AMHERST – UMass couldn’t ask for a more comfortable environment to open the NCAA Hockey Tournament.
The Minutemen are the No. 3 seed in the Northeast Regional, which will be hosted at the DCU Center in Worcester, less than 60 miles from the campus in Amherst.
“Ecstatic. Believe me, I’m glad I don’t have to jump on a plane. I’m guessing it will feel like a home ice advantage,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said. “Pretty damn good for NCAA Regionals. I think it’s a good situation for us.”
It’ll be UMass’ third-shortest road trip of the season at 55.9 miles. The Minutemen (22-12-2) traveled 52 miles to the XL Center in Hartford, Conn., to face UConn on Feb. 18 and went just 26.9 miles down the road to the MassMutual Center in Springfield for their non-conference game against AIC, which also made the NCAA Tournament field.
The Minutemen are facing No. 2 Minnesota at 6 p.m. Friday (ESPNU) in the opening round.
“I hope it feels like the Garden did on Saturday night where we had a strong following, a strong UMass support,” Carvel said. “We are the underdog, but I like the fact that we’re basically playing a home ice game. Hopefully we’ll get a strong crowd behind us.”
He shouldn’t have to worry too much. The university organized a travel/ticket combo pack for students. UMass Twitter raised money for student tickets and bought others directly. As of Tuesday night, tickets were unavailable in 45 of the DCU Center’s 72 sections for Friday’s session.
. @UMassHockey is on to Worcester, MA & the NCAA Regionals! They take on Minnesota @ 6:00pm @ the @DCUCenter . Tickets can be purchased in & around the UMass sections by clicking the link below!
UMass Sections are 104, 106, 208, and 209
🎟 https://t.co/7hJjhZzj5q#Flagship🚩 pic.twitter.com/L8Pm6zCaUo
— UMass Athletics (@UMassAthletics) March 22, 2022
“Our fans are great. They made a huge difference for us energy wise and creating energy,” UMass junior Cal Kiefiuk said. “It’s pretty special that we’re pretty close to home.”
Both seeding underdogs will have that home crowd feel, as No. 4 Northeastern is facing No. 1 Western Michigan in the early game at noon Friday.
EASY CHOICES – Three UMass players were honored with Hockey East weekly awards Monday.
Senior captain Bobby Trivigno, the league’s player of the year and tournament MVP, received the player of the week award after notching three points across the final two rounds, including a game-tying goal and game-winning assist in the final.
Sophomore defenseman Aaron Bohlinger was named the defensive player of the week after he scored the championship-winning goal in overtime and received praise for his work on the blue line.
Graduate student goalie Matt Murray earned the goalie of the week after stopping 41-of-43 shots he faced, allowing just two goals.
Trivigno and Murray were also named to the all-tournament team.
“Usually the winning team will get most of those awards, but well-earned,” Carvel said. “It’s the time of the year where you want to see your players get recognized because if they are, you’re having a really good season.”
RITUALS OF LOVE – After every game, UMass will gather around the center face off circle, link arms and lean in together. Kiefiuk sprints off the ice after every warm-up period and runs through the tunnel screaming to get his legs moving and his mind ready for the upcoming game. The Minutemen send their players through a gauntlet of stick taps and water bottle dousing. And on and on with other rituals and superstitions that are part of UMass’ famous culture.
“If you put a premium on culture, there’s lots of different parts of culture. And one of them is doing symbolic things like that, because they carry a lot of weight,” Carvel said. “There’s a lot of emotion attached to symbolic things.”
RESPECT YOUR ROOTS – UMass built its national championship-winning program with hard-nosed players willing to do the hard part of games. As its profile has increased due to the success, that creates an opportunity to recruit fancier, shinier prospects. But Carvel and his staff know that grit is at the core of what they do.
“We can’t forget what got us here, those intangibles and those qualities of character and being hungry and always looking to prove people wrong,” Carvel said.
He alluded to some players coming to Amherst on the heels of recent successes but also acknowledged that some players make decisions based on longer history. UMass isn’t located in a city and doesn’t play in the Beanpot, a tournament that means more to players in the eastern part of Massachusetts than anywhere else.
“There’s enough reasons where certain kids don’t want to be at UMass no matter what we do here. It’s just not sexy enough for them. There’s a bit of a natural filter that still exists,” Carvel said. “We understand the kind of kids that we’ve got a better chance of recruiting. Shame on us if we go away from the kind of kids that have brought the success.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.