Category Archives: Hockey

Give Me a Brutal Somerville Summer

by bittym87

Ah, the end of a season, the time of year where we start questioning whether Derek Kellogg really knows what he’s doing, or why we even waste our time on a football program headed by the worst coach in the history of the sport, or…huh? What’s that you say? Optimism, huh?

Let’s get the bad out of the way first: the state of our fine ice hockey team is, as Darrelle Revis might put it, “in total disarray.” Well, maybe not that bad (nothing is), but it’s certainly got us, as drunk Max might put it, “a slightly bit concerned.” We don’t know what will happen with Toot – is this his final season? Does the school have a backup plan if it is? Will he decide he wants to stick around and will the school want him around if so? Are we possibly sort of fucked no matter what?

Look, we love Toot around these parts. His commitment to the Pioneer Valley and the school, his willingness to call out Hockey East’s corrupt officials and his own players alike, his CVS composition notebooks and ridiculous voice, the whole she-bang. But we’re equally torn about whether he’s ever going to be able to bring this program to the “next level.” He’s certainly had a few shining moments in his tenure, those moments being 2004 and 2007, but we’ve now seen three straight one-and-done seasons at the hands of BC. In Toot’s defense, the last of these exits followed a two-game series where UMass thoroughly outplayed the Eagles for two straight games and lost two consecutive snakebitten heartbreakers, with no help from some questionable officiating (although the Minutemen did get away with some things in both games after the damage was already done – proof that make-up calls and non-calls don’t necessarily work out for the team getting them).

A full season post-mortem isn’t really our thing, and we can’t pretend we’d do a better job of it than the three-sided one already did. (Besides, I’m a couple weeks late on that. Deal with it.) But you have to see this year as an improvement. The team won roughly twice as many games, managed not to embarrass itself against the “big three” of BC, BU and Maine, actually won the regular-season series against the Eagles, and did all of this despite virtually zero collegiate goaltending experience coming into the year. What do they lose going into the next year? Two top-liners, Hobbs and Syner, and Mike Marcou, whose single-year evolution from “worst defenseman in the conference” to “actually pretty good most of the time” had to account for at least a couple of wins. Syner is a dynamic player whose absence will be missed, and Hobbs is another Chase Langeraap – a solid player and good scorer who unfortunately never really met his potential due to injuries.

Next year’s team, provided nobody leaves early (note: PLEASE NOBODY LEAVE EARLY) will return that massive sophomore (now junior) class. That means dynamic scorers like Conor Sheary and Mike Pereira, scrappers like Troy Power and Pat Kiley (both of whom played very well down the stretch), and a solid defensive corps that figures to be that much better with another year under their belts. It’s also nice that juniors like Rocco Carzo and Darren Panda-Rowe-nium (aka Darren Rowe-vell) finished the season strong, as this team will need contributions from the seniors and freshmen/sophomores to support that big junior class. It would be great if this KJ Tiefenwerth fellow could step in and provide another scoring option to help fill the void Syner is leaving; I think Hobbs’s gap will be adequately filled by the improvements of the remaining players. And I think Kevin Boyle finally stepped up and earned the starting job by the end of the year. A big problem this year was the lack of a true #1 and the overall inconsistency that resulted among the goalie corps. I’d rather see Boyle be the starter and let Tegs and Mastalerz, if both stick around, compete for the #2 spot.

This will be a big test for the Toot Cahoon era. On paper, this team should be better than 8th place. This team, with two years of mostly close losses under its belt, an exciting freshman scorer coming in, and some actual experience in goal, should have what it takes to compete for a home ice spot. Toot’s due for a year where things get back on track. Both Hockey East and the UMass athletics program itself are at crossroads next year, with football upgrading, basketball finally back, lacrosse competing for a national title, and Notre Dame and (ugh) probably UConn joining Hockey East. The last train might be departing Cahoonaville if this team can’t manage a winning record next year.

End of Season Awards:

Most valuable player: TJ Syner

Barely edged out Mikey Franchise here. TJ will be missed. His speed and tenacity embodied the scrappy mentality of the team in its biggest wins of the season, and of course he led the team in points as well.

Most improved player: Mike Marcou

What can I say? We ate crow like crazy over this guy. Granted, anything would have been an improvement over last year, but it became pretty clear that his struggles last year were injury-related and, healthy this year, he was solid and consistent all year long. Irreplaceable? Eh, I wouldn’t go that far. But good enough that we’ll actually miss him, which was unthinkable a year ago. Big ups to him for proving the haters, i.e. us, wrong. (I will point out that he was my sleeper pick for most improved player earlier this year. So suck it.)

Doug Kublin Memorial Award for Kubitude: Conor Sheary

We’re a bit biased, since Derek is also from Melrose and we’ve befriended Conor’s dad, who Derek used to work with and who is a fantastic man. But Conor was absolutely an everyman for this team, taking faceoffs (and doing a damn good job of it), scoring goals both pretty and gritty, and showing that TJ isn’t the only guy on this team who can absolutely fly at times. So he wins our now yearly award for embodying the Kublin spirit, even if he didn’t exactly fly under the radar with those of us who’re paying attention. We hear he’s a humble kid, too, and we hope that he takes it upon himself to improve his game even further – he and Pereira have “devastating combo” written all over them for next season.

All Hockey East Team:

F: Spencer Abbott, Maine

F: Chris Kreider, BC

F: Brian Flynn, Maine

D: Brian Dumoulin, BC

D: Chad Ruhwedel, Lowell

G: Doug Carr, Lowell

League MVP: Spencer Abbott, Maine

Rookie of the Year: Scott Wilson, Lowell

Coach of the Year: Norm Bazin, Lowell

————————-

I’ll go ahead and break this into two parts, BS Report style. Stay tuned for my basketball wrap-up and overall thoughts, probably later on tonight.

- Max

Mas

by bittym87

Worry no Moore. UMass procrastinated again, but the team handed in its year-long assignment the day before it was due this year.

Tonight, the pressure will be off up in North Andover, thanks to a 5-1 blowout that looked like it was destined to be another late-game classic between these two teams, who have played quite a few nailbiters over the last few seasons  aside from the LAST time we saw “Moorsey” between the pipes. The last two trips to Mullins particularly for the Warriors have been decided by disappointing last-minute goals for the visitors, and when Shawn Bates tied the score early in the third last night, we looked back at the myriad almost-goals for the Minutemen – and the close calls they got away with – and couldn’t help but feel that more heartbreak was a-comin’.

But a funny thing happened. UMass didn’t fold, didn’t fret about what could have or should have been. Instead, they played possibly their finest period of hockey all season long, got monster goals from their senior offensive stars, and, with five minutes left to go and the Freeing of Moore imminent, Mark Dennehy pulled Cannata in desperation. Merrimack’s season, after all, was on the verge of slipping away, their tenuous hold on an at-large bid and home ice against the Black Bears very much at risk.

Two length-of-the-ice empty-netters later, we saw the most beautiful moment of the entire season.

Free at last, free at last, free at last.

I’ve only met Kevin Moore briefly, when he lived with the freshmen during my junior year in the same dorm. But by all accounts, the “Rudy” chants that were started last night were fitting. This kid’s worked his ass off the last few years, juggling all the same responsibilities his teammates do, with nowhere near the glory to show for it. Granted, if UMass was out of the playoff hunt, I’d have no doubt that Toot would’ve given Moore the start last night, because fuck it, why not. But this was a must-win game, something I don’t think all of the students quite understood when they booed Toot’s refusal to pull Boyle in a three-goal game with 2:30 left. But after the second empty-netter, there was no doubt in my mind that Toot would find a way to make it happen. And after a brief scare immediately following that goal, where Boyle was still out there, the first whistle inside of two minutes gave Moore his shot.

I know there’s that very small contingent of us who got to see Kevin Moore play last year in the infamous blowout game at Lawler, and the ovation he got from the 20-or-so UMass fans in attendance was a very cool moment indeed. But it’s hard to top last night. The team deserves props for putting themselves in a position to make it happen, and congrats to Moorsey for earning it. Unreal.

So here’s where things stand now. A loss tonight clinches 8th place, and a likely date with the white-hot Eagles, winners of 10 straight since their earlier malaise, unless they lose to Vermont and BU finishes a sweep of the now-eliminated Huskies. A win, however, sets up interesting scenarios. Lowell plays Providence tonight at Tsongas, and if they win as well, the Minutemen hop into 7th over the Friars. BC is most likely to win the division, though the aforementioned scenario could drop them to 2nd and they’d play UMass anyway. More likely is a BC win/tie and BU win/tie, setting up a date with the Huskies, a team UMass has held multiple-goal leads against three times this season, albeit only earning three points out of those three games. The Minutemen led 3-0 once at Agganis before a meltdown, and won their last trip there. And let’s not forget that the comeback in the first game was largely keyed by contributions from Trivino and Coyle, and the Terriers are also now without Max Nicastro on the blue line. And on top of all else, the Terriers would offer an opponent that isn’t, you know, BC again for the millionth year in a row.

But here’s the most intriguing scenario: UMass win, BC win or tie, BU loss, Lowell win. It’s not at all out of the question, with the Huskies having nothing to lose on senior night against their most hated rival, and with Lowell playing its own senior night against the lackluster Friars. Lowell, much like Merrimack before last night, is just 2-1-3 in their last six, and would also provide the least expensive travel option for yours truly. I have my reasons, obviously, but how sweet would it be after what’s happened this season if UMass ruined Lowell’s magical year? (Although, to be fair, playoff wins vs. ANYONE would be sweet, and if the alternative plotlines are “avenging the last few years against BC” or “beating the team that had the scumbag rapists,” you really can’t go wrong with any of ‘em.)

Of course, any hope of getting not-the-Eagles rests on a win tonight, unless you think Vermont can beat BC tonight (in which case I presume you also think Newt Gingrich might be our next president). The last time UMass took the ice at Lawler was a 2-1 nailbiter that ended with a Merrimack player getting away with the most blatant delay-of-game ever, covering the puck behind the ‘Mack net with his glove for a good 15 seconds. Last night convinced me more than ever that these teams have gone in opposite directions since that game – maybe not as dramatically as we’d hoped, but the Minutemen, at least for the last four games, have outplayed their opponents and in some cases dramatically so, while the league seems to slowly be figuring out Dennehy’s magic.

I keep telling myself this. And then I remember that Lawler/Volpe/University of Sears is an awful awful place in which the Minutemen never ever escape with a win, no matter how good or bad the home team is in that particular season.

So, sigh, bring on the Eagles again, maybe this time will be different.

———–

Oh, also, baskettaball tonight. Walsh will be on-hand at Lawler for the whole game, along obviously with El Triangle (pronounced “tree ON glay”). Matt and I will be live-tweeting on @FightMass from the Rhody Rematch, and if the game’s a blowout we’ll leave at halftime to catch puck drop; otherwise we’re shooting to get up to Merrimack for period 2. Either way, EVERYONE GO TO THE FUCKING BASKETBALL GAME TODAY IT’S THE LAST ONE EVEN THOUGH REALLY IT’S ALMOST ASSURED THAT THERE WILL BE A PLAYOFF GAME HERE TUESDAY. WHICH YOU SHOULD ALSO ATTEND. Either way, this is the real “senior night” so let’s send Big Sean and Daddy Hill off with a 20-win season.

P.S. Let’s go ahead and jump on the “props to the Bench Crew” bandwagon for making #FreeMoore a success. Frankly, Toot doesn’t give a fuck what anyone thinks, but also frankly, there was no chance Moore wasn’t going to play last night if the opportunity arose. But more importantly is that it’s social media outlets like the Bench Crew that get kids excited about games and, gasp, knowledgeable about what’s actually going on, like the student fans at the other nine schools in Hockey East. THIS IS WHAT WE NEED MORE OF.

17 Seconds

by bittym87

It’s been an interesting year for us at Fight Mass. We’ve seen plenty of firsts – first time we’ve seen a UMass hat trick in person (twice!), first time we’ve seen UMass beat Xavier in hoops, first time ANYONE has seen a UMass hockey team blank the hated Eagles.

And in a span of 17 seconds last night, we just might have seen the beginning of another first for us: a Hockey East playoff that excludes the Minutemen.

The Mass Attack thoroughly dominated play last night for roughly 58 minutes, so much so that the inbred flag-waver from New Hampshire situated behind the net by the student section looked like he could hardly watch. Even as the Minutemen fell behind 2-0 on a couple of bad breaks, the shots-on-goal, and the play on the ice to accompany it, were both so outrageously one-sided that UMass’s coming back to tie the game at 2 was more an inevitability than anything else.

But the glee of Hanley’s game-tying goal was short-lived. In a span of 17 seconds, UMass committed two egregious defensive mistakes – the first leading to a two-on-one and the second a head-man pass before the aforementioned yokel had even put down his flag – and just like that, the UMass momentum had crumbled faster than the Old Man in the Mountain. (Oh yes. I went there.)

To their credit, the Minutemen dominated almost every second of the game from there on out, getting within one on a pretty Danny Hobbs goal (!), and even negating a questionable late Guzzo penalty with an aggressive penalty kill that drew an equalizing penalty with about 90 seconds to go. UMass was so dominant on the faceoffs that they were able to pull Boyle for the ensuing offensive-zone faceoff  without even blinking (I would’ve thought they’d at least make sure they had possession first, given the amount of time left and the fact that they had a power play coming).

In the end, it wasn’t enough. One goal short, thanks to a herculean effort from freshman Casey DeSmith. UMass may well have put ten goals past UNH sieve Matt DiGirolomo tonight, the way they were playing and the way DiGi’s season was going. Instead, DeSmith stepped up big-time against the most prolific UMass attack we’ve seen in a long-ass time, and those crazy 5th/6th place scenarios went by the wayside (although Merrimack unexpectedly clobbering Lowell put 5th place officially out of reach anyway). With Northeastern beating Maine in front of the Matthews Arena rubes, the Minutemen no longer have their playoff destiny in their hands.

UMass trails by two points with three to play. A win tonight and a Northeastern loss (which, by the law of averages, would probably be the most likely course of events) would set up the final weekend to determine everything. UMass plays a home-and-home with Merrimack, while the Huskies get one against a BU team embroiled in a rape scandal and dealing with a potentially distracting investigation. BU is almost a lock for home ice, while Merrimack is still fighting for it.

It’ll be a battle no matter what. The team had the fight and desire in them last night, without question, and I don’t think they’re done just yet. But if they lose tonight, we can look back at that 17-second lapse and wonder what might have been for this season.

—

Other sports: basketball plays at Dayton at 6, which they should play on the big screens at the Bill while we wait for hockey (but they won’t). Meanwhile, lacrosse is taking on the #11 Buckeyes out at the Ohio State University. As much as hockey needs the win tonight, it’s a pretty big day for those teams as well. This is one of the last games for lax this year against a ranked team, with a soft second half schedule – so they need to win these games now to make a case when selection day comes. (My roommate, lacrosse writer and noted curmudgeon Kyle Devitte, has agreed to write a UMass lax article for us if the Minutemen make the tourney. So, obviously, the stakes have never been higher.) And for basketball, which I promise to eventually get to, there’s three games left: a likely loss (at Temple), a likely win (home against Rhody), and this big ol’ question mark of a road game against a mediocre Dayton team. A win today likely wraps up a first-round bye and keeps UMass’s ever-so-slim at-large hopes alive. Right now, it probably would take winning out until the A-10 championship game and having two of those wins be against Temple – but damnit, anything is possible. Winning would also help their chances at getting into the NIT (and hopefully with some home games in that). More thoughts on that later.

Maybe.

-Max

Great White Hope

by bittym87

Alright, hold off on the “fire Toot” talk. At least for now.

The maddening inconsistency of the 2011-2012 Massachusetts Minutemen ice hockey team has reached a new level of what-the-fuckery. One does not simply march into Agganis and control the ice for almost the entire 60 minutes against that offense, yet UMass did just that – and proceeded to fall asleep, again, at home to Providence the next night. This weekend, UMass swapped days – they got pasted by the Black Bears on Friday, but held Maine off the board almost entirely last night in Orono save for a highlight-reel goal by noted doucheface Joey Diamond falling on his ass on a wraparound. God we hate Joey Diamond. Everyone knows Triangles are better than Diamonds anyway.

For seemingly the millionth year in a row, UMass has decided to fuck with our patience. Last weekend I was back in “can we move on from Toot yet?” mode. Now, as you can probably guess, I’ve migrated back into glass-half-full territory. UMass holds the eighth and final playoff spot in Hockey East at this point in time, and at least on paper, a very realistic opportunity to hold onto that seed or even move up (more on that in a sec). Call these last couple wins letdowns for BU and Maine all you want, but it’s become abundantly clear that the Minutemen have the ability to win these games – it’s a matter of putting it together on a nightly basis. For all the rumblings about discord between the team and its coach, about lines and playing time, and guys not being mentally tough enough to, oh, not take the first period off every other game, the most important takeaway is that the talent is there. Jack Parker even said so! And when is he ever wrong?

Look, Derek and I witnessed it with our own eyes (more on that later, too). UMass came out on fire in the first, scored on a bad Maine giveaway in the opening minute, and withstood two dangerous Maine power plays. From there, the Minutemen controlled play for the final 40 minutes in much the same way they controlled that BC game, or the pivotal stretches of both BC wins. They have it in them. Why why why why why can’t they do this on a regular basis though?

I kind of liken the Minutemen of the past five years or so to that student who’s smart enough to skirt by but procrastinates like a mofo. (I’m not not saying I’ve been that guy.) The thing is, you can pass exams and ace essays waiting til the last minute to study or write. But what good is it gonna do you if you’re not actually learning? And why put the unnecessary stress on yourself? UMass does the same damn thing. If they could get fired up to play teams like Providence and Northeastern and grab those points early, they could coast into the playoffs and even have a shot at moving up (which shouldn’t be the goal to begin with, but one step at a time here). Instead, yet again, it comes down to the last couple weekends if the Minutemen are gonna give themselves a chance to pull off an upset in the first round. Which, by the way, they’ve proven they could be capable of doing if they can even give themselves that chance.

Technically UMass could finish as high as 5th or as low as 9th. Friday night’s loss officially eliminated the Minutemen from home ice contention, as they now trail Maine by 10 points with 8 points up for grabs. Here’s the standings, and the teams’ remaining schedules:

5. Merrimack 26 pts   @Lowell, vs. Lowell, @UMass, vs. UMass

6. PC 23 pts   vs. BC, @ BC, vs. Lowell, @Lowell

7. UNH  22 pts    @UMass x2, @Maine

8. UMass 18 pts   vs. UNH x2, vs. Merrimack, at Merrimack

9. Northeastern 18 pts   vs. Maine x2, @BU, vs. BU

UMass’s season series with Mack and UNH will be determined in these last two weekends. They’ve lost the breaker to PC and they split 1-1-1 with Northeastern. The second tiebreaker is conference wins, and each team has 7. The third tiebreaker is record vs. the top team in the conference. So UMass holds that if BC is #1, and Northeastern wins it if Lowell is first. UMass is 1-2 against BU and the Huskies lost their only meeting with the Terriers so far. There are three/four-way tie scenarios with 5-8, but they get messy and most of them don’t favor UMass.

Following so far?

So, obviously, the best of all possible timelines is 5th place, which entails UMass sweeping its remaining schedule and Merrimack losing all four. In that scenario, UMass would need PC to finish with less than 3 points in that four-game gauntlet (very possible). If NU and UMass each won out, that first place tiebreaker (Lowell/BC) would come into play again. Also in this scenario, ABC announces it’s pulling Modern Family in exchange for a seven-season run of Community, and Jack Parker and Jerry York are simultaneously trampled by a pack of magical unicorns. Actually, it’s not the most far-fetched thing of all time. Most of it would be in UMass’s hands in sweeping Merrimack, but the other prerequisite (sweeping UNH while Lowell sweeps Mack) could easily happen, and make for a fascinating final weekend.

If UMass sweeps UNH, they’re in good shape. The Minutemen would clinch the tiebreaker, and then all UMass needs is for UNH to lose in Orono on Maine’s senior night, OR take just one point against Merrimack. However, 3 points puts UMass behind the eight-ball still, since it means splitting the season series. UMass then enters the final weekend a point back, and at that point, UNH holds the second tiebreaker of conference wins. (Which sucks, because they’re 0-6 against BU and BC.) Also, please please sweep UNH.

A split and UMass can’t catch the Wildcats unless they sweep Merrimack, again a far less likely scenario. However, Northeastern is still within reach at that point. Maine and BU are both better (and hotter) teams than UNH and Merrimack. UMass and NU play the same number of home/away games (3/1). In this regard, by the way, a win/loss split is much better for UMass than a tie-tie split, thanks to that conference win tiebreaker. Oh, and 0 or 1 points this weekend? That’s gonna put the ball in Northeastern’s court. But it’s important to note that if both UMass AND NU lose all four remaining games, UMass gets in and the Huskies don’t.

Really, it boils down to this: these two games are fucking massive. Lose one or both, and you’re betting on the Minutemen to pull it out of the fire against a team that, while not exactly lighting it up recently, still seems to have their number (not to mention a trip to the Lawler house of horrors). Win both, and both UNH and NU have to step it up against their superior opponents in order to keep UMass out of the playoffs.

It doesn’t need to be pretty. Just get there.

- Max

–

Also…

Derek and I checked the final Hockey East venue off our checklist with our long-awaited visit to Alfond. Of course, in a couple years we’ll have one or two new destinations tacked on as Notre Dame and possibly Mystery Team X (RPI?) enter the Hockey East ranks, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, we’ve finally got enough data to put together a Fight Mass guide to the rinks in our fine conference, and you can look forward to that shortly. Spoilers – Alfond’s gonna rank pretty high on my list. What a fun place.

I’ll get to basketball soon, I swear. Despite the La Salle letdown, Tuesday’s a huge game against Xavier, you should all go, blah blah blah. Oh, and lacrosse is 2-0, and now that I live with someone who knows a little something about the game, I might actually provide some insight this year. Maybe.

Crawl Space

by bittym87

Maybe I’ve been watching too much Breaking Bad lately. (Okay, definitely. I just caught up on four seasons in the last 3 weeks or so.) But the last two weeks of UMass hockey has me feeling like Walter White, down in the crawlspace, alternately screaming and laughing maniacally as it all falls apart. (I won’t spoil anything else here for those who haven’t seen it, but here’s the scene I’m referring to. It’s one of the greatest 2 1/2 minute scenes in TV history.)

Of course UMass would find a way to stick around in back-to-back huge games at Northeastern and Merrimack. And of course they’d find a way to lose both games, one just moments into overtime and the other in the waning seconds, in a scene so reminiscent of opening night (at Northeastern, coincidentally) and so painfully predictable that all you can do is laugh.

And of fucking COURSE! they would go out the next weekend, clinging to their playoff lives, and get their first road win of the season, and first-ever win on the road against a top-ranked team, in a venue that has been a house of horrors ever since it opens its shiny-but-overpriced doors, only to come out the next night, with the same goalie and same lineup, and sleep through the first ten minutes of the game. Oh, and just as a bonus teaser, they rallied down 4-1 and 5-3 to pull within a goal with a few minutes left, and even got a gift power play, and proceeded to fail to take advantage of it.

Four games. Two points, with six more left on the table thanks to continued poor play at the beginning and end of games. UMass could’ve been in a position to leapfrog Maine with a sweep next weekend. But alas, here we go again, six games to go, dogfighting for eighth in a ten-team league for the fifth year in a row. Wait, wait, don’t tell me – they’re gonna win juuust enough, and catch enough lucky breaks, to sneak in as a “dangerous” #8, where they’ll proceed to lose a pair of heartbreakers at Conte Forum again. Pretty sure that episode is a rerun.

You know what’s more heartbreaking? This team, charmed as they’ve been to catch those breaks and sneak in as eighth, might have been better off missing the playoffs in those years. We’ve been tirelessly optimistic that Cahoon and his staff have been on the brink of figuring it out the last few years. It’s getting so very, very hard to keep that attitude. UMass is a snag with the coaching situation now, almost surely without the funds to make a coaching change thanks to the disgusting amount of money Kevin Morris will be getting from the state in order to protect our football team from having to be run any further into the ground by him. Playoffs or no playoffs, there’s no way Toot’s not coaching his final year of his contract unless he retires.

Look, I’ll say it again: Don Cahoon is, by all accounts, a fine human being, a great hockey mind, and a man the community is lucky to have. But it’s time to face the obvious – any other school in this conference would have already fired him by now. Look around the league at the schools that have made coaching changes this year. Hell, Lowell’s in first place. Lowell. And Providence has taken strides since shedding a longtime anchor as well. Northeastern’s had their struggles under Madigan, but they also lost the most talent on the ice in that group. Changing coaches isn’t some kind of magic bullet that’s guaranteed to improve things, but honestly, at this point, what choice do we have? BU head coach/evil Disney villain Jack Parker, who would certainly know about these sorts of things, was bewildered in interviews before and after the game by UMass’s lack of success this season. He thinks they’re too talented to struggle like this. Too fast, too skilled. If that’s not an indictment of our current coaching staff, I don’t know what is.

Next season we lose a guy who’s become an improbable anchor of the blue line in Marcou, and two of our most talented forwards in Syner and Hobbs. Certainly, production that is replaceable. But the vaunted Blaise MacDonald recruiting line has yet to land anyone who looks as program-changing as a Scott Wilson or a Chad Ruhwedel. Certainly, the nucleus that returns – talented forwards like Guzzo, Sheary and Pereira, a much-improved blue line, and three goalies with some playing time under their belts – shows a lot of promise.

But I’ve been saying that for far too long. Beyond next year, how this program positions itself in its recruitment of both players and Toot’s replacement (assuming next year is, indeed, his last) will go a long, long way to determining how soon this program escapes this perennial Groundhog Day-esque spring purgatory.

- Max

P.S. That’s enough negativity for one post. I know I’ve been slacking on articles, but I’ll have my slightly-more-optimistic basketball catch-up article up this week. Keep in mind that it’s a lot more fun to write these after a win.

The Enemy is Everywhere

by bittym87

Ah, officiating. Is there anything sports fans bitch and moan about more? Officiating draws more anger, disgust, and frustration from normally even-keeled individuals than taxes, the weather, and Oscar/Emmy/Grammy results all rolled together. (Seriously, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is up for Best Picture? And don’t get me started on the unwarranted praise heaped upon Modern Family. Err, I digress.) Officiating boils our blood because, when mistakes are deemed to be made, good efforts from your team’s players go for naught. Mistakes from the other side get wiped away. The game, as it were, is taken out of the hands of the players and put into the obviously-completely-overpaid-and-incompetent hands of a dude dressed like a prison guard.

The thing about officiating is that it’s absolutely impossible to judge the job officials do when you’re partial to one team. Maybe others are different, but I find it nearly impossible to watch a sporting event without rooting for one side or the other. If “my” teams aren’t playing, I root based on the standings, for the teams that have already played “my” teams (yes, that does mean BC this year in basketball, don’t shoot me), for the teams with the most likable players or who are playing the villains of the sport in question, and when all else fails, the underdog. To varying extents, for better or for worse, I get attached to the game. And when you’re attached to the game, to one team or the other, you see the game in a different light, and borderline calls become egregious oversights or pointed slights one way or the other. Obviously, the extent varies from “(shaking head in disbelief as LeBron takes five steps on his game-winning layup against some last-place team)” to “WHAT THE FUCK HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY CALL GOALIE INTERFERENCE WHEN HE GOT PUSHED INTO THE GOALIE AND YOU EVEN CALLED THE PENALTY FOR PUSHING HIM INTO THE GOALIE?!!!!!” based on who’s playing. But you have to be real detached from what’s going on to see things with no bias whatsoever.

Now, having said all of that, let’s not sit here and pretend the officiating wasn’t a factor in Friday night’s home loss (home what-now?!) to Lowell for the Minutemen. I’ve seen officiating crews get jeered jokingly from fans skating onto the ice. I’ve never seen an entire arena stand up and boo as loudly as they did Friday night as the zebras skated onto the ice to start the second and third periods. I could rehash the harsh words of our triangular colleague or even mild-mannered Craig Finn lookalike slash veteran hockey beat writer Dick Baker’s even more sternly-worded column (protip: it’s much more fun if you read it in Finn’s voice), but you know the score: UMass rushes out to a 1-0 lead and an 8-0 shots advantage, Lowell gets four power plays in the period (of which one was definitely a good call, one could’ve gone either way, and the other two were as real as Rick Santorum’s election chances), and it’s all downhill from there. Some of the Lowellier of Lowell fans will sit there and mock all they want, but when even their complete homer-to-end-all-homers play-by-play announcer is expressing surprise at some of the calls and – more importantly – the non-calls the other way, something has to be up, no?

But, y’see, here’s the thing – in spite of it all, UMass had a chance to win this game. They trailed 3-2 with plenty of time to go in the third,  put a couple goals past Doug Carr (finally), and, in the rare stretches of even-strength play that were to be found, they dominated play for large stretches of time. What better middle finger to the fates than to pull out a game in which the other team had seven power plays to your two? Nope. The Minutemen couldn’t even get out of their own zone for the final minute of the game to pull their goalie, then let in a bad rebound goal to seal the deal instead. And, as the three-sided one predicted, the mental collapse carried over to the next night, in a 5-2 loss that, while not without a few disagreeable calls, was lost single-handedly by bad UMass decision-making.

Good teams fight through the bullshit. If they’re only playing well at even strength, they make the most of that even-strength time and worry about killing the penalties when they have the lead. You know what didn’t come from a call? The giveaway that led to Lowell’s go-ahead 2-1 goal that really took a lot of the life out of the building. The fact of the matter is, even after one of the night’s worst calls – Phillips going for a “boarding” call in the final five minutes on a play where his man fell down virtually untouched in front of him – the Minutemen had over two minutes left to do something with the post-penalty-kill momentum. They did not. They ran out of gas, despite having a week off while Lowell played its fourth game in eight days. And then they did the same the next night, after storming back to tie a game at 2.

And so here we are, with UMass fighting for its playoff life yet again. Look, Lowell’s got a damn good team this year, but UMass had a chance to pull even (ahead with the tiebreaker) if things had rolled a little differently. But it’s our job as fans to get mad about the calls. It’s the players’ job to find a way to win in spite of them, and definitely to shake frustration off. The Minutemen did neither, and lost Friday and Saturday for those respective reasons. They’ve got a chance to turn things right back around this weekend with their juiciest chance yet at a road win (Northeastern) and another big home game against a ranked team (Merrimack, whom they played extremely close twice last year and, err, we’re not sure what happened in the other game, maybe it got canceled?).

A good showing next weekend and we can chalk Lowell’s sweep up to the fact that they’re the better team this year, plain and simple. But if this turns out to be the beginning of the end, the Minutemen have nobody to blame but themselves.

(And maybe Hansen. But mostly themselves.)

-Max

Handle It.

by bittym87

The students are back on campus, intersession is in the books, and the pivotal second semester of the seasons is about to get into full swing for the Minutemen, on the ice and on the hardwood. Both teams have performed above preseason expectations (for the latter, significantly so), and now it’s time to see what both teams are truly made of, as pivotal conference matchups will determine the postseason fates of both sets of Minutemen. It all starts this weekend against some familiar foes who happen to be seasonal “favorites” of the boys of The Fight Mass Blog Starring Mike Marcou, if by “favorites” you mean we like them about as much as Tim Thomas likes big government. (TOPICAL ZING)

For hockey, it means two games against the Angry Birds of UMass Lowell. I’ll skip the early-season reverse-jinx gimmick this time around and stick to the fact that Rowdy’s gang has wharrgarbled their way to a 9-6-0 start, a year after occupying the basement of Hockey East and occupying it hard. The University of Massachusetts ran off a five-game winning streak against its estranged crack whore sister coming into the year, then for some reason loaned their uniforms to the AIC Falcons and sent them on a bus to the Tsongas Tscenter in late November for a 4-0 loss that was never really that close. Even in the days of pro agents and scouts at ice level juggling flaming swords to distract Marcou, Irwin and Wellman, I’ve never seen a Minutemen team as disinterested in a game as they did back in November. Those were very bad times.

That, obviously, can’t happen this weekend. The Minutemen are 7-0-3 on their home ice coming into Friday’s showdown. They have a massive rest advantage, having played just twice since Frozen Fenway, while Lowell will be playing their fourth and fifth games in eight days. UMass stands four points back with equal games played in conference, and a sweep, unlikely as it may seem for a team that hasn’t had a four-point weekend in seemingly forever, would catapult the Minutemen past the River Hawks in the standings with the tiebreaker. And this is not the Lowell team that was crushing folks back in November. Lowell was blanked 1-0 by Alex Beaudry and the Friars tonight in Providence, and since edging BC 3-2 in December, they’re just 2-3-0 in the conference, all against teams in the lower half of the standings, and one of those wins was literally handed to them by Northeastern.

The River Hawks’ success has largely come thanks to the emergence of Doug Carr, who (contrary to what Beaudry’s and Rawlings’s mothers would like you to believe) is probably the conference’s best goaltender this year. They’ve also gotten unexpectedly strong contributions from upperclassmen like David Vallorani and Matt Ferreira, who have thrived in new head coach Norm Bazin’s system, and youngsters like Scott Wilson and defenseman Chad Ruhwedel, who seems to be picking up where past Lowell defensive stars like Nick Schaus and Jeremy Dehner and Maury Edwards (when he was still good) left off.

Lowell, unbelievably, entered the night third in the pairwise, thought losing to Providence dropped them into a tie with – hey, lookit that – Boston College. The Minutemen are in 24th, which would be awesome if this was basketball RPI, but where only the top 16 make the tourney, there’s plenty of work to do. Still, UMass’s ability to take advantage of its few quality non-conference foes (Yale and Cornell) puts the team in a good spot. Almost every Hockey East game is good for the pairwise. As bad as the season started, the Minutemen are also just six points out of a home ice slot behind Maine, with three games in hand (and two more shots at the Black Bears on the schedule).

This weekend holds a world of importance for UMass, given the opportunity to improve their standings, improve in the pairwise, drop a hated rival, and get the student base fired up from the very first hockey weekend of the semester. If they can’t get fired up for at least the Friday game, it’s back to the “slightly bit concerned” mode for us. If they come out flying like they did against Vermont, though, and actually get some puck luck this time, and avoid penalties, I’m much more confident in this team’s ability to protect a lead. Lowell’s scored a grand total of three more goals than UMass this year in Hockey East play. Their edge, of course, is on the defensive end, which is why getting the lead early is key.

And would it hurt to win a fucking road game? Jeez. Anyway, the three of us will be there on Friday and Walsh and I will also make the tstrip to Tsongas on Tsaturday, so if you can’t make it to the games (for shame!) we’ll have some commentary for ya on @FightMass. Did I mention there’s no underscore anymore? There’s no underscore anymore, get used to it.

–

Now, ahem, basketball. The past week was down-and-up for the boys. Wednesday at Duquesne was one of those ugly, foul-plagued conference games that we’ve been so used to seeing over the last couple years under DK, and the Minutemen never got into any sort of rhythm in an 11-point loss to the Dukes. The team’s lack of depth with the Sampson and Cady injuries hurt them inside, forcing Sean and Putney to play soft, while Chaz had probably his worst game as a Minuteman, turning the ball over like it was going out of style. And worst of all, we had to endure the worst fucking commentary you’ll ever hear in a radio broadcast from the Dukes crew. And don’t give me that “well how can you complain about a pirated video stream” bullshit, I watched that game with my UMass All-Access Pass somehow, thank you very much. I pay like ten bucks a month for that shit.

And yet as much as I complain about the UMass broadcasts on Twitter and make fun of Maurer’s extra syllables and Hennessey combining hockey players’ first names into their last, at least both of UMass’s announcing crews call games in a fairly unbiased manner. I’ve always thought that, if you take Jack Edwards and Tom Heinsohn out of the equation, we Boston sports fans have some pretty fair announcing crews on both TV and radio, and even those two have Brickley and Gorman to temper their respective outrages. Duquesne, meanwhile, had this trifecta of failure mucking it up in the booth:

1) Old homer who clearly hasn’t left the Pittsburgh area in 60 years, seamlessly incorporating his own random thoughts into what is supposed to be straight play-by-play,

2) Token former player spouting random SportsCenter catch phrases without providing any actual useful observations,

3) “Stat boy” with a voice whinier than John Wallach’s (!) who has never touched a basketball in his life, doesn’t understand how travelling works, and shouts “CARRY!” every time Chaz touches the ball.

When these guys weren’t bemoaning the lack of calls in Duquesne’s favor (even though the fouls were going their way at like a 2-to-1 ratio for almost the entire game), the three of them decided by halftime – based on one bad performance – that Chaz must be the worst point guard of all time (you know, even though he’s 23rd in the nation in assists) and that “this is why Hofstra didn’t want him.” OMG that’s just classic, y’all are hilarious!!1 Hey, remember that last time you guys were in the NCAA tourney in 1977? No, and neither does anyone else. Shut up, dipshits.

…

…Ahem, but here’s the beauty of this season: the “bazkettaball” is the exception, no longer the rule. Case in point – UMass came out three days later and pulled off a good road win at Richmond in front of a surprisingly solid crowd (and I say this because basically everyone else in the A-10 has a solid home crowd by our standards). Chaz bounced back and carried the team down the stretch with some ridiculous passes, everyone played great defense in the second half, Carter had one of his better offensive games, and the team once again got enough offense from enough different sources to win.

No disrespect to Gurley, but part of last year’s struggles (besides the glaring hole at point guard) was that the Minutemen couldn’t develop a consistent second scorer to support AG, who took it upon himself to take too many shots trying too hard to carry the scoring load. Without him, the Minutemen have been forced to spread the wealth (and, again, having a real point guard who himself is a scoring threat has been a massive help in that regard). Rarely this year has one guy clearly been the lone offensive weapon, although Chaz himself is the team’s leading scorer. Some nights it’s Jesse, some nights it’s Putney, but for the most part, the scoring has been very evenly distributed when the team is playing well.

So let’s keep that ball rolling. The Minutemen are 15-5, 4-2 in conference play, and with the season 2/3 of the way down, can rack up 20 wins just by playing .500 ball down the stretch. That said, the competition gets fiercer, with seven of these games against teams in the RPI top 100. The Minutemen can – and kind of need to – win the other three, which are two against a hilariously-bad Rhode Island team and then a roadie against a not-good-at-all George Washington. Of the other seven, here’s what’s left:

Home: Saint Louis, St. Bonaventure, La Salle, Xavier

Road: St. Joe’s, Dayton, Temple

A 20-win season, provided they notch those three cupcake wins, means winning just TWO of these seven games. They can make this process a lot easier on Saturday when Fat Majerus and the Billikens come to town. Last year, the same Billikens got a white-hot three-point shooting performance at home to down the Minutemen. This year’s team has some quality-ish wins against low-level major conference teams like Villanova, Washington, and Oklahoma, but all either at home or neutral-site. They’ve hung around in some tough roadies against New Mexico and Dayton, but are overall unimpressive away from the Gateway Arch, which I should point out is nowhere near the Atlantic Ocean. (Really, the Billikens were trailblazers in this whole “play in a conference that makes zero geographic sense” trend.) This would be by far their most impressive road win. UMass is unbeaten at home. I say these trends should continue.

Saturday afternoon needs to be the biggest home crowd of the season. Needs to. The athletics department has been pimping this game out hardcore to students and locals alike. It’s the first home game after the long break, during which UMass actually won a televised game (albeit on a channel that nobody really gets). It’s a 2:00 start, which gives students zero excuse – you can part Friday, go to the game Saturday, and it’ll be over long before anything is going on again Saturday night (AND it gives the hardcore fans plenty of time to make the drive to Lowell with time to hit up Lowell Beer Works before the nightcap!). The midweek loss against Duquesne probably went unnoticed to much of the student body – in fact, let’s not talk about that game anymore, it never happened, don’t tell anybody. And the Billikens may not be the biggest draw on the schedule (that’d be Xavier, recent struggles notwithstanding) but Majerus is a big enough name and Saint Louis is at least more recognizable than, say, La Salle or St. Bonaventure. And the team is fucking 15-5. It’s time to stop with the negative stigma around this team. As Don Orsillo would say, they’re back and they’re back big.

Hockey fans who scoff at the basketball team ads on the jumbotron, I implore you – just go to the game. Unless you absolute despise the game of basketball, which means you’re not an American anyway so it’s cool. But otherwise, go. Yell your brains out. It’s a fucking Saturday afternoon, no excuses, you’ve got no other plans. Bring other people. This might not be an NCAA tournament team this year – not quite yet – but I think we’re finally, finally seeing the emergence of something special in this Kellogg era. Be part of it, or get left in the dust when the bandwagon takes off next year.

That’s all I got for ya. We’ll try to record another FightCast this weekend, maybe. Until then, enjoy the games. I know I will. It’s about time this program had two teams playing meaningful conference games in the second semester.

-Max

Wave of Masta-lation

by bittym87

I was on the phone last night with the pregame ceremonies streaming on UMassAthletics on mute when I noticed Steve Mastalerz being focused on by the camera. “That’s weird,” I thought. “Must’ve missed starting lineups. They must all be on the ice right now.” Then the game started, and with an overwhelming sense of dread, I (and everyone else watching at home and in the Bill) realized oh no, Toot’s starting our third-string goalie against BC. You know, the guy who got shelled in his first collegiate appearance by a dreadful UNH team. The guy whose last name neither his play-by-play announcer nor his own head coach seemingly can agree on a consistent way to pronounce.

Well, talk about “being like Mike.” Kid went out last night and proved everyone wrong.

The Minutemen blanked Boston College, 4-0, shutting out the Eagles for the first time ever. Yes, ever. BC outshot UMass 35-19, but a good chunk of that came during a third period that UMass spent killing penalties and generally just trying to turtle with that big lead – after all, they’ve blown a lead in seemingly every loss this season. And yeah, you have to think BC was looking ahead to Saturday’s Fenway game against Northeastern, which is, in fact, happening (despite the fact that even NESN isn’t showing it on TV, thanks to their boneheaded move of securing broadcasting rights to a basketball conference that contains only one New England team, which happens to be the consensus worst team in said conference). And yeah, the holes in that BC team are beginning to show (they lost too much on offense and in net, and even the best blue line in the nation can only carry you for so long).

So, all downplaying aside, Mastalerz stopped 35 shots, and while many of them were of the half-hearted variety, he did make a few that would make even Timmy Thomas tip his cap (okay, specifically I’m talking about the one 24 seconds into the highlight reel). And regardless of all the belittling I tried to do in that last paragraph, no UMass goalie had ever shut out BC before. Not Gabe Winer. Not Jon Quick. Not Paul Dainton. But Mastalerz did it in his third collegiate start, and he looked damn good doing it.

Really, the story of last name’s game is that the defense continues to play well, up and down the lineup. Much like the last game against the Eagles, UMass played a smart, opportunistic game, got a quick shot from Allen past Billett, caught a couple breaks off of turnovers leading to two-on-ones, and after squandering a few giveaway chances in the first, took advantage of the same opportunities in the second. Peter “Peterangelo” DeAngelo got the first UMass shortie since the season before last. TJ Syner put a couple of non-empty net goals in the net for a change, and continued to look like a flash of lightning out there from time to time. The key was to get an early lead and really force BC to start thinking toward tomorrow. UMass almost didn’t do that, committing some dumb penalties in the late first period that nearly led to an Eagles lead, but to their credit, the PK continued its recent solid stretch, and UMass converted on that momentum with a second period that has to rank among their finest all season.

So let’s look at the grand scheme of things for a moment. Lowell lost in hilarious fall-from-ahead fashion to Vermont, and suddenly the Minutemen, as “miserable” a season as they’re supposedly having, are just two points behind the supposed River Rat powerhouse, albeit with Lowell holding two more games in hand, but there’s no question which direction these two teams are trending. We could take a defeatist attitude and talk about the race for 8th place, where UMass has a comfy seven-point lead on Vermont for the basement, and thanks to last night’s results, a point up on UNH and two up on Northeastern. In fact, UMass is just three points behind Maine for home ice with a game in hand on the Black Bears. The best part of all of this? UMass has a home-and-home with Lowell, two at Maine, and two at the Bill against the Wildcats, plus another Matthews visit. And there’s still time to catch Merrimack, with that season series waiting to begin. Sure, the Warriors are #3 in the conference, but you have to like that the Minutemen have five of their six meetings with BC and BU out of the way already – and a respectable 2-2-1 record in those games to boot. (Even if it should be 4-1-0 with those two BU collapses. No, damnit, POSITIVE THOUGHTS)

Okay, getting-carried-away aside, Vermont comes in next weekend. Bury them.

- Max

 

P.S. Hey, oh by the way, UMass plays St. Joe’s at 4 in hoops, in a battle of two top-70 RPI teams. UMass is a bit short-handed with some injuries and needs all the crowd noise/energy help it can get. I won’t be able to make it, but I saw plenty of students in the student section watching on TV last night, so I know y’all are there. You know you don’t give a shit about the Saints-Niners game, and you’ll be home in plenty of time to watch Tebow-Brady II. Go, and be loud. Please?

Be Like Mike

by bittym87

I’m a man of my word.

Jokingly, a few weeks ago, in response to counter-criticism to our blog’s continued (perceived) crusade against Michael Marcou, I promised that, should Mikey score an overtime goal this season, I will rename the blog in his honor for the remainder of the season.

Well, shit.

Frozen Fenway was an absolute blast, despite less-than-stellar sightlines, questionable choice of officials (Bunyon and Keenan? Really?) and the fact that we had to share our beloved Fenway with the unwashed, toothless masses that occupy three inferior state institutions. From our awesome pregame at The Lower Depths (extra props to Skinnier Andy Dwyer, our new favorite bartender of all time) to the moment Marcou snuck that rebound home in the waning seconds, ’twas an experience like no other. Now, Matt and I stayed afterward to watch UNH-Maine, despite our proximity to literally the worst human being we’ve ever encountered in our lifetimes (the supposed Maine fan? or maybe UNH? or Lowell? in a brown hoodie surrounded by people clearly horrified to be associated with him). I think the entire experience kind of college-hockeyed us out a little bit, to be honest. And it did sort of suck how unprepared they were in terms of stocking the merch stands (at the end of the game, all the UMass shirts had long flown off the shelves). But all-in-all, Hockey East and Fenway did a great job hosting an event that none present will soon forget.

All that being said…it’s a narrow win for UMass over a horrible, horrible Vermont team, and the Catamounts had numerous opportunities to steal this one. Especially troublesome is the continued taking of dumb penalties by the likes of Yevenko and Kiley, although I think the former brings more to the table than the latter. Kiley’s penalty was followed by an embellishment call that we, err, didn’t quite care for to say the least, but to UMass’s credit, they survived the five minutes at the end of regulation and start of OT. Of course, having seen the game on NESN replay now, it’s more clear than ever who really won that game for UMass. Tegs made some outstanding stops early in OT to keep UMass in striking range. With all respect to Mastalerz, I think it’s becoming clear that Boyle is the starter and Teglia is #2, albeit maybe less dramatically so than Quick/Dainton were with Meyers. I’m positive Boyle will be in net next weekend against BC, but finally getting that first win has to be huge for Jeff’s confidence.

More than anything, though, this game affirms what the numbers have slowly been hinting at for weeks now: Mike Marcou is no longer a laughing stock, and I was only half kidding when I tweeted during the Providence game that I see Mikey having a huge second half. Yeah, he’s prone every now and again to a bad turnover, and I still vividly remember seeing him commit the worst turnover of all time that somehow didn’t actually lead to a goal during the Harvard game. But he finally – FINALLY – seems to be comfortable on the offensive end of the ice handling the puck. More often than not, his positioning defensively has been stellar. And, when the Minutemen desperately needed at least three out of four points this week before the going starts getting tough again, you could reasonably argue that he earned UMass those three points with his game-saving blocked shot against PC and the walk-off winner at Fenway.

Now, get this – UMass leaves Fenway ahead of two of its fellow participants, as Vermont falls deeper into the cellar and actually leads UNH by a point. Remember, the Minutemen go to Orono for two and host the Wildcats for two, all in a two-week span toward the end of the season that now looms pretty large. I hope it doesn’t come to this, but I could see those four points at the Bill determining 8th and 9th place for UNH and UMass. Here’s the bigger surprise – UMass trails Maine by just five points for home ice (!) with two games to play and a game in hand. True, Lowell lurks in the middle there, but as we’ve seen in years past, the second half is where we will see if these upstarts like Lowell and Providence are for real.

So bring on the second half. Just as this team was left for dead around Thanksgiving after a few abysmal performances in a row, so too did this fanbase – ourselves included – basically give up on Marcou making the most of his potential after his atrocious, injury-plagued junior year. I never expected to say this, but…be like Mike, guys. (Wow.)

- Max