University of Massachusets Athletics
Inside The Glass With Troy Power
November 05, 2014 | Hockey
This past weekend we found out how hard it is to win in Hockey East. Unfortunately we went up to Maine with hopes of coming home with four points but ended up empty handed. Despite a slow start on Friday night, we were able to come down from a 3-0 deficit and tie the game up with a little under two minutes left in the third, only to lose a heartbreaker in overtime. On Saturday we came out of the gates and played the way we know we are capable of and found ourselves up 2-0 heading into the third period. Unfortunately Maine was able to battle back and beat us 3-2. It hurts knowing that we let chances to gain Hockey East points slip through our fingers in both games, but there were positives from the weekend that we need to carry with us for the rest of the year.
In terms of individual achievements, it was great to see freshman Dennis Kravchenko, redshirt sophomore Frank Vatrano, and senior Mike Busillo score their first career goals. They are all valuable assets to our team and now that the first one is out of the way, hopefully the goal scoring floodgates will open for them moving forward. Dennis's three goals on the weekend helped move him into the top-10 in the nation for freshman scoring and Frank's points in both games gives him a three-game point streak that he will be looking to add on to come AIC this Friday.
The AIC game for us is one that everyone should be excited for. Last year they came into our rink and beat us 3-2, due to a stellar performance by their goaltender. While it is a new year and a new team, it will be a driving force in the back of our minds to ensure that this year we get the job done in front of our home crowd. On a personal level, I am excited to compete against one of my best friends, Steven Hoshaw, who captains their team. Steven and I have been close friends since growing up and playing together on the California Wave travel hockey team back home and have remained close during our junior and college hockey days. I know we both will be close friends for a long time so I have to make sure we take care of business on Friday so I'll have some bragging rights when we see each other in the summertime.
I think the team and staff as a whole are excited to be back in the Mullins Center for a stretch of home games. As I mentioned in previous blogs, playing on the road has been a lot of fun and has contributed to us becoming close over the last three weekends. It's a time when you learn a lot about what you have in the locker room and how your team handles the pressure and tough atmospheres around Hockey East. Overall, I think the team that will step on the ice Friday against AIC is much different than what fans saw against Boston University. We have grown closer, learned from some important mistakes and will be eager to show our improvements to our home fans. Hopefully the students and fans around town will be just as eager to watch us. See you all at the Mullins Center on Friday, November 7 at 7:00 P.M. Go UMass!
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