UMassHoops.com

Alright folks! ... It's that time of year again! UMass hockey plays a game this week against the Royal Military College of Canada. It's just an exhibition, so it doesn't count for anything, but it'll be a good test to see how team looks. I'm curious to see how some of the freshmen play. I think it's a smart move by Carvel to split up Makar and Ferraro and pair them with Del Gaizo and Farmer, respectively. The top two D-pairings should be good. It'll be interesting to see who's the 3rd D-pairing. You've got Chukarov, McLaughlin, Felix, and Vegara to choose from. Felix has the advantage over Vegara IMO if they elect to go with a freshman on the 3rd pairing. Chukarov has been disappointing to say the least. I'm fairly confident McLaughlin makes it. I would say McLaughlin - Felix for the final pairing. Just a guess. The goalie battle should be interesting. Seems like Murray will be given the slight preference (maybe like 55/45) from the start, but Lindberg will easily get his chances to prove he should start. As for the offense, the top two lines should be pretty good. My initial thoughts on the starting lines would be something like:

Chaffee -- Chau -- Gaudet
Leonard -- A. Del Gaizo -- Pritchard
Trivigno -- Lagunov -- Hildenbrand
Boeing -- Mika -- Suter

Btw, the exhibition is FREE. If you live in the area (or even if you don't live close) try to make it out to show some support for the boys! I honestly believe that Hockey East is pretty wide open after the top 3 (BC, PC, BU). Northeastern lost their entire top scoring line (Sikura, Gaudette, and Stevens). In fact, NU's top line scored about 56% of NU's goals last season. Their offense will be worse. Maine is expected to be pretty good, but I'm not convinced they have the defense (outside of Goaltending -- Swayman is very good) to compete near the top. If UMass can get good goaltending, then I don't see any reason why they couldn't finish fourth in Hockey East and get a double bye in the Hockey East playoffs. As always, GO UMASS!!!

There are no byes anymore in playoffs, just an FYI.

bleedmaroon wrote: Mon Oct 01, 2018 11:51 pm There are no byes anymore in playoffs, just an FYI.

Good catch! Forgot that only the top 8 teams make the Hockey East playoffs now. So I guess my amendment would be: I think there's a chance they could host a playoff series as the #4 team.

Team looked good. Not that it means anything, but 6-1 I'll take it. There's a ton of students gone this weekend. I made less than half as much as I usually do driving Uber last night. Even still the attendance was quite abysmal.

UMass was much faster/quicker than the Royal Military College team. UMass handles the puck better, passed it better, etc. it was a dominate performance. They had ~40 more shots on goal. Only the play of the RMC's goalie kept this from being a double digit win. RPI next Friday should be a much better test for the Minute Men. Obviously, Carvel has this program on the rise. I hope he likes it in Amherst and stays a long time.

Looking forward to another solid season...let's get healthy and let's go!!!