Unfortunately, due to training for my recent promotion, I won’t be able to attend, but Matt will apparently be making the trip down to the only hockey arena in the country that is literally shaped like a whale. There, he will watch UMass play the current #15 team in the country and #8 in the Pairwise, a game that will pretty much make or break their already-slim chances of playing their way back into the at-large picture. Getting swept by Colgate dropped them out of the Teams Under Consideration bubble, but remember, after Yale, they also have one against one of the two New Hampshire schools, who are currently 2nd and 3rd in the rankings. If UMass continues its up-and-down rollercoaster ride back in the right direction, a couple wins to close out 2012 would get them back into the mix at least; of course by that logic they’ll probably somehow lose to Bemidji State in between.

Mark will probably have a more hockey-intensive preview tomorrow, but the Bulldogs come off a winless home weekend of their own, getting smoked 6-1 by RPI and then tying Union 2-2. They’re led by senior Antoine Laganiere and junior Kenny Agostino, who have combined for 14 of their 33 goals on the season. Senior Jeff Malcolm has played a majority of the minutes in net, with a 2.45 GAA in 9 games (remember, the Ivy League teams start later in the season because they’re ever so much smarter than you or I.)

Honestly, we have next to no material for this game, because it’s fucking Yale and really, other than the aforementioned rink shaped like a Yale, we don’t know what we can do to make fun of them.

If only.

Really, there’s no good material to work with here. They’re in Connecticut, but it’s Yale, nobody thinks of Yale when they think about things they hate about Connecticut, not with that dump a little up the road in Storrs. Plus, New Haven’s not the worst place ever, despite the numerous warnings Matt is getting from those who know better than us. (He already lives in Springfield. Please.) I even tried Googling “Yale hockey sucks” to see what other ECAC schools’ fans were saying about Yale, but then I remembered Cornell is the only Ivy League hockey school with fans, and they apparently couldn’t care less. And how can you hate on Yale when you find out they were responsible for this?

This is seriously fucking awesome.

I even tried looking at their list of notable alumni (which, as you might have guessed, is rather lengthy). But for every George W. Bush who went there, there’s a Bill “Greatest Man of All Time, Non-Kublin Division” Clinton. Clarence Thomas went there, but so did Sonia Sotomayor. My high school sophomore English teacher who drew triangles under everything she wrote on the board to emphasize points and said “umm” and “like” every other sentence went there, but so did the eloquent Silver Fox himself, Anderson Cooper. It’s a wash.

This may be the best I can do. Thanks, Wikipedia (?)

Here’s hoping Matt finds some hilarity to tweet about during the game, because we may have to resort to making our own fun. And when we do that, this tends to happen.

pic unrelated (?)

Lol but seriously, a win would be swell. Not only can we not fall back on toothpaste jokes after another loss – we really got nothin’ at all to work with. Thanks, Yale. (Assholes.)

- Max

UMass certainly had a chance to take a bite out of the deficit between them and the top teams in the Pairwise. Instead, they find their chances at an at large bid rotting away. You’d think they would come out in their pearly home whites and hold court in their home office, but here they are, reeling after getting kicked in the jaw.

There were certainly bright spots here. The Minutemen brushed off a few early deficits and fought, tooth and nail, in Friday night’s game. UMass had the shots advantage, the power play clicked again, and Adam Phillips is looking as comfortable as ever as a forward. Unfortunately, where the team bit itself in the tongue was defensively. Kevin Boyle’s certainly not to blame, as the defense in front of him won’t be winning any plaques for their performance anytime soon. Seeing his shiny, clean GAA get so heavily tarnished definitely has to leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.

The Minutemen, unfortunately, didn’t show much improvement the next night in their follow-up appointment. Again with a 10-shot advantage, the Minutemen nonetheless played another toothless performance and their 2-1 lead fell apart like a hammock made of dental floss. While it’s great to see him back on the ice, Darren Rowe looks like he’s still got lingering issues with his upper arm, and “Hammer” Hanley didn’t have his best weekend either. 

We were hoping the Minutemen would crest into the break on a wave of positive momentum. Now they’ll need to brush off this disappointment and turn their (and our) frowns upside-down at Yale on Tuesday. Oh, and for all you Joe Sixpacks playing a drinking game at home…maverick.

—

Meanwhile, in Fight Mass’s weekend, while celebrating my 25th birthday in Boston, Matt and I made an impromptu late night visit to our favorite non-UMass bloggers, Baystate Roadsports, in their ice palace on the BU campus. We’d like to thank them for their gracious hospitality and for not killing Matt for drinking so much whiskey. We plan to make that up to them with some more crossover events this season (stay tuned!) and Kublin help us all if these two teams end up playing in the first round (it would be the current 3-6 matchup, FYI). Oh, don’t worry, though, we’re still very much a UMass blog first and foremost. We’re not suddenly going to stop being masochists now…we’ve come too far for that. But I mean, come on, they gave us this:

We can never hate them again. (Damnit.)

- Max

Basketball:

Okay, seriously guys (0:09 mark):

Tonight’s 72-66 victory over Northeastern is somehow the most lopsided victory to date for the 4-3 Minutemen, who might well be off to the worst 4-3 start in the history of hyperbolic overreactions. You can really make a case that this team deserves to be 1-6 at this point, getting outplayed badly in their three actual losses and getting lucky against injured teams against Harvard and Providence. (The Siena game, ironically, UMass actually significantly outplayed their opponent and fell victim to awful luck on missing wide-open shots in the first half while the Saints banked in wild threes.) The Miami game was particularly disappointing, given the large (if late-arriving) crowd on hand and the RPI bump it could have provided. The Minutemen actually looked solid for the first 15 minutes or so in that one, but a series of missed opportunities and a few questionable calls pulled the wheels off quickly.

Now, the Minutemen also have the added burden of the Cady Lalanne situation. Not that Cady was looking 100% to begin with, but his absence (coupled with DK’s apparent lack of any sort of trust in Tyler Bergantino to do, err, anything yet) makes a thin lineup even thinner. I mean, for Chrissakes, Sampson Carter was our starting center tonight. The Minutemen gave up 15 offensive rebounds to the Huskies. Absolutely mind-boggling. Luckily, Jesse Morgan finally seemed to come to life with some huge corner threes to spur the latest last-minute rally. UMass ended up shooting just shy of 48% for the game. At this point, we’ll absolutely take it.

11 days off now. The Season of Great Expectations (TM) is hanging together by a thread. The Minutemen’s at-large hopes are already in grave danger, and as cupcake as the rest of the non-conference schedule looks, this team doesn’t seem to have any interest in easy wins. It sucks to be so down on these guys, but the fact of the matter is that the fun and joy of Chazketball has given way to an all-too-familiar system of passing the ball around the perimeter, watching Chaz try to make everything happen, and chucking wild threes all day long. It looks an awful lot like the “bazkettaball” we lamented during the first few years of the DK era. If this team is going to go anywhere and beat anyone of note, it’s going to need to somehow pull back together, and quick. Here’s hoping Kellogg uses this week-and-a-half to refocus his guys before they take on Elon in Springfield.

Hockey:

Since the 8-2 debacle against Lowell, which occurred on a Sunday and starred Jeff Teglia (who has since turned up on numerous milk cartons) and therefore cannot really even be considered part of the official UMass canon, the hockey team has stabilized somewhat. They were able to grind out a pre-Thanksgiving win against seasonal foe Vermont, pulled a tie against a feisty Quinnipiac team, and now come off a home-away split with the Northeastern Huskies. The most recent weekend does seem a little maddening at first, with UMass dominating both games from start to finish, yet with drastically different results: on Friday at the Bill, they couldn’t buy a goal against Chris Rawlings and lost 1-0 on a fluke breakaway goal. On Saturday, where we and dozens of other maroon-and-white faithful got the last laugh on Teddy Bear Toss night, UMass put 45+ shots on the net and six of them went in, including one for HEA Rookie of the Week KJ Tiefenwerth, his first (finally!).

Looking at the standings, UMass is remarkably just one point out of a home ice slot. Are there legitimate concerns surrounding the Power/Rowe injury situation, the slow start of Mike Pereira, the dismal play of any goaltenders not named Boyle? Sure. But UMass still has one of the toughest strength-of-schedule rankings in the country, is still the only team in the nation to beat #1 UNH, and is in striking range in the Pairwise standings (currently 23rd). UMass closes the year with remaining non-conference games on the docket, and a strong showing could well propel this team into contention for an at-large bid. Colgate, the #24 team in the Pairwise, comes in for two this weekend (a chance to avenge last season’s first-round lacrosse disappointment!). UMass then heads to Yale next week, currently fourth in the Pairwise, and which is a team UMass has actually played well against in recent years. After a break, the Minutemen ring in the new year up in Hanover in the Dartmouth tourney, against dreadful Bemidji State and then a crack at either UNH (as a non-conference foe) or Dartmouth, who are 2 and 3 in the Pairwise respectively. If UMass can play well in this stretch – like 3-1-1 or 4-1-0 good – the second half schedule looks good for UMass. The two at UNH are daunting, and there’s still another trip to Chestnut Hill, but there’s only one more with BU (at Mullins), two cracks at Maine at home, a two-gamer up in Burlington, one more at Matthews, home-and-homes with Providence and Lowell, and of course all three games left with Merrimack. Again, while it’s more road-heavy than the first half, the fact that UMass has just one more each against BU and BC (and knows it’s capable of staying around with both teams) means that a vast majority of what’s left is against the rest of the “middle of the pack” teams that UMass is striving to differentiate itself from. I think now that Boyle’s the established starter, if he can continue to play at least as well as he did this weekend against NU, we could be in for a fun second half.

Remember: the two guys who carried this team last year, Sheary and Pereira, really haven’t even gotten going yet, nor has the expected biggest freshman contributor (Tiefenwerth). Did Saturday’s rout at Matthews mark a turning point? (Or was it when all of us passed through the inauspicious Stargate on the Northeastern campus?) Cautious optimism, people! CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM!

- Max

(P.S. Special thanks this weekend to: the Mullins Militia for accommodating me for the Miami game on my lonesome as Matt was working; Amy of the Bench Crew for hanging out with the gang and putting up with our shenanigans Saturday night, and also our good friend Roy for being the honorary Fourth Fight Mass Dude; and the Husky Hockey Blog fellows for crossing enemy lines to come meet us at the end of the game. And of course, congratulations to the Coogan family on their future addition! We suggest Douglas for the youngin if he’s a boy. Just sayin.)

[end post]

No, but seriously. UMass [insert name of sport here], we are disappoint. (We’re looking at you, women’s basketball.) Who could have foreseen that the embarrassingly-narrow win against Providence for the hoops squad on Thursday would be the high point? This weekend came with such promise: a chance to finally show the world the basketball team was for real. A chance for football to notch its first home win at Gillette Stadium against a putrid Buffalo team. Two games against last-place foes for hockey, a chance to climb up the standings and establish themselves as legitimate home ice contenders.

I guess I wasn’t thinkin’.

Basketball (as we mentioned) needed another miracle comeback just to secure a win against a Providence team playing six healthy scholarship players and missing its star point guard. We then got to watch replays of last year’s Florida State and Miami games: respectively, a completely inept and humbling performance against a top-10 juggernaut, and a frustrating grindout against a mediocre big-conference team where we miss all kinds of chances to jump and take control of the game before fading late.

Sure, nobody really expected us to beat NC State, but I think a 2-1 record for the weekend was a pretty reasonable expectation, and today’s “rubber match” was bereft of many positives. Trey Davis looked alright off the bench, but these guys still make way too many stupid mistakes, and opponents are so much better prepared to gameplan for Chaz that you wonder how they’re gonna counter the adjustments, if at all. Freddie Riley remains a ghost. Cady, Maxie, and Samp all seem out of sync and out of sorts. Terrell Vinson, as always, remains a mystery. Putney can’t seem to knock down that high arching 3, like, ever. Jesse Morgan has been playing out of his mind, but that’s been about it. The good news is that the competition gets significantly easier, but today’s game against the Vols looks like a huge missed opportunity right now. Of course, the only thing that could have made this weekend worse was if we had gotten blown out by He Who Shall Not Be Named instead, so, yeah, catastrophe averted. (I would have literally cried. Maybe.)

I don’t even want to talk about football, so let’s move on to the hockey team, which as I write this is just getting finished getting pasted by Lowell on the Mullins Center ice. Last year I lamented quite often that the Minutemen seemed to struggle at times with the uncertainty of lacking an ace goaltender. Tonight, after failing to get more than one point against a dreadful Maine team (and even that took a bail-out goal by Allen in the final minutes), Coach Mick inexplicably started Jeff “Tegstand” Teglia for the first time this year, in a seemingly crucial game against one of the teams that was chasing UMass in the standings. To the surprise of absolutely nobody in the history of ever, Tegs got rocked early, the Hawks started riding the momentum to goal after goal, and by the time Mastalerz had checked in, this game was already over.

Look, I know you can’t start Boyle every single night (although, Paul Dainton respectfully disagrees with that statement). But why not start Mastalerz tonight, who’s been alright this year at least, and let Teglia get the rust out in the Quinnipiac or Colgate games that are upcoming? Or start Boyle tonight and Mastalerz against UVM? Lowell’s offense was dreadful coming in to the game, but if anything, I’d take that as a sign that they’re due. They’re playing below their potential primarily because their opposition has been solid. That doesn’t mean they’re bad. And even if they were, conference points are conference points. Of course, you can also blame the skaters for their seeming disinterest in wanting to do anything of a hockey variety tonight from the opening minutes, but it’s hard not to get demoralized when you’re down 3-0 after a matter of minutes to a last-place team.

So, yeah, forgive the negative tone here, but honestly – in a season where the bar has been raised for this entire program, a weekend like this hurts that much more. Hoops has a long time to stew. Hockey is right back out there on Tuesday. Guys, the Celtics are about to lose at Detroit and Gronk has a broken forearm – gimme SOMETHING to be happy about. (Besides Notre Dame football. That’s pretty swell. Definitely a mortal lock to lose to USC now. I hate you all.)

- Max

For the second straight game of a young, infinitely promising, season, our boys in Maroon came out looking like the clearly better team, let the other team back in the game durring the middle 20 minutes, and then closed the game out in a fashion that reminded everybody why we were so hopeful in the first place.

Say what you will about the team playing down to to its opponents  There are certainly a wealth of things to improve with this team. However, it sure as hell feels good to root for a team that can close a game out. Yes, there are large stretches of the last 2 games where, if they were playing an elite team, would likely bury the minutemen, but what the last 2 ugly games prove is that these guys have heart. Its good to know, after only 2 games, that this team can and will close out games. They have that 5th gear that every shitty sportswriter has talked about for the last 40 years. Clusterfucks, like the URI road loss, herein referred as the ‘taco travesty, that prompted me to yell into a voice memo and call it a fight cast slash maybebreakaseastattheryancenter doesn’t look like it will happen with this team. They can close out games against worse teams. 

Yes, the 2 wins we have in hand aren’t the dominating efforts that alot of UMass nation was looking for, but at the end of the day, a wins a win. I’m 90% confident that most of the glaring issues the minutemen have displayed will we fixed by the time we hit the conference slate. Chaz has showed flashes, and if the trend continues into game 3, he will be back at full effect by the time he steps on continental US soil. Theres a 10 day break between Sunday’s game and they next game, a should-win against Siena on the road. As for the next two games, you have to dance with who you came to the dance with. UMass has proved it will keep the game closer than it should be against weaker opponents, lets hope the same is true for the inverse. I never thought I would say this, but lets hope this team can summon the Toot notebook and play up to a better opponent, and lets just see what happens.

I don’t think its likely UMass will beat NC State, after these first 2 games. Then-again, If UMass squeaks a win out, I wouldn’t bat an eye. Alot of UMass fans are putting more eggs in the ‘beat NC state’ basket than I think is reasonable. Its still a young season. Yes, it would be fucking ballin’ to make a national splash and beat NC state, but I’m not entirely sure a loss will tell us very much.

Here’s to it being close, because lord knows we are kinda good at that so far.

The ‘Prop Joe coaches Providence’ memorial bullet points

•  Good to see Tyler Bergantino get into the game, but golly did he look lost. If you go back and iso watch his, he was just kind of wandering and not playing a confident game. Totally reactionary on the floor, with makes him a liability on both ends. There was one break where Chaz threw the lob, and had it been Putney or pretty much any forward it would have been an easy alley opp. Bergantino takes it as a pass and is immediately swarmed. I want him to get minutes, but to be frank I’d rather not see him again until Siena. That being said, having Tyler be in the flow of the offense by the end of the year needs to be a priority.
• Pretty much the last sentence, but applied to Trey Davis and multiplied by infinity. Chaz only played 32 last night, and having Trey be able to come in for those 8 and keep momentum is going to be the key for the team. Trey looked good, but experience will be key. I’d love to see him come in for more stretches in the 1st half, rather than just have Chaz play until he gets tired.
• Jesse has taken the greatest step of anyone I’ve seen so far, bar none. Jesse is fearless, and as far as I’m concerned is the number one reason UMass is 2-0 and not 0-2. Jesse’s nickname needs to be one of those old school ones you can choose in create a player, like The iceman or something. Dude’s a dagger, y’all
• First Sampson, then Terrell. The game winner tonight is going to by Putney or Freddie. Its pretty much guaranteed at this point.

Oh yeah and UMass hockey needs to beat Maine show us you have a pulse guys, its important.

See you guys on the internet

-Matt

Ah, but ye of little faith, this is Chazketball we speak of! If you blinked, you missed it: Jesse Morgan (coming off the bench after Freddie Riley whiffed on his opening-day start opportunity) put a tough little push shot through to cut the lead to 3. Then his stiff defense forced a 5-second violation which seemed like a lucky break in person, yet which was actually three seconds overdue after seeing the replay. Moments later, his three-pointer FINALLY re-connected and just like that, we had the Crimson tied. And then it was Chaz himself forcing another brilliant turnover on the sideline, and just like that, UMass had a tie game and the shot clock off. You know the rest.

Honestly, it’s really hard to know what to take out of this game. Clearly we all estimated Harvard, which still has a world-class coach and some talent on the roster, despite the losses. Hopefully, we also didn’t overestimate our own team, although it’s abundantly clear that a few of the key cogs are still a little creaky. Sampson, seemingly everyone’s sleeper pick to be a difference-maker this year coming off injury, was largely invisible until the end. Cady Lalanne was spectacular at times, with four blocked shots in a performance that had Matt comparing him to “old guy Shaq” (let’s hope the comparison stops before the injury history), yet he also seemed a step behind at times. He and Esho had difficulty finishing down low, which is such a crucial component to this squad when the outside shots just refuse to go down as they did for the middle portion of this game.

But the most important thing to take away from this game is this: it’s a 10 am game. It seems like a convenient excuse, but it’s hard to argue that these teams didn’t have moments of just complete disorientation. Athletes are fickle beings, their bodies not accustomed to changing their internal clocks to play at their prime potential after years and years of later start times. Sloppy play was expected, and both teams had that in spades.

Put simply: we’re not worried yet. The crowd was electric (given the circumstances at least), the team showed signs that they still have that switch they can turn on when they need to, and the result was a 1-0 record. There’s little rest for the weary – Providence awaits them in just two days down in Puerto Rico, albeit at a much more manageable 7:30 start time, and with a severely depleted roster. As you probably know, the prospects of playing #6 NC State rest on whether or not the Minutemen can get past the Friars (provided Penn State doesn’t pull off a massive upset), and the Sunday finale is also much more likely to be a quality foe like Tennessee with an opening-day win. (Plus, I totally want to see them take on He Who Shall Not Be Named on Sunday. It could legitimately happen.) 

So why focus on the negatives? The boys got a wake-up call, and thankfully, they woke up just in time. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to sleep – wake me up Thursday night at 7.

- Max

Let’s set the stage. Last year, the expectations for this program were subdued at best. We, ever the optimists, saw it possible that the maturing upperclassmen would meld with the intriguing diminutive transfer, some kid named Chaz Williams from Hofstra, and make the most of a cupcake schedule to turn things around. Mind you, we were about a half-year removed from getting trounced at home in the A-10 tourney against Dayton in a loss so humiliating that the team declined invites to lower-tier postseason tourneys, so I took the ribbing from the skeptical hockey fans at the Bill and online, who saw no reason to believe things would be any better for Coach Kellogg than in his first few seasons.

And oh, how satisfying it is to finally be right about something! (It’s surprisingly rare for me.) UMass breezed, for the most part, through the aforementioned cupcakes, as Chaz outperformed our wildest expectations, the upperclassmen matured into their roles (hell, even far-too-common scapegoat and noted internet crazy person Freddie Riley evolved into a more-than-adequate perimeter defender and occasional hot shooting hand off the bench!), and the Minutemen basketball team, once greeted by only a smattering of applause in their own home arena, were the hottest ticket in town. That beautiful afternoon against Saint Louis, a spirited victory over a great team in front of a raucous crowd, was unthinkable just for months earlier. This team had arrived. And while they didn’t quite sneak into the big dance in the end, an entertaining run to the NIT semis in New York served as the ultimate tease.

Last time we went through this, you’ll recall, He Who Shall Not Be Named jumped ship for the greener pastures (as in, literally a whole state consisting of grass and little else), and the excitement of the NIT run was drained out faster than a Lowell junkie coming off a crack high. We looked around and realized we had Gaffney, Harris, and a disheartened Chris Lowe who could no longer run the system that made him so successful as a junior. The rest of the cupboard was pretty damn dry, and the rough patch that followed was unsurprising.

This is nothing like that time. UMass is bringing just about everyone back from that bunch. The only losses in the offseason are Sean Carter (who was great, but whose successor looks absolutely ready to go in Lalanne) and possibly spark plug Javorn Farrell, whose season is still up in the air depending on how quickly his injury heals and whether or not he decides to take a redshirt. Everyone else is a year younger and wiser, Lalanne and Sampson Carter are back from injuries, and the freshman class of Davis, Bergantino and Freeman, while green, will not be counted on for anything just yet.

I know, it’s hard not to keep harping on it and/or jinxing the hell out of it, but how can this team not be better this year? Chaz Williams now has a full season of experience under his belt. Terrell Vinson’s NIT run was his best basketball since his freshman year, and he and Freddie Riley will have added motivation of this being their last hurrahs. Sampson Carter has built himself up like a beast, and he and Cady Lalanne both seem refreshed and ready to go based on everything we’ve heard. They give this team offense inside that – no disrespect to Sean, of course – this team lacked at times last year. Raphiael Putney is a unique guy who fits so well into this system it’s scary. Jesse Morgan now has experience under his belt and is a known quantity. Maxie Esho showed flashes of brilliance all year long and I think he’s ready to step into a bigger role. Honestly, it does kinda suck losing Farrell, who struggled through much of the regular season but came alive in the conference tourney and NIT, and is a vocal leader as well, but he may be back in time for help this team tackle the best Atlantic 10 field in conference history.

Here’s our preseason picks:

Team MVP: Chaz Williams

He’s the most important thing to happen to this program since Camby. There, I said it. There is absolutely nothing about this kid that would suggest anything less than what he brought to the table last year. If anything, with his drive and motivation and the weapons around him, he just might be even better, if that’s possible. If that’s the case, look out.

Most Improved Player: Sampson Carter

It’s a trendy pick, sure, but honestly, before he went down last year, I was calling this a few games in. He bring a dimension to this team that could make them truly dangerous. He can shoot, he can bang, he can run, he can defend…and now he’s healthy. And jacked like a motherfucker. Don’t say we didn’t tell you so.

Biggest Win You Don’t See Coming: Vs. NC State

Okay, pre-emptive since they have to beat Providence (and the Wolfpack have to…ahem…beat Penn State) for this to even happen. But you heard it here first. UMass is going to knock off the Wolfpack in a tight matchup and come screaming onto the national scene. I told you I’m an optimist.

Game that Scares the Shit out of Me: at Rhode Island

Because if you’ll recall, Matt and I were there last year, and they fucking stormed the court. Not to mention URI figures to be even worse this year, but of course playing UMass is absolutely their Super Bowl, and our guys will have their thoughts ahead to the conference tourney by then. If UMass is watching the bubble late in the year, they cannot afford another loss to a 300+ RPI team, as the Rams will certainly be again (they lost by double-digits in their home opener to Norfolk State. That’s apparently a school now. Nuff said). Who knows what happens if the Minutemen hadn’t lost that awful, awful game at the Ryan Center last year? Don’t fucking do it again, or I will spend ALL of Matt’s money at Mohegan Sun this time.

Enough talk. I present to you two videos to watch as the Minutemen get set to take on Harvard. The first is a trip down memory lane to relive the best moments of last year. The second, and you’re off your rocker if you haven’t managed to see this video yet, is the best commercial this school’s marketing group has ever put out.

Kids, enjoy your campout. (We may make a cameo appearance. Autographs are $5 per item, three for $12.) Either way, we’ll see you in the Bill. Let’s make this season something to remember. After all, the Brotherhood isn’t just the guys on the court. It’s all of us.

- Max

Well, I’m happy to report that so far, in winnable games against lesser opponents, the Micheletto era is still batting 1.000. UMass won 4-0 last night in a game that was never really in doubt. After a sloppy 1st period that made me wonder if anything really did change, the Minutemen came out of the second like a baby set on fire and ended up going into the second intermission with a 3-0 lead. The biggest development of last night’s match was the reemergence of Michael “Space Cat” Purrrreria who get a pretty little PP goal to go along with 2 assists. You could tell Mikey was smelling that first goal after having 2 solid games last weekend without a point, and I think its no coincidence that the 2 assists came after that first goal. Once Mikey broke that goal-less drought, he seemed a bit more willing to pass first rather than try to force a shot. With Mikey back in (hopefully) full force, I’m feeling even more confident in this team. I would take the top 2 lines to war with anybody in college hockey right now. The talent is there, and hopefully the passion stays there. So far, from what I’ve seen, this team doesn’t give up. Yeah, it has gotten beat by a lack of conditioning, and simply by depth of talent, but I have yet to watch a game this year where you knew the team’s heart wasn’t in it (it was obvious our boys were going to lose in the 3rd period of the BC game last week, but I would blame conditioning and playing a team that was 25-1-0 in their last 26, rather than heart). If this team can get up for Providence, then I feel pretty good about saying there is a chance we sniff home ice and, please for the love of god i hope, avoid Conte in the quarters this year.

The Debbie Gillies memorial bullet point section of Matt’s recaps 

•  Tim Schaller, the insufferable scumbag who got 5 and the game for a completely blatant shove of the heroic Conor Allen into the sanction, is from Merrimack NH. FOR SHAME, FUTURE CITY I WILL WORK IN
• Oh Conor Allen is like a homeless man’s college hockey version of Bobby Orr. That second goal was a beauty. Top shelf, shorthanded. I drunkenly bought that goal a drink, it was so pretty.
• Speaking of scum, Steven McParland, the dude who boarded the saint Eric Filiou CLEARLY after the whistle and did not receive a penalty is now enemy number one of us and, in turn, you. Dude looks like a scumbag, seriously, look. Oh, and he’s a freshman. Enjoy the next 4 years, fuckface.
• Passing along a story I heard about the BC game on Sunday. Apparently, on the goal that would have put UMass up 3-1 in the 3rd, Parker Milner was, and I’m quoting from somebody who was right behind the net, clearly inside the goal and past the line when he stopped the puck. However, when the refs went to review it, miraculously, the overhead camera” wasn’t working”. However, it was working for the rest of the game. Thus, no goal. Fucking Conte.
• Quick mini rant about the student section. First, apparently it was small because it was a long weekend. Okay, I hate your excuse, but I guess its a valid one. Whatever. However, y’all n**gas quiet and shit. Step ya game up. Oh, and to the jerkoff who wanted to start a fuck the Friars chant while Filiou was down, then called us pussies when he was promptly scolded: fuck off, I hate you and would absolute break your neck, you fucking nobody. Its hard to let go of something I took so much pride in improving, but the student section is no longer mine to police. Adam (the new guy with the flag) and his posse is doing what they can, but its hard to be the only clever people in a wave of perpetual ignorance. They need the new era. Freshman, sophomores, anybody who gives a shit, be the next generation  Go down to the flag section, yell stuff thats clever, yell loud, don’t use “fuck” as your crutch. There’s going to be a time where i’m not going to know a single soul in the row I used to call home. Its overwhelming to have no control over it. But the next wave of intelligent snarky students needs to start now. The love and support you can feel in a student section, where you see the same people game after game for your UMass career. That starts when you put yourself in a position to succeed. Come down, start the next generation. Be the solution, not the problem.
• Shane Walsh is the best player ever I love him he needs to be on a line with Troy Power and Sheary and be the all awesome line.
• Evan Stack’s new nickname is Even Stackers because he’s not bad but he has yet to do anything to differentiate himself from his competition in a saturated hockey player/bar market.
• KJ ”lol im not spelling that out” Tiefenwerth is showing flashes. He can’t score, but it looks like his vision is getting better every game. He had a great deke to get in the offensive zone, and then a great laser pass. He’ll get an assist during the 3 games in 6 nights stand next week. I’m calling it.
• Providence showed the most Hockey East goonery at the Mullins Center since Maine back in the day. I was waiting for Oleg to lose his shit and just start punching. There was one scrum where he just tackled somebody, but it wasn’t really a tackle it was just a sad FIFA 13 style ‘errrrrrbody fall down’ moment. The one guy who did look like he was about to eat the one game suspension and drop the gloves after the Allen boarding was Mike “like a bus” Busillo who definitely looks like he was about to drop the gloves with the photographer in his Hockey East headshot. Bus skated towards the PC bench and was definitely looking to fuck shit up. Good for him, I’m glad we get to keep chippy Mike Marcou without Mike Marcou.
• #bikemarcou owns

See you guys on Tuesday for basketball, y’all. Expect a preview but then don’t expect it because Max ain’t writing shit, apparently.

-Matt

This weekend was not one of those times for the UMass sports program.

Not to sound cocky about a team that was winless in three conference games taking on an undefeated UNH squad, but I felt like Friday’s game was one of those classic reverse locks for the Minutemen coming in. The Minutemen and Wildcats always seem to play close ones at the Bill, and I felt UNH would come in a little overconfident and UMass would play like a team on a mission. All of these things happened, yet thanks to a performance for the ages by Casey DeSmith, the Minutemen needed Darren Rowe to net a poRowe-play gRowe-al in Rowe-vertime to sneak away with a thrilling 2-1 win in a game they completely dominated pretty much from the midway point of the second period.

And that was actually the MOST shocking thing that happened this weekend. The football team, which has been making huge strides backward week after week, got pasted 63-0 at Northern Illinois. I have little to say about this team other than that it’s disappointing to see they’ve thoroughly given up on the season, but when the cupboard is left so thoroughly dry by the previous coach (like, dry by FCS standards even), what other outcome can you reasonably expect against MAC teams fighting it out for playoff positioning? I think there’s a light at the end of the tunnel when Molnar’s got his own guys playing his system next year, but it’s been a painful trek to say the least.

Basketball’s five-point nailbiter against D2 American International was disappointing to hear about, but when you consider the team was playing with two guards and without its starting center, and that this was pretty much AIC’s Super Bowl, it makes a bit more sense. What’s more disappointing is that Davis, Morgan, and Lalanne are violating team rules in a season where team unity and “brotherhood” are supposed to be overarching themes. Discipline and losing players to these kinds of issues (see Traynham, Daryl and Wiggins, Doug) have been the derailing factors in the first few years of the DK era, and last year seemed like the end of it. Here’s hoping it’s a blip on the radar screen.

Aaaand back to hockey. UMass at Conte Forum. They might as well rename the place Groundhog Day Arena, because it honestly feels like every single game there goes the same way. UMass outplays the Eagles for two periods, falls on its face in the third, and the Eagles escape. Game after game after game. Yesterday’s was even more painful, as the Minutemen had numerous chances to put the game away in the second period (which I don’t believe BC even bothered showing up for), yet couldn’t get any pucks over the Green goal line behind Parker Milner. UMass played well enough to beat most goalies this weekend. Unfortunately, they were dealt DeSmith and Milner, who have emerged this season as two of Hockey East’s best. On the bright side, one would think we have finally settled the issue of who the #1 goalie is on this team after two more great performances by Kevin Boyle. Then again, knowing this team, we’ll probably see Teglia against Providence next week for some reason. But I still think KB’s earned the ace position.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. UMass is through the gauntlet of its first five games against BC, BU, and UNH, with just one win to show for it. You’re probably tired of us talking up the potential these guys have, but bear with me when I say this is the best 1-4 conference start in league history. The question now is what path Coach Mick’s boys will take from here. If they play this way against the rest of the league, they’ll be in the conversation in March, despite what the naysayers predicted preseason. If, as in years past, they were merely playing up to the competition and are about to tail off against the rest of the league, then that old familiar feeling isn’t going away anytime soon.

- Max

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P.S. Couple of big shout-outs for the weekend. First, to the boys of BayState Roadsports. Never thought we’d side with BU on anything (other than our mutual hate for BC, of course), but we had a lot of fun shooting proverbial fish in a barrel this weekend on Twitter against the cretins that occupy the Roughrider State, while they made the roadtrip to Grand Forks to see the Terriers split a pair with the North Dakota Fighting No-Nicknames. If I find myself with time this week (hahaha yeah right) I’ll post some of the highlights. If nothing else, we gained a shitload of Twitter followers, even if they are BU fans.

Also, nice to see Patrick Burke at the Forum, he of the You Can Play project (see link on the right). Of course, BC scored the game-winner almost immediately after he left, but we won’t hold it against him. Much.

I’ll leave you all with this. No idea where the inspiration came from, but it’s our new mascot now.

As always seems to be the case, there were silver linings. UMass outshot BU in both games this weekend, and actually dominated play for long stretches, much unlike Friday’s 5-2 loss at Agganis in which the UMass SOG advantage was a mere consequence of a large favorable penalty advantage. Boyle was back in net and played a solid game. Carzo scored the first UMass penalty shot goal since Al Gore was relevant. But as soon as the Terriers scored to cut the lead to 2-1, you could just smell that familiar smell, like when you’re trying to mask the stench of your dumb drunk roommate’s vomit with Febreze. In the end, it still happened, and now you’re not even sure if the masking smell is any better than the first one. Plus, your parents who went to UNH and BC are coming to visit next weekend and you know they can still smell it. Ah fuck it, let’s order Wings.

UMass is 0-3 against actual D1 competition now, a ninth of the way through the Hockey East schedule. The good news is that there’s time to put it together, and the Minutemen could easily be 2-1 with a couple good bounces. Luck will eventually turn, and things like the new, hyper-aggressive forecheck, Rocco Carzo’s continued emergence as a scoring threat, and solid play from freshmen like Stack and Walsh need to continue. What needs to turn around is the power play’s mediocrity, the little mental lapses and the defense’s tendency to fall asleep at the most inopportune times. Next weekend could see the team fall to 0-5 in the league – or the start of a turnaround. My biggest concern? This sounds eerily familiar. Gulp.

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One thing I do want to address is the presence of the UMass Marching Band at the game to perform the national anthem, as close as we’ve gotten to having a hockey band since I’ve been a fan. Now, this was supposedly “homecoming” weekend, even though last weekend was homecoming weekend 100 miles from campus at Gillette. Whatever. The point is, we shouldn’t get too horribly excited yet, given that the band only played the anthem and that was the last we saw of them, and thus this might have been a one-off bells-and-whistles deal. But you know me – I”m glass half full, all the time. Here’s hoping this was the school giving a trial run to see how the students would respond to having the band there – I think it went well if that’s the case. It goes without saying that having the band perform at games would go a long way toward changing the reputation of the student section. (Then again, only two “Fuck BU” chants that I could count, and neither took off, as long as you discount the rogues who thought “sucks to BU” was “fuck you BU!” Progress.) Seriously, if the problem (as I hear it) is that the band is too overworked as it is, why are we wasting their talents performing at women’s basketball? All due respect to the players, but I think the 300 fans in attendance can get by with piped-in Gangnam Style and Lady Gaga if that’s what it takes to improve the atmosphere at the school’s first-or-second (depending on who you ask) most popular sport. We’re the only school in the conference without a band. Here’s sincerely hoping last night was the first important step toward changing that.

Also, wanna give a big shout-out to Mark of Fear the Triangle and his friends for putting on yet another outstanding tailgate outside the Practice Rink. I wouldn’t mind seeing another hockey tailgate or two before all’s said and done this season. Also very nice to meet the ladies of @TheBenchCrew at both games, and putting aside our differences after a Twitter disagreement a few weeks ago over the treatment of a certain idiot UConn supporter. We also finally met Joe Meloni of College Hockey News, and from the other side of the ice, QuackQuack from Baystate Roadsports (@bsrb_blog) as well as @downgoeskrieder, We do miss Scoops though.

Oh yeah, and football happezzzzzzzzzzzzzz see ya next week!

- Max