturday night (Senior Night Even Page Here), and if you happen to be in eastern Mass, take a trip up to the dump at MC on Friday night (Game At Lawler event page here) to support this team.

Words by Mark Anderson

Posted By Ben

UMass at NEU recap

by surferben182

Well, you can’t blame this weekend on lack of effort. Despite being down 5-1, UMass was able to get two goals in the third period in tonight’s game against Northeastern.

Northeastern’s Robbie Vrolyk got it going 5 minutes into the first period. With the puck behind the net, Drew Daniels threw it out front where it was shot in by Vrolyk. UMass was able to answer with Michael Marcou getting his seventh collegiate goal from Lecomte and Langeraap at 16:39.

Northeastern netted 2 goals in the second. The first came on a power play after Casey Wellman was called for Contact to the Head High Sticking. The second goal came in the middle of the frame on even strength.

James Marcou started the third with a tripping call, and Northeastern was able to capitalize with 0:02 left in the power play. Then, on a 4-on-4, NEU netted another one. UMass wasn’t done as James Marcou’s shot bounced off Rawlings and Danny Hobbs was able to put it home. Northeastern got a PP goal to get the 6-point touchdown (or two field goals). The final goal was scored by Will Ortiz from Casey Wellman on a shorthanded breakaway with 5 minutes left in the third.

As much as the effort was there, the discipline was not. UMass could not seem to stay out of the box with 11 penalties for 33 minutes. Northeastern had 9 penalties for 18 minutes, and was able to capitalize on 3/9 power plays.

UMass’ penalties ultimately cost them the game as they were constantly on the defensive. The minutes included some bad penalties (too many men on the ice in the first, a bench minor in the third, and fighting with a game disqualification, halfway through the third).

The bench minor came after a tripping call on James Marcou, followed by a hitting after the whistle call on Casey Wellman. Toot was upset with the calls and was trying to talk to the refs, who would not respond. He continued screaming, which drew the bench minor.

Despite all of this, I was able to leave the arena with my head held extremely high. UMass played a great game despite what the scoreboard might say. They came out and played with a lot of effort and kept working hard throughout the third period. It was a fun game to watch, and there was a lot of great playing by UMass.

Some other key points to the game were that the NEU pep band wasn’t there. The band gets quite annoying when they continue to play after the puck drops. Also, the plastic horn was missing in the student section. Maybe Northeastern got wind that they violate NCAA regulations? The horn arguably was replaced with a giant, hick-sized triangle that could bring the country redneck out of any Northeastern fan. (Also, I felt like it was callin’ ya’ll fans t’ dinnah!)

UMass currently sits in 4th place (tied with Boston University).  However, BU has a game in hand, giving them the edge on UMass. At this time, we are sitting in 15th place in the USCHO Pairwise rankings.

What does that mean for us? Next weekend we’ve got to sweep Merrimack. They’re coming off a win against Vermont, and looking to get into the Hockey East playoffs. We’re also going to need other teams to help us get a good seed in the Hockey East playoffs.  Right now, we would be traveling to Boston to play in the Agganis Arena, where we have lost at twice this year and seem to struggle every time.

Next week is senior night. Come out and support Justin Braun, Dan Meyers, Martin Nolet, Will Ortiz, and Brett Watson, and thank them for their hard work during their time at UMass.

Keep your heads held high, we aren’t out of it yet. Go UMass!

~Ben (Flag Guy)

Heading to Matthews Arena

by surferben182

Tonight the minutemen are heading into Boston to take on the Northeastern Huskies in the Matthews for the second time this season.

The first meeting between the teams had Paul Dainton vs. NEU backup goalie Mountain. UMass held a 4-0 lead into the 3rd period, where Northeastern was able to tally one on the board. It was quite an exciting game to be at for a UMass fan. UMass dominated play and held the Huskies to 13 shots on net.

Then, last night, the Huskies seemed to come back with a similar style play that gave UMass the edge during the first meeting. NEU dominated the play and forced turnovers. That, combined with great goaltending by freshman Rawlings, gave the Huskies the shutout. UMass played hard, but couldn’t find the back of the net. UMass outshot Northeastern 31-18, and Dan Meyers, despite playing well, gave up two goals.

Tonight, we finish off the series (tied 1-1-0) with Northeastern. The Matthews Arena proved too much for last year’s UMass team during the playoffs after losing in overtime in the third game of the series. This year started with a win, and UMass is in need of a win for sure tonight.

Some notes on the Matthews Arena: watch for falling food as the students, who sit above the general crowd, tend to get antsy.  Also, watch for the horrible starts and stops by the pep band – they just don’t seem to cut off in time. The student section has a plastic horn, in direct violation of NCAA rules, which starts a “GO NU” cheer for them, it gets old fast. And there always seems to be a few megaphones in the student section.

They just renovated the Matthews and it now has a screen in the middle of the ice, which is probably smaller than most flat panels at Best Buy. The seats are also miserable. I found myself needing to stand because if you sit, your knees hit the seat in front of you (even on shorter people). Parking is of course, Boston parking, and the garage next to the Arena is 20$. Find street parking and avoid the hour of traffic after the game gets out just leaving the parking garage.

Please check the UMass Hockey Facebook Page for game updates tonight and Go UMass!

~Ben (Flag Guy)

Let’s Start a Riot (a Riot)

by surferben182

I want to take this moment to discuss the music played at the hockey games. When I heard the title song (“Riot” by Three Days Grace) earlier this season, I thought how ironic it was that a song like that would be playing at UMass. Afterall, the lyrics are “let’s start a riot”

So that got me thinking, can we, as a group of bloggers, fans, and students, list every song that is played during our beloved hockey games?

I’ll start by posting my favorite: “No Limit” by 2Unlimited (the song for the first puck drop of every period)

So please feel free to post your favorite songs and comment on what songs you like and dislike in the comments section and maybe as a blog, we can come up with an ultimate UMass hockey mix.

In other hockey east news, Maine swept UNH, which puts us in 4th place, but a mere 2 points out from second place. We also have two games against Maine (tied for second) at the end of the season and one game against BC (also tied for second) too. What does this mean? Those three games are going to help decide the top 4 spots of Hockey East.

Northeastern is coming up this weekend for White Bright Out Night (rumor has it that the term “whiteout” is trademarked). I will also be going to the game at Northeastern, so to any fans considering the journey, they usually put visiting fans in section 23, and I might request it since it ended up being primarily UMass last game.

And finally, the pot-o-beans is tonight. I was looking forward to watching NEU play Harvard, but apparently NESN doesn’t think the game is going to be big enough to broadcast. So I will wait for the 8:00 BU BC matchup. I am thinking that a BU victory would help UMass more since BC is doing better in the Pairwise, and a BC loss might move UMass up. So GO BU? (can they both lose? is that possible?) or at least BU should try to take out Muse and every other BC player so we can have an easier time when we venture out of the quiet comfort of the Mullins and move to the Conte Forum where the Superfrauds will outnumber us. Ugh.

But we will revamp the BC hate later. Right now lets climb the NEU goalie Mountain (who was playing during the first 4-1 victory at Matthews earlier this season) and start the Northeastern (girls are husky) hate.

Go UMass!

~Ben

Are you ready for some football!

by surferben182

Ok fans lets talk about football for a minute here. And by football, I mean football scores in Hockey.

UMass now has 4 games (and rather recent ones) where teams have scored 6 or 7 goals on us.  The touchdown is one thing, but the extra point is the icing on the cake.  We thankfully haven’t had any two point conversions, which is good becasue 8 goals against in a single game would be a lot to swallow.

I would love to say that Dainton had a bad game, but he didn’t have anything to do with the three goals after he was pulled.

So after the first frame, UMass trailed 4-0.  I have to ask the fans: WHY DID YOU LEAVE? So many fans left after the first. If you were there for a UMass blowout, you came to the wrong game, come to Niagra next time.  This is BC. We tried to make it clear that it was the closest matchup of the season. If you were there just for T-Shirts, then please don’t bother coming next time.

The fact that so many different people were trying to get involved in the cheering and yet the crowd as a whole remained silent says a lot about our fans.  Are we only fair weather fans? I would like to point out that some of the most fun games of this season haven’t been against BC or BU, but Merrimack, Providence, and more importantly away games.

What our team needed tonight was support.  They are trying to accelerate themselves into the Hockey East Playoffs (which, by the way, if we win, guarantees us a spot in the NCAA tournament).  We also had number 7 in the Pairwise going into that game, which would have given us a number 2 seed for the NCAA playoffs.

Now we are looking at 14 in the pairwise and third place in Hockey East. We need to rally back as an organization and look onto the next games. We have a home and home against Northeastern next weekend.  The last game against northeastern, we won 4-1 and held them to their season low shots on goal.  Then we take on Merrimack. Merrimack hasn’t had the best season so far and we were able to play well against them in the Mullins before winter break.

So we need fan support, come out to these games even if there aren’t T-shirts, cheer loud and let’s try to get UMass some national coverage as a hockey school.

~Ben (Flag Guy)

Also, having sat through 3/4 of the games with 6+ goals against, the wins afterward are so much better. I’m just saying.