Hockey East men’s semifinals take place Friday night at TD Garden
None of the three groups becoming a member of Merrimack at TD Garden on Friday — Boston College, UConn, and UMass — have certified for the NCAAs. UMass (thirteenth within the NPI) and UConn (fifteenth) might seize at-large bids with wins on Friday and a few assist in different convention tournaments, however the one means to make sure a spot can be to win the title. BC (18th) and Merrimack (twenty fourth) can solely qualify by getting the automated bid that comes with hoisting the Lamoriello Trophy Saturday night.
That was not a priority for BC (20-14-1) in every of the final two seasons, when the Eagles captured the regular-season crown and entered because the No. 1 seed. They won the conference tourney two years agohowever had been upset within the quarterfinals final season, but they nonetheless entered the NCAA Tournament because the No. 1 general seed.
“It has that finality to it,” stated BC coach Greg Brown, whose squad defeated Maine in the quarterfinals.
“When you’re in this situation, there is no tomorrow, so you’re just playing. You can take all the distractions out. You don’t have to think, what if this? What if that? It’s just, ‘Let’s go see how well we can play.’ ”
BC swept the season series against UConn, Feb 20-21, with James Hagens, who was named Hobey Baker top-10 finalist on Wednesdayregistering a hat trick in the opener. Both teams struggled down the stretch. The Huskies won just one of their final six games, while BC dropped four in a row. Both seemed to be right the ship in the quarterfinals.
His team finally healthy, Brown tweaked the lines against Maine. Skating alongside Hagens on the first line was fellow Bruins first-round pick Dean Letourneau, along with freshman Oscar Hemming. Senior Oskar Jellvik, in his fifth game back from injury, was reunited with Andre Gasseau and Will Vote on the second line.
“I like the balance of our lines,” said Brown. “Each line generated some possibilities on Friday. It did not appear to be there was one line that was out of synch. You can all the time change issues rapidly mid-game, however proper now these traces appear to have some chemistry going.”
UConn (19-11-5) additionally boasts ahead depth. It was the fourth line of Jake Percival, Tabor Heaslip, and Tristan Fraser that staked the Huskies to a 1-0 lead in their 5-3 win over Boston University within the quarterfinals. The prime line of Jake Richard, Ryan Tattle, and Joey Muldowney have mixed for 40 objectives and 45 assists.
“Every line has scored 20 goals or more this year,” said UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh. “So we’re getting contributions from all 4 traces. But not solely that, all of them play effectively defensively.”
UMass (22-12-1) and Merrimack (19-15-2) meet in the early game. The Minutemen swept the season series Jan. 16-17, although both games were tied entering the third period before UMass took the lead, then included an empty-netter each night. Junior Jack Musa leads UMass with 16 goals and 20 assists and was named a Hockey East second-team All-Star.
Since Jan. 1, UMass goalie Michael Hrabal, named the Hockey East Player of the Year on Thursday, is 13-3-1 with a 1.35 goals-against average and .958 save percentage, winning consecutive national goalie of the month awards for January and February. The Minutemen went from a .500 team near the bottom of the standings to a second-place finish, then defeated Northeastern, 4-1, in the quarterfinals.
“We’ve had to win for two months, and we need to win Friday night,” said UMass coach Greg Carvel. “That’s what I informed the crew. ‘You guys needn’t do something completely different. Just preserve doing what you are doing. We’re going into the playoffs enjoying at the highest of our recreation.’ “
Merrimack has gone 14-5-2 since Dec. 12. Goalie Max Lundgren has started all 36 games for the Warriors and stopped 57 of 62 shots in postseason victories over UMass Lowell and Providence. The top two lines consist of freshmen and sophomores, with Justin Gill (16 goals, 19 assists) and Parker Lalonde (13 goals, 22 assists) finalists for Hockey East rookie of the year.
“We got out of the gate really poorly, and the way we built back in the second half is a real testament to who our guys are, and I’m excited that they got rewarded for it,” stated coach Scott Borek.
The Warriors have the highest energy play in Hockey East, and the sixth-best within the nation at 27 p.c. Opportunities is likely to be few although, as UMass is the least-penalized crew within the nation, averaging simply 6.2 penalty minutes per recreation.
Puck drop for UMass-Merrimack is 4 pm, adopted by UConn-BC. Both video games will air on NESN+.
Follow Andrew Mahoney @GlobeMahoney.
