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University of Massachusets Athletics
Inside The Glass With Troy Power
November 11, 2014 | Hockey
This past week flew by with only a one game weekend against AIC. Coming into the week, we started off practice on Monday with a "3 periods" practice. Returning players know that it's one of the toughest hour-to-hour, fifteen-minute, practices that we do and is broken up into three segments. Each segment consists of a flow drill, a thinking drill and a conditioning skate. After each period, we have a two-minute water break before the next segment begins. Not only do we have to be sharp mentally, but it also helps condition our bodies to think as we begin to fatigue. Overall, I thought we were ready to compete and had a great start to the week.
Coming into the rink Tuesday we were surprised that instead of lacing up our skates, we would be heading for a team building laser tag day at the local mall in Hadley. Guys were split into three teams that consisted of eight players each. Two teams would go head to head while one team caught their breath in the lobby. It was a fun day that was filled with laughs and was a nice change of pace that I think everyone really enjoyed. We finished up the week with our normal Wednesday and Thursday practices as we prepared for our only game of the weekend.
The game on Friday was a success for our team as we ended up winning the contest 7-1. It was nice to get our first home win of the year in front of a great crowd that we all missed playing for. It was good for us to get on the board early and often and continue to play a team game as the scoreboard continued to rise. Another positive was the contributions we received from all four lines with defenseman chipping in on the production as well. We have all spoke about the importance of being a deep team with multiple lines of production so to see everyone contributing is great. Henry Dill had the start in net and continued to give our team big minutes. With about 10 minutes left in the third period, sophomore Alex Wakaluk stepped in for Dill and finished the contest, which really got the boys on the bench fired up. He is always one of the hardest workers on the ice and is a guy who stays late everyday after practice, so to see his hard work get rewarded was another positive light on the night. In addition to that Steven Iacobellis, Frank Vatrano, Dennis Kravchenko, and Zack LaRue all produced multi-point nights that helped lead our team.
Heading into the bye week we have to be mindful that, while we don't have a game on the weekend, we still need to get better everyday this week. It will be a good time to reenergize our bodies, heal injuries and put in extra work to ensure that we are ready to battle when Boston College and Vermont come to town next weekend. With Hockey East points on the line, we need to be ready to claw and scratch for every point available until the regular season comes to an end. Thanks for all the continued support. Go UMass!
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