Hockey Enjoys Stellar Season

April 16, 2004

By Chris Forman
The Maroon & White

After last season's record-breaking year in which the Minutemen advanced to the Hockey East semifinals for the first time ever, many were wondering what this year's edition would do for an encore.

Well, the 2003-2004 version of the UMass hockey team rewrote last year's season with another record-breaking year that ended in the Hockey East finals for the first time ever, a 19-12-6 record and a year spent in the nation's top 15 poll for several weeks. Here is a look back at some of the highlights of the UMass hockey season.

P?ck enjoys incredible senior season...
When Thomas P?ck made the transition to defenseman at the start of last season, no one could have envisioned the offensive success it would bring the Austria native. After scoring 37 points (17 goals, 20 assists) in 2002-2003 to rank fourth among the country's defensemen in scoring, P?ck totaled 41 points (16 goals, 25 assists) to lead the nation's blue-liners in 2003-2004. He became UMass' first-ever Hobey Baker finalist and became just the seventh player in UMass history (and fifth since UMass went Division I) to tally 100 career points, when he scored a goal in the third period of UMass' 5-2 Hockey East semifinal victory over New Hampshire. He would later add an assist in the finals against Maine, was the Hockey East Tournament's leading scorer and earned a spot on the Hockey East All-Tournament team for the second straight season. He rewrote the UMass record books, setting school records for defensemen in at least 10 categories, despite being a defenseman for only two years. To top it off, he became UMass' first-ever first team All-Hockey East performer.

Playing in the pros...
Prior to March 23, only one former Minuteman, Brad Norton (1994-1998), had played in a National Hockey League game. That number doubled in the span of four days as P?ck and Greg Mauldin both saw action in their first NHL games, as part of the New York Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets. P?ck had the most success, signing a free agent contract close to the rookie cap of $1,000,000 on March 23, getting teammate Tim Warner to drive him to Madison Square Garden and appearing in his first NHL contest that night. P?ck not only played nearly 15 minutes and 19 shifts, but tallied his first career NHL goal with a slap shot from the blue-line that fans in Amherst have become accustomed to seeing. In his second career game, he became the first Ranger since 1996 to score a point in his first two games with a second-period assist. Lastly, in the game on March 27 in front of an ABC Television audience, P?ck played the fifth-most minutes of anyone on the team and posted a plus-one rating, while spending several minutes on the Rangers' penalty-kill unit. Mauldin, meanwhile, played in 12 and nine minutes respectively, in his first two games, recording three shots on goal in the two contests. He decided to forego his senior season at UMass after scoring 94 points in three seasons and ending his career scoring goals in five straight games, a school record. Also on March 23, senior defenseman Nick Kuiper signed a free-agent contract with the Chicago Blackhawks, but the team decided to finish the season without him on the roster. He will start training camp next fall with Chicago.

An epic final...
UMass certainly made the most of its first appearance in the Hockey East Tournament finals, and made a lasting impression on the 16,743 fans in attendance at the FleetCenter. No. 2-ranked Maine edged the Minutemen, 2-1, in triple overtime to earn its fifth tournament title. However, the game will be remembered for the longevity and the stellar goaltending play displayed by both teams. The game was the fourth-longest game in NCAA history (109:27), the longest Hockey East game ever, the longest ever played by either school and lasted 4 hours and 41 minutes. UMass was one shot shy of a school record, recording 64 shots on goal, while Maine had 61. Gabe Winer stopped 59 shots, while his counterpart, Maine's Jimmy Howard, made 63 saves.

Quarterfinal success...
The Minutemen are the only team in Hockey East to sweep their quarterfinal series in two straight years. Prior to last season, the Minutemen had been 1-9-0 with nine straight defeats in the Hockey East Tournament.

Defense is the name of the game...
Despite the Minutemen scoring only 47 goals in 24 Hockey East games (the goals scored average of 1.96 per game was the second lowest in league history, to only UMass' totals in the 2001-2002 season), UMass still posted a 12-9-3 league mark. UMass scored two or fewer goals in 17 of the 24 league games, but yet still posted a 5-9-3 mark in those games. The big reason for UMass' success was goalie Gabe Winer, who posted a 14-13-6 overall record, a save percentage of .887 and a school-record goals against average of 2.60.

Stepping up...
Several Minutemem have turned it on in the Hockey East Tournament over the past two years, and head coach Don "Toot" Cahoon is getting contributions from everyone. Tim Warner starred in three Hockey East Tournament games, earning his first starts of the season. The junior goalie was an emergency starter, and stopped 88 of 94 (.936 save percentage) shots in three games and tied a career high with 39 saves in the game one win over UMass Lowell. Dusty Demianiuk scored two points in 45 regular-season games, but has four points (2 goals, 2 assists) in six career Hockey East Tournament games. Mike Warner has tallied six points in six career Hockey East Tournament games, but only 31 points in 127 regular-season games.

Keeping it exciting...
The Minutemen excelled in close games this season, posting a 13-3 mark in one or two-goal games, including a 10-2 mark in Hockey East games. However, in games decided by three or more goals, the Minutemen were only 5-8, including 2-7 in league contests. UMass won by four or more goals only once this season (on Oct. 18, 5-1 against Saint Lawrence).

Home Sweet Home...
The Mullins Center has slowly become one of the toughest places to play in Hockey East and the fans have noticed. The largest on-campus facility in the league has turned in 10 of the top 16 attendance figures in school history over the last two seasons, and it posted the largest on-campus crowd (and first-ever hockey sellout) to ever see a Hockey East game when 8,373 fans attended the UMass-Boston College game on Feb. 13. The Minutemen set several home attendance records this season, as 81,130 fans (surpassing the previous record of 65,626 set in 1994-1995) came through the Mullins Center turnstiles for an average of 4,507 (crushing the previous average attendance record of 3,499 set in 1995-1996). The total was even better in Hockey East, where the Minutemen averaged 4,977 fans per game. Over the past two years, the Minutemen have posted a 22-11-3 mark at the Mullins Center, and have won 11 games both seasons. The Minutemen went over 150,000 fans to watch them play during the Hockey East semifinals, and a final total of 180,674 people watched UMass play this season.

This story was originally published in The Maroon & White.
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