UMass played against the worst statistical defense in Hockey East for six periods and only managed one goal, scored on a 5 on 3. 

Again, UMass played against the worst statistical defense in Hockey East for six periods and only managed one goal, scored on a 5 on 3.

I could leave my recap at that and feel like I’ve said all that needed to be said.

Instead I’ll go on.  This team faced yet another “must-win” and seemed to play without any sense of desire or desperation.  If they did in fact feel either of those it did not translate to any form of execution.  This team showed little to no emotion on senior night, as five players likely said goodbye to the Mullins Center and the crowd that gathered within it.  And on a more personal note, this is the first team in four years that did not win on the night where the call for triangles was made.  That one hurts the most.

I do want to congratulate Joe Cannata who put together a very good weekend.  I’m sure he’ll likely end up Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week for the last two nights and he deserves it.  Do I think he was pushed to his limit?  Definitely not.  UMass may have generated a lot of shots but they generated very few real scoring chances.  However so much of goaltending is positioning and Cannata was exactly where he needed to be all weekend.

I don’t know what else to say.  Did I mention that UMass played against the worst statistical defense in Hockey East for six periods and only managed one goal, scored on a 5 on 3?

Fear The Triangle Player of the Game – Justin Braun
If Braun had been able to play forward UMass might’ve scored a goal.  This award almost went to Danny Meyers who played very and got exactly zero help from the rest of his team for the second straight game.

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Dick Baker asks when will this end?  I wish I knew.  At this point it could all end March 6th in Orono.

Here’s the recap from the Gazette.

Perspective from the Merrimack side of things.

Adios pairwise rankings.  It was fun while it lasted!

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Here’s a recruit that UMass missed out on.  Michael Voran will be playing for Notre Dame instead.  He was also interested in Michigan State.