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University of Massachusets Athletics
No. 9 Minutemen Host No. 3 Black Bears
November 19, 2003 | Hockey
Nov. 19, 2003
Minutemen battle Maine before taking Hockey East break...
For the second straight Friday night, the University of Massachusetts will host the third-ranked team in the nation, this time as Maine comes calling to the Mullins Center on Nov. 21, at 7:00 p.m. The two teams are sitting 1-2 in the Hockey East standings with 10 and eight points, respectively.
At stake for UMass...
There are a number of streaks on the line for the Minutemen in tonight's contest with Maine:
? The Minutemen are aiming for their third straight win against Maine, something never done before by the Minutemen. In fact, a team hasn't won three in a row against Maine since Boston College won four in a row in 2000-01.
? The Minutemen are also aiming for their best start in school history, equaling the 9-2-0 start by the 1971-72 team. UMass has already won the most games before Thanksgiving break in school history.
UMass slapshots...
The Minutemen are coming off one of their stronger performances of the season with a 3-2 victory on the road over Providence. UMass outshot the Friars, 32-29, and held them without a goal in the final 25 minutes after taking a 3-2 lead midway through the second period. UMass won the season series over the Friars, 2-1.
? The Minutemen have held 15 straight foes to 30 shots or less.
? UMass has won three of the last four meetings against Maine, dating back to last year.
About Maine...
Maine enters tonight's contest with a 9-2-0 mark and 4-2-0 in Hockey East. The Black Bears are coming off a weekend sweep of Northeastern and UMass Lowell after dropping contests at Boston College and New Hampshire, which ended its 7-0-0 start.
Maine is undoubtedly led by the nation's top goaltending tandem in Jimmy Howard and Frank Doyle. Doyle is 5-1-0 with a 1.83 GAA and Howard is 4-1-0 with a 2.00 GAA, with three shutouts between them. The Black Bears boast balanced offense as well, with nine players scoring at least seven points, led by Todd Jackson and Colin Shields.
Road warriors...
? UMass set an ongoing school record with its seventh straight road win, dating back to last year, in the Nov. 15, 3-2 victory over Providence. All seven of the wins have come against Hockey East teams, and three of them were against teams ranked in the top 15 nationally. The Minutemen have won all but two of the games by at least two goals.
Coming out in droves...
? The Mullins Center is starting to turn into a strong home-ice advantage. The Minutemen are 15-10-0 at home since the start of last season. Over the last 10 games, the Mullins Center has posted five of the top 10 attendance figures and averaged over 4,000 fans through the turnstiles. Last Friday's crowd of 7,113 was the largest ever to see a UMass hockey game in the Mullins Center ever, and 10th-largest to see the Minutemen play anywhere.
Out-of conference dominance...
? The Minutemen ran their out-of-conference unbeaten streak to 10 games in the Oct. 24, 2-1 win over Holy Cross. UMass hasn't lost an out of conference game in over a year (393 days to be exact). The last loss was a 3-2 overtime defeat to Nebraska-Omaha on Oct. 27, 2002. UMass has outscored its non-conference foes 50-26 (5.00 - 2.60) during that span.
First-timers...
? With second-leading scorer Greg Mauldin out of the line-up this past weekend, several players were forced to contribute moreso than usual. Three players scored their first goals of the season in Saturday's win over Providence. James Solon, Marvin Degon and John Toffey all netted goals. In fact of the eight players that scored against the Friars, five of them hadn't scored more than three points each all year entering the contest.
Stats tell the story...
? One looking at the records in certain situations can see where UMass' success lies. First of all, when UMass plays an unranked opponent, the Minutemen are 7-0-0 this season and 19-3-0 since the start of last year. UMass is 7-0-0 when scoring in a game first and when leading after two periods. When the Minutemen outshoot their foes, they are 8-0-0, but 0-2-0 when being outshot. Lastly, when scoring at least two goals, the Minutemen are 8-1-0.
Red-hot November...
? The saying that it takes a little while to get going can certainly ring true for the Minutemen. UMass has won six of the last seven November games and nine of the last 11 during the second-to-last month of the year. Since the start of last year, UMass is 10-4-0 in November, with two of the losses coming by one goal.
Continuing a hot start...
? UMass' 8-2-0 start is the best start since joining Hockey East in 1994-95, and is the second-best ever. Only the 1971-72 team that started 9-1-0, that finished with a 19-7-0 record, had a better beginning. With a win tonight, UMass will equal the best start in school history after 11 games at 9-2-0. UMass has never began the year 10-2-0.
Series winner...
? After winning only three Hockey East series last season, the Minutemen have already claimed two season series in the first month of the conference season. UMass won the important season series with Providence for the first time since the 1999-2000 season, winning two games at PC's Schneider Arena in the last two weeks. The Minutemen have already won the season series with Merrimack, winning 2-0 and 5-3 on Nov. 7-8, and can sweep the Warriors on Jan. 31, 2004, in Amherst.
Bouncing back...
? The Minutemen have made a habit of coming out strong following a loss. Twice this year, the Minutemen pieced together solid efforts after their only two losses. The first instance came following a 6-2 loss at home to Providence, in which UMass won 4-2 the next night against the Friars. The second instance came this past weekend following a 4-1 loss to Boston College. The Minutemen defeated Providence on the road again, 3-2, to claim the season series. Both games were two of UMass' better games.
Class participation...
? The Minutemen are getting solid efforts from all four classes en route to their 8-2-0 mark, the best from a UMass team since 1993-94 (when they beat up on D-III foes). The sophomore class is continuing on its hot pace that it was on as freshmen, when they scored the most points of any class in the 2002-03 season. The sophomore class has accounted for 38.2 percent of the scoring. However, the three senior tri-captains (Thomas P?ck, Nick Kuiper and Mike Warner) have stepped up and increased their scoring capabilities this season.
Terrific Thomas...
? UMass' senior defenseman Thomas P?ck has set the tone for a resurgent UMass hockey team. Since his switch from forward to defenseman last season, the Minutemen are 26-16-1, and his scoring has erupted. He has moved into 15th on the school's all-time scoring list, thanks to his 16 points this season. He now has 77 career points (36 g, 41 a) and ranks seventh on the school's Division I scoring list. He was named UMass' first preseason All-America in school history when he was named a second-team selection by insidecollegehockey.com. He is currently the nation's leader among defenseman in points per game at 1.60 ggp, and is eighth among all players. P?ck has scored at least two points in six of the 10 games so far this season and has tallied points in all but one contest this season. He needs just two points to tie Brad Norton as the top-scoring blueliner in school history. He played in his 100th career game on Nov. 7 against Merrimack and celebrated by becoming the 10th player in UMass Division I history to tally at least two goals in two straight games. He was named Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week following his four-point weekend against the Warriors.
Magnificent Mauldin...
? Junior forward Greg Mauldin has led the Minutemen in scoring the last two seasons and is expecting another big season in 2003-04. He already ranks 16th on the school's all-time scoring list and is eighth on the school's Division I scoring list with 75 points. He was named an honorable mention All-Hockey East performer last season after ranking seventh in the league in scoring. Mauldin started last year slow, scoring just six points in the first 10 games, but finished 2002-03 by scoring 35 points in the last 27 games. He was the first Minuteman since 1996-97 to score 40 points in a season and was UMass' first-ever finalist for the Walter Brown Award. He scored his first multi-point game of the season with two assists against Providence, and has scored at least two points in three straight games. Last year, he didn't have 10 points until his 12th game of the season. The two points against Merrimack on Nov. 8 marked his 22nd career multi-point game. Both of his points against Merrimack on Saturday came on goals, his first multi-goal game of the season. He and teammate, Thomas P?ck, give the Minutemen bona fide Hobey Baker candidates.
Big-goal Capraro off to big start...
? Chris Capraro is off to a great start in 2003-04. The sophomore forward has scored 12 points (3 g, 9 a). He has scored three points in a game twice already this season after accomplishing the feat only once as a freshman. He has four multi-point games to his credit this year after dishing out two assists against Merrimack on Nov. 8. Last season, he didn't have 12 points until his 17th game of the year. Only four sophomores nationally have scored more points than Capraro this year.
Winer solid in net...
? Winer is 8-2-0 with a 2.33 GAA and an .889 save percentage. He has won 13 of his last 17 starts, dating back to last season. In his eight wins this year, Winer has a 1.75 GAA and a .913 save percentage, while allowing only 14 goals in 480 minutes of action.
Degon the Distributor...
? With sophomore Matt Anderson out for at least the first semester, someone has had to pick up the scoring slack, and that someone has become defenseman Marvin Degon. The sophomore ranks tied for eighth among the nation's defensemen in scoring and has tallied points in four straight road games. He recorded his first multi-point game (1 g, 1 a) of the year against Providence on Nov. 15.
