This has been one of the most frustrating and disappointing seasons of UMass hockey in the 20 plus years that I’ve watched the program.  There have been blowouts.  There have an unthinkable amount of late game collapses.  There have been games, as recently as last Friday, where the team has looked unfocused and at times disinterested.  It’s been tough to understand why the team has played this way and know exactly what they were truly capable of.  Last night the Massachusetts hockey players showed that despite the up and down results of the season, they are in fact a team that can play inspired and amazing hockey.  They are a team that can execute at a high level on consistently through long stretches.  They can battle to get back into a game and continue to battle to get a win.  They are a team that will leave it all out on the ice for a victory. They are a team that has heart.  A lot of heart.   The prevailing problem this season has been that the team too often failed to put in a total 60 minute effort.  But they put in a 60 minute effort last night.  Twice in fact.  And then did it some more.  In the 152nd minute of last night’s five overtime marathon, the longest game in NCAA history, Shane Walsh’s game winner sent all the Minutemen back to the locker room as heroes.

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