UMass followed up an ugly win on Friday with one of their better overall efforts of the season on Saturday.  Though they let up a little on offense in the third period (only six shots total), defensively they looked good throughout.  And the defensemen provided the offense as well with Colin Shea scoring his first career goal and Adam Phillips netting a couple on the power play.  It was great to see the team bounce back from a tough game the night before.  While freshmen were responsible for all four goals (Sheary scored one as well), it was the upperclassmen that helped set them up with T.J. Syner and Danny Hobbs picked up two assists each and Chase Langeraap and Mike Lecomte getting one apiece as well.  Darren Rowe picked up an assist and has played well on both sides of the puck as of late.

It was nice to see the two power play goals and some good offensive efforts, but I thought the team’s defensive play was the star of the show.  The defensive players showed much better positioning throughout and the forwards came back to help as needed.  It was great to see Rocco Carzo, whose play has improved recently, win 7 out of 8 faceoffs.  Kevin Czepiel continues to contribute in key situations and also did a great job in the faceoff circle winning 9 of 13.   The penalty kill shutdown all three Lowell chances and have now killed 14 in a row. 

The sweep was key as UMass was able to jump over Providence into 7th place and it puts a huge distance between them and the River Hawks in 10th.  With Vermont only splitting their series with Northeastern it puts the Minutemen 4 points above the Catamounts with next weekend’s series looming.  Three or four points in Burlington will give UMass some breathing room in the standings to secure a playoff spot.

Fear The Triangle Player of the Game – Adam Phillips
Great to see Phillips bounce back from a tough Friday, like the team in general, with a couple power play goals, one on a shot from the point and the other by crashing the net.  Unfortunately his chance at a hat trick was cut short with an injury suffered late in the game.  Hopefully it won’t keep him out this coming weekend.

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Here’s Dick Baker’s recap of the game.  It’s unfortunate to see the local paper refer to the team with a hyphen however.

This Boston Herald article talks about UMass’ successful weekend.

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For his two goal effort Phillips was named the Hockey East Rookie of the Week for the second time this season.  Paul Dainton, Chase Langeraap, T.J. Syner, and Danny Hobbs were all named Top Performers.  The release also mentions that Hobbs has 5 goals and 7 assists in his last 9 games.

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Despite losing to Brown yesterday Yale remains the top ranked team in the country in both the USCHO and USA Hockey polls.

No changes at the top of INCH’s Power Rankings either.