The time has come for another crop of players to grace the Mullins Center ice one last time.

#11  Danny Hobbs ▲ Shawville, Quebec ▲ Psychology

It’s never easy to be an NHL draft pick in a program that traditionally has had few.  But that was the situation when New York Ranger pick Danny Hobbs walked into as a freshman four years ago.  While he didn’t put up huge numbers in the USHL it was known that he was on one of the weakest teams in the league (which is now no longer in existence) and was still seen as someone who would come into the program and make an impact right away.  He didn’t.  Despite playing 24 games that first year he registered exactly one point and one goal for the entire season.  He had better numbers the next season, scoring 3 goals to go with 9 assists but often he looked a stride slow and played without much confidence.  He rarely seemed to take advantage of his strength.  But it didn’t matter too much.  Those teams had guys like James Marcou, Casey Wellman, Will Ortiz, Matt Irwin, and T.J. Syner to put up points and could make due without Hobbs’ contributions.  But then Ortiz graduated and Marcou, Wellman, and Irwin all left early for the pros and UMass was left with very little in terms of returning scorers.

UMass was also left with few leaders and three juniors were picked as alternate captains to assist captain Paul Dainton.  Danny Hobbs was one of them.  With the A on his chest and the team looking for players to shoulder the scoring load he had a breakout year.  By New Years he had already equaled his goal total from the prior two years combined.  He finish the year with 28 points total, leading the team.  His 12 goals and 5 power play goals would tie for the team lead.  On a team that only won six games, he had one third of the game winners.  Hobbs’ breakout was probably the best storyline on a season that had few.  At the start of the season it seemed a little odd that coach Toot Cahoon would choose an underachieving junior over seniors on the roster for part of the team captaincy.  But Hobbs grabbed hold of his leadership role and became the player that we had hoped to see in the prior two years.  An annoying groin injury that has plagued him all season has prevented him beating the stats he put up last year, but he has still been able to battle through his physical issues and be one of four Minutemen with double digits in goals.  I think the Hobbs emergence as a legitimate leader and impactful player from two years of disappointment is one of the better stories in recent UMass history and it’s also a lesson to remember when touted freshman come in and don’t make a splash right away.  After two seasons some fans may have given up on Danny Hobbs.  But he certainly didn’t give up on himself.

#14  T.J. Syner ▲ Springfield, Massachusetts ▲ Finance & Operations Management

Western Massachusetts has had some excellent players make their way from the valley to Hockey East; from Bill Guerin to Barry Almeida.  UMass has gotten a good share of the local guys to make the short trip to Amherst, but they’ve missed out on a lot too.  T.J. Syner is one I’m really glad they didn’t miss out on.  In addition to giving UMass four solid years of effort and contribution, he has been a lot of fun to watch.  I first got to see Syner play two seasons before he ever put on the maroon and white, during the time he was playing for the Springfield Junior Falcons in the EJHL.  As I watched him in the frigid Rockland Ice Arena I had two thoughts.  He’s tiny and goddamn he’s fast.  Given the ease he was skating past, around, and through the other junior players on the 85’ by ‘185 ice in Rockland, I couldn’t wait to see what he could do on the expansive Mullins surface.  UMass fans would have to wait one more season as he headed west to the USHL after playing for the Falcons, but it was worth it.  In his first couple years Syner’s contributions were overshadowed by those of fellow classmate Casey Wellman.  But while Wellman’s time at UMass was fleeting Syner stayed at home in the valley for his entire college eligibility.

All the hometown hero has given UMass is four years of double digit points, two years of leading the team in assists, two years of leadership, some amazing breakaways and odd man rushes, and an amazing knack to score empty net goals from his own zone.  He’ll leave UMass as, at the very least, the fastest to wear that maroon and white that I’ve ever seen.  He has also been a very stand up individual for the team on and of the ice.  With his leadershis responsibilities he has often had to speak to the media after bad losses and he has always done so directly and honestly, never trying to deflect blame or make excuses.  Flat out, T.J. Syner has been one of the most exciting players to watch in my many years of watching UMass hockey.  I’m glad that we have at least a couple more games to get to see him on the ice.  Who knows what we’ll get to see.

#22  Michael Marcou ▲ Kings Park, New York ▲ Psychology

I’ll be completely honest, when UMass brought Mike Marcou on as a recruit and I did some research on him I pretty much chalked it up as a move to keep his brother happy and hopefully in Amherst.  The latter didn’t happen but a funny thing happened along the way,  Mike Marcou turned out to be a legitimate Hockey East defenseman.  Unfortunately with that he laso became one of the most maligned Hockey East defenseman in the minds of some of his own fanbase.  While he struggled at times in his career Marcou ignored his detractors, kept fighting to prove he deserved to be out on the ice every night, and as a result is having a senior season to be proud of.

Marcou showed up to campus as a freshmen with very little expected of him.  He ended up playing 20 games that first year and proved that he could in fact play defense at this level.  As a sophomore he played every game and suddenly showed that he go do more than just contribute in the defensive end and put in 7 goals that season, equaling Matt Irwin and just one behind Justin Braun.  However, his focus on offense caused his defense to lapse a bit and he ended the season –9 and the criticism of his play began.  Last year Mike Marcou was chosen as an alternate captain and become a go to guy on defense, playing a ton of minutes, and perhaps it ended up being too much for the guy who came to Amherst with little expectations.  Though he still made solid contributions on offense his defense suffered horribly and a vocal portion of the UMass faithful put much of their frustration from a six win season squarely on his shoulders.  Some players wouldn’t have been able to recover from the insults and poor performance.  Marcou responded by having a great senior season.  So far he has scored 6 goals to go with 12 assists.  And that once dreadful +/- rating?  +5, good for sixth on the team.  Marcou has never been the most athletic player on the team.  His skating is average (on a good day) and he’s under six feet tall which doesn’t help as a defenseman.  But he’s been able to establish himself as a legit college defenseman by playing smart and sheer hard work.  And for that I hope the UMass fans make sure to give him a raucous thank you tomorrow night.  Even the haters.

#30 Kevin Moore ▲ Belle Mead, New Jersey ▲ Journalism

I have the utmost respect for the time, effort, and sacrifice it takes to be a Division I athlete.  To be able to balance the overwhelming workload of classes, studying, practices, conditioning, games, and road trips while actually trying to enjoy the college life now and then is not an easy task.  But athletes take on the task and hard work for the chance at playing regularly and perhaps achieving hockey glory along the way.  To be willing to undertake all that sacrifice, time and effort while knowing there’s very little chance of getting any minutes in an actual game is truly admirable.  And that’s exactly what has undertaken for the past three and a half years.

In fact, he’s done more than that.  He didn’t just go to the practices, do the required conditioning, sit on the bus, and cheer his team from the stands.  He became a leader on this team, even as a third and fourth string goaltender.  That’s impressive.  When goaltender Paul Dainton was selected as captain last year Moore was dubbed as basically a locker room captain.  With Dainton busy doing whatever it is that goaltenders do to get ready to throw themselves in front of hard chunks of rubber, Moore took over some of the gameday captain duties.  He undertook those duties, like everything else he’s done as a member of the team, with class.  He has immersed himself in the team.  He’s even done all the work of the player and leader of the team while also putting together his own video features and even writing recaps to be regularly sent out to Pond Club members, honing his journalism skills for a future career.  For all that hard work he has seen three minutes 40 seconds of ice time in mop up duty of an embarrassing 11-2 blowout.  But he hasn’t complained.  He hasn’t done anything different.  When it comes to anything UMass hockey he continues to be front and center, representing the team with pride.  You cannot say enough about that kind of dedication.

The hope obviously is that circumstance allows him to see the ice again this weekend, preferably Friday when the seniors are honored at home.  He’s so well-liked by his teammates maybe they’ll be motivated enough to find a way to get enough pucks behind Joe Cannata that Moore and the UMass fans who have been yearning to see him play will get their reward.  But if it doesn’t happen it doesn’t take away from what he has accomplished on this team, even if so much of it was out of the public eye.  Besides, if the situation doesn’t allow him to get between the pipes he’ll always be able to say his college career was no less than perfect.

Thank you to this year’s senior class.  Thanks for all your hard work and thanks for representing our great university with class.  Good luck in whatever the future holds for you.

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Mike Pereira was a runner-up to February’s Hockey East Player of the Month Award.

Dick Baker makes a plea to the students to come out and support YOUR team.  Seriously, the crowds last weekend were sad.

UMass sticks at #8 in CHN’s Hockey East Power Rankings.

The Northeastern student radio station again does a nice job explaining what the Huskies need to do to grab that last playoff spot over UMass.

Believe it or not, UMass winning or losing will make a big difference to some of the top teams in the country.

Hockey Night In Canada Radio featured an interview with former Minuteman Paul Dainton where he says a lot of good things about his time at UMass and touts the opportunities that NCAA hockey offers.  The Falcons have a “Getting To Know Paul Dainton” video on their Facebook page currently.

Congratulations to freshman goaltender Steve Mastalerz who shares the Hockey East Rookie of the Week award with Trevor Van Riemsdyk who scored a couple goals against UMass on Friday.  As I mentioned in my recap, I was impressed with Mastalerz’s play.  He had solid positioning and made some nice saves, but I think it was his ability and focus to cover up loose pucks that really stood out.  This is the second time he has been honored by the league, gaining Defensive Player of the Week honors in January.

Joel Hanley, Danny Hobbs, and Conor Sheary were all named Top Performers for their play over the weekend.  It was especially nice to see Hobbs have such a strong weekend.  He had been so close to a breakout game recently.

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Boston College is again atop both the USCHO and USA Hockey/USA Today polls.  As much as it pains me to say, UMass fans should hope they’ll be in the same place next Monday because it will likely mean BC wins their games which would allow the Minutemen to keep that third tiebreaker over Northeastern if needed.  For those scoring at home, please note that a full 40% of the top ten consists of Hockey East schools as Boston University moves up a spot to #4, Lowell drops a spot to #8, and Maine remains at #10.  This weekend’s opponent, Merrimack, checks in at #12.

Here’s the current UMass playoff situation:
7th Providence, 23 pts. Games left vs Lowell, at Lowell
T-8th Massachusetts, 20 pts. Games left vs Mack, at Mack
T-8th Northeastern, 20pts. Games left  at BU, vs BU
Providence holds the tiebreaker over UMass with a 2-0-1 record.  UMass currently holds the tiebreaker over Northeastern. The teams went 1-1-1 during the season, they both have 8 conference wins which is the second tiebreaker, so UMass’ 2-1-0 record against BC gives them the edge (Northeastern went 0-3-0 against BC).

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The Collegian has their recap of the weekend as well as a feature highlighting the play of Joel Hanley and Mike Marcou in the split.

The couple of commenters on BC Interruption’s playoff update seem to want nothing to do with UMass in the first round.

Congratulations to former captain Paul Dainton who was named this week’s AHL Rookie of the Week.  In typical Dainton fashion took to his own Twitter account afterwards not to beat his own chest for his honor but to congratulate Steve Mastalerz for his weekly award.

Unfortunately, Division I hockey will not be gaining a new program in the form of Minnesota State-Moorhead.

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Lastly, I’m happy to welcome a new blog to the UMass sports realm.  Maroon Musket was launched today as a blog focused on UMass football and its rise from FCS champion to hopeful FBS power.  One of its writers mentioned to me that they hope to be the Fear The Triangle equivalent for football, which is nice to say, but in all honesty they’ll be much better.  The writers there are all products of the top notch UMass journalism program that has produced so many great media members across the country and I honestly can’t wait to see what these guys are doing as UMass takes the leap to big-time football.  The contributors consists of Bob McGovern and Mike Marzelli, both Daily Collegian veterans, and Marc Bertrand who is heard regularly on the Fleger Felger & Mazz and Bertrand & Gasper programs on 98.5 the Sports Hub.  I’ve had the chance to meet all of these guys in person and can vouch that they’re all diehard UMass fans despite graduating during a dearth of Minuteman sports success.  Personally I’m really excited for the new era of UMass football and having a central place for news and analysis will make it that much better.

For the first time in a long time UMass was able to put together a solid effort in two consecutive nights.  Mid-November was really the last time this happened.  Ideally when you have two solid games in a row, you get a couple wins out of it as well.  Due to some superb goaltending on Friday night, that didn’t happen.  But it is good to see the team realizes the desperate situation they’re in and are responding to it appropriately.  Because frankly anything less than 100% at this time is not going to cut it.

It would’ve been easy to come out a little flat after picking up the loss on Friday despite completely outplaying the Wildcats.  That didn’t happen though they still gave UNH the early lead on a shorthanded goal when they not only gave up a breakaway but were unable to clear out the puck after Steve Mastalerz made the initial save.  However UMass would take the lead thanks to scoring a couple goals off rebounds and continuing to hammer away at the puck, the first by Kevin Czepiel, the second by Mike Marcou.  Joel Hanley would score shortly after Marcou but UNH would get one back at the end of the third that setup a pretty tense third period with the two teams going back and forth and the goaltenders coming up with some big saves.  Conor Sheary would get the insurance goal with just over two minutes left, setup by Branden Gracel who returned to the lineup after sitting for two games.

Despite Kevin Boyle looking pretty good in net the night before, Toot Cahoon still decided to switch things up in net and Steve Mastalerz looked very good in the start.  What was especially impressive was how aggressively he was working to cover up rebounds and loose pucks in front of him.  This really limited the number of second chances for the Wildcats.  It’s also important because all weekend it seemed like the defensemen in front of him were a second late in putting those pucks on their stick or into the corner.

We’re in for an interesting two days of hockey next weekend.  Maine did to Northeastern last night what they did to UMass last Friday up in Orono, putting up seven goals on the Huskies and gaining the win.  That puts us back right where we were to begin the weekend.  Northeastern and UMass are tied for 8th place with 20 points.  Since the season series was even and they both have eight conference wins, it comes down to the third tiebreaker which is record against the first place team.  Right now that is Boston College who have a two point lead over BU and a four point lead over Lowell.  With UMass’ 2-1-0 record against the Eagles, they own that tiebreaker.  UMass fans will be in the uncomfortable position of rooting for the Eagles to maintain that lead in the league while cheering on the Terriers to beat the Huskies in their games next weekend.  UMass on the other hand will be facing a Merrimack team that has a lot to play for.  Not only are they fighting for home ice, just one point behind Maine for 4th place, but they’re fighting for an NCAA berth, currently tied for 14th in the Pairwise.  The Warriors and Minutemen both have something to battle for.  At the very least it should be some great hockey.

Fear The Triangle Player of the Game
Joel Hanley’s goal in the second period was his second of the weekend and ended up being Saturday’s game winner.  He finished the game +2 and has been one of UMass’ best players in the second half of the season.

I realized that I forgot to include my POTG in Friday’s writeup.  Conor Sheary gets the nod thanks to his goal and assist.  He’d go on to add another goal last night for his first multi-goal weekend since the Florida tournament.

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The Minutemen responded to the challenge says the Republican game story.

On the UNH side, the Wildcats suffered a letdown says their local paper.  Interesting to note though, UNH coach said after the game that he thought his team played better last night than on Friday.

PlayoffStatus.com now gives the Minutemen a 54% chance of making the playoffs.

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Congrats to former Minuteman Paul Dainton who picked up his first AHL shutout last night.

Hockey can be an unforgiving game sometimes.  You can play well for 59 minutes, dominating the game, but sometimes just a minute of lapsed play and an opposing goaltender standing on his head can lead to a loss.  That’s exactly what happened last night.  I absolutely cannot say anything bad about UMass’ effort.  They came out and hit the ice completely ready to play and in terms of effort it was there for the entire night.

As a fan, I have to admire how hard they worked on the ice, generating over 50 shots on the game.  But freshman Casey DeSmith goaltender worked hard as well, making sure he was in great position all night and making the tough saves when he had to.  A number of times it looked like UMass had a chance to beat him but a flash of the glove by DeSmith and the score would remain the same.  While UMass put a lot of shots on net, they ultimately couldn’t get DeSmith moving in his crease to try to sneak more past him.  A lot of the shots were straight on allowing DeSmith to position himself correctly.  Another thing to note is that while UMass did generate a ton of shots, surprisingly few of them came from the top two lines.  Mike Pereira had just two shots as did T.J. Syner.  Stephen Guzzo had just one while Eric Filiou didn’t have any.  Third liners Rocco Carzo and Pat Kiley totalled 14 shots together.  It’s good to get a lot of pressure on the goaltender and a lot of times just peppering him will lead to goals, but at the same time you’d like those shots to come from your most skilled goal scorers.

Looking through the scoresheet it’s amazing this game ended as a 4-3 loss for the Minutemen.  Shots were 51-29 in their favor, including 25 in the second.  There have been entire games this season where UMass has failed to gain 20 shots total.  The Minutemen were equally dominant in the faceoff circle, winning 41 faceoffs to UNH’s 24.  Steven Guzzo and Eric Filou did amazing work at the faceoff dot, taking 11 of 16 and 11 of 17 respectively.  UMass picked up a power play goal and were only sent to the box themselves twice.  They killed the Wildcats’ only power play opportunity.  While not spectacular, the team got solid goaltending from Kevin Boyle.  It’s always easy to say a goaltender should’ve done this or that but honestly UNH’s goals either came on screens or defensive breakdowns.

Defensive breakdowns.  As I said, you can give amazing effort for 60 minutes but if you fail to execute, even only for a period as short as 17 seconds, the entire game can turn in the other team’s favor.  Early in the third the Minutemen tied it thanks to a Joel Hanley goal but just a few minutes later some bad decision making gave it right back and then some.  Seven minutes into the period the defensive pairing of Colin Shea and Connor Allen had a lapse in play.  One of them (the Gazette and Republican differ on who did what and I don’t remember myself) got caught too deep in the offensive zone which led to a two on one break for the Cats and a UNH goal.  Only seconds later Mike Marcou and Joel Hanley got stuck watching and UNH had another breakaway and another goal.  That was the game.  17 seconds.

While UMass was giving their all and losing Northeastern upset Maine 4-2 by scoring the final three goals of the game.  So as UMass heads into tonight they’re in 9th place and out of the playoffs, two points behind the Huskies.  Of course the Huskies’ win also gives them the edge in the second tiebreaker scenario, conference wins.  The Minutemen no longer control their own destiny.  They have to find a way to win starting tonight and become Black Bear and Terrier fans from here on out.  A duplication of last night’s effort will be a good start to getting a win tonight.

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Dick Baker says there wasn’t much to criticize from last night.

In the Gazette’s recap Dick Umile says his team was lucky to get the win.

Here’s the game story from the Wildcat viewpoint.

CHN’s Josh Seguin has his takeaways from the game.

Playoffstatus.com gives UMass a 26% chance of making the playoffs.

Last September I wrote that despite there being only two committed recruits to the program for 2012 and none for future years that it wasn’t time to panic.  UMass’ imbalanced classes and the fact that, on average, players committed about 13 months before their class arrives at Amherst were the reasons I cited.  Well here we are five months later and UMass has added just one recruit in that time, Springfield Pics forward Willie Smith for 2014.  The more time that drags on the more I wonder and more I worry.  Not only are the other Hockey East teams lining up players all the way through 2016, but another thing that’s changed is it’s unknown what type of impact the two incoming recruits for next year will have on the team.  Shane Walsh split his season between the USHL and EJHL but has the type of game where it’s tough to measure from afar by statistics alone.  Kenny Gillespie, who it was hoped could contribute offensively as a freshman, has spent most his time on the third line in the USHL scoring just three goals on the season.  First things first, let’s take a look at where UMass stands with their future needs:

UMass has four players that will be honored at senior night next week; T.J. Syner, Danny Hobbs, Mike Marcou, and Kevin Moore.  Obviously goaltender is not one of the team needs right now so likely the coaches will only look to bring in three players.  So far they only have two.  But it’s not next year that worries me.  Yes, it’s a question mark as to how those two will play, but obviously the coaches saw something in them so we’ll just have to have faith.  And for that last spot the staff has always been able to pick up recruits late in the season that have worked out, guys like Casey Wellman and Branden Gracel.  It’s the future years that really worry me.  In that next year the team will look to fill the spots of Rocco Carzo, Eddie Olczyk, Darren Rowe, and Kevin Czepiel.  Two of those guys are obviously regular players and the other two have played recently in key games.  Right now there are no players lined up as replacements.  The year after that what happens when our huge sophomore class is gone?  UMass will look to fill 13 roster spots.  13!  Here’s how other schools commits breakout. This is based on Chris Heisenberg’s site. When a player is listed as possible arriving at the school in two years, I’ve taken the earlier :

Kenny Gillespie – RW – Omaha Lancers (USHL) – 2012
23 GP / 3 G / 4 A / 7 Pts / 37 PIM / 0
Gillespie had a multi-point game over the weekend, scoring a goal and an assist as the Lancers beat Cedar Rapids 7-0 on Saturday.  Gillespie is also playing a game against Sioux City as I type this.

Willy Smith – LW – Springfield Pics (EJHL/EmpJHL) – 2014
EJHL: 21 GP / 1 G / 1 A / 2 Pts / 28 PIM
Empire: 22 GP / 7 G / 18 A / 25 Pts / 24 PIM
Smith did not register any points in the two Empire level games he played over the weekend.

Shane Walsh – LW – South Shore Kings (EJHL) – 2012
Dubuque (USHL): 23 GP / 5 G / 7 A / 12 Pts / 0 PIM / –8
South Shore (EJHL): 9 GP / 7 G / 6 A / 13 Pts / 4 PIM
Walsh had a goal and two assists in his three games with the Kings this past week.

Also on the recruiting front I’ve heard, but can’t confirm, that recruiting target Alex Minter who plays for Governor’s Academy is out for the rest of the year with a torn ACL.  Very unfortunate news.

I’m not totally sure yet, but the subject of tomorrow’s View From Section U weekly column may feature recruiting as well.

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Mike Pereira and Danny Hobbs are both mentioned in Joe Meloni’s Three Up, Three Down feature on College Hockey News.  Pereira for his recent hot streak, Hobbs for his inability to get on the scoreboard during that same time.  I’ve been wondering about Hobbs’ lack of points recently as well.  One has to wonder if maybe the groin injury that plagued him during the first half of the season is acting up again.  One interesting thing to note, even though he has missed some conference games due to injury he’s still 7th in Hockey East in total shots.  So he’s definitely been active on the offensive end but has been unable to find the back of the net.

Boston University defenseman Max Nicastro pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape today in court.  The Daily Free Press, BU’s student paper, also tweeted this afternoon that Nicastro is no longer enrolled in school.

Paul Kelley, who was in charge of College Hockey Inc. and its efforts to promote the NCAA game, surprisingly resigned yesterday amid reports that he was forced out for trying to get support to raise the profile of the organization directly from schools instead of the league commissioners who oversee CHI.  College Hockey News says losing the high profile Kelley, who was head of the NHL’s Player Association earlier in his career, is no cause for alarm.  Late today it was announced that Nate Ewell is being elevated from his current post as head of Communicates for CHI to interim Director.  From what I can tell Ewell seems to be a strong advocate for college hockey and is well respected among the NCAA hockey community.