UConn And Providence Next On The Docket For No. 2 Hockey

University of Massachusetts Hockey Game Notes
Games 30-31	#2 Massachusetts Minutemen (23-6-0, 15-4-0 HEA) vs. UConn Huskies (10-18-2, 5-13-2 HEA) #2 Massachusetts Minutemen (23-6-0, 15-4-0 HEA) at #10/11 Providence Friars (18-9-5, 11-7-2 HEA)
Dates \| Times	Thursday, February 21, 2019 - 7 p.m. Saturday, February 23, 2019 - 5 p.m.
Locations	Thursday: Amherst, Mass. (Mullins Center - 8,096) Saturday: Providence, R.I. (Schneider Arena - 3,030)
Series History	UMass leads 37-14-3, Last meeting: Nov. 30, 2018 in Amherst; (W, 7-4) Providence leads 48-27-6; Last meeting: Nov. 10, 2018 at Providence (W, 3-2)
Live Statistics	Thursday: Sidearm Saturday: Sidearm
Watch Live	Thursday: NESN \| UMass Sports Network (stream blacked out in NESN coverage area) Saturday: NBC Sports Boston \| Sidearm
Listen (Radio)	WHMP AM 1400/1240 FM 101.5/107.5
Listen (Online)	WHMP Streaming Player \| TuneIn App (mobile devices)
Game Notes	Massachusetts \| UConn \| Providence \| Hockey East
Team Records	Massachusetts \| UConn \| Providence
Twitter	@UMassHockey \| @UMassAthletics
Instagram	UMass Hockey \| UMass Athletics
Tickets	Thursday \| Saturday
Game Promotions	Thursday: Season Ticket Holder Appreciation \| Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy Bobbleheads (First 1,000 Undergraduate Students)

Quick Hits
- After trailing at the first intermission for a second straight night, No. 3/2 University of Massachusetts hockey used a three-goal second period to defeat Boston College, 4-2 at Kelley Rink last Saturday. The win completed the series sweep of the Eagles (10-16-3, 9-7-3 HEA) after the Minutemen pulled out a last second victory over BC in the Friday Matchup at the Mullins Center.
- Friday's victory broke the previous program record for wins in a season, 21, set in 2006-07. Saturday's tied a program record for Hockey East victories (15) and broke the program record for road wins (10) in a season.
- A last-second goal by junior defenseman Jake McLaughlin the Minutemen to the 4-3 win over Boston College on Friday night at the Mullins Center after the Minutemen erased a 2-0 first period deficit.
- Boston College opened the scoring 3:54 into the contest then extended its lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal at 16:57 of the opening period.
- Just 29 seconds later, sophomore Cale Makar halved the UMass deficit, burring a feed from classmate Mitchell Chaffee on a 2-on-1 rush that started with an outlet pass from freshman Bobby Trivigno.
- Makar and Chaffee connected once more at 8:13 of the second period, assisting sophomore John Leonard's game-tying power-play goal from the right faceoff circle.
- Sophomore Philip Lagunov then put UMass on top, 3-2, finishing off senior Jacob Pritchard's pass from below the goal line at the 9:38 mark.
- The Minutemen maintained their one-goal advantage until the 13:11 into the third when the Eagles knotted things at 3-3.
- Then, with overtime looming, UMass made one final rush up the ice with the final seconds of the third period ticking down. After Makar sent the puck to the net front, Chaffee curled around the back of the cage and found McLaughlin in place to send a shot into the open net.
- The Minutemen out-shot Boston College, 30-24 in the contest and went 1-for-2 on the power play, while the Eagles were 2-for-3.
- Murray logged 21 saves in his 17th win of the year (17-4-0) and Woll turned aside 26 in the loss.
- UMass won 36 of 63 faceoffs (57.1%) on the night, led by George Mika's 8-for-10 (80%) effort and Lagunov's 7-for-11 (63.6%) evening over the dots.
- Makar finished the night with three points, factoring in three of the Minutemen's four tallies with a goal and two assists, his ninth multi-point game of the season. Chaffee's three helpers marked a career single game best and his 15th career multi-point game.
- On Saturday, Boston College once again struck first, 11:16 into the contest.
- The Minutemen opened the second period with two power-play goals in the first two minutes of the frame. Pritchard found Leonard in the slot and Leonard hammed home his 12th of the season at the 42-second mark.
- Just 1:08 later, once again with the man advantage, Jake Gaudet won a battle for the puck behind the Eagles' goal and sent in out to sophomore Oliver Chau for the tally at the doorstep that gave UMass a 2-1 lead.
- Pritchard increased the advantage to 3-1, ripping a tough-angle shot past Joseph Woll for his 100th career point, 12:04 into the period. Leonard collected the assist to post his 16th career multi-point game.
- Boston College took one of the goals back before the close of the stanza at 13:56, sending the Minutemen into the third with a one-goal lead.
- UMass went on to seal the win with an empty net goal by Gaudet, set up by Chaffee and junior Niko Hildenbrand 19:40 into the third.
- The Minutemen finished with a 31-25 edge in shots and went 2-for-4 on the power play, while the Eagles were 1-for-5.
Murray totaled 23 saves, logging his 18th win of the season, while Woll stopped 27 between the pipes for BC.

Trio Of Minutemen Up For Walter Brown Award
- Forwards Mitchell Chaffee, John Leonard and Jacob Pritchard are among 20 semifinalists for the 67th Walter Brown Award. Presented annually by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston to the best American-born college hockey player in New England, the Walter Brown Award is the nation's oldest nationally-recognized college hockey honor.
- The Gridiron Club will announce the finalists and winner of the 67th Walter Brown Award in March, following league playoffs and before the start of NCAA Tournament play. The award will be presented to the winner at the New England College Hockey Writers' Dinner in April.

Del Gaizo Honored After Four-Point Effort
- Freshman defenseman Marc Del Gaizo was tabbed the Hockey East Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week on Jan. 7, earning his first career weekly award, what was then the seventh collected by a member of the Minutemen this season.
- The Basking Ridge, New Jersey native set a new season-best with a four-point effort in the Minutemen's 6-1 win on the road at American International on Jan. 5. Del Gaizo scored UMass' 20th power-play goal of the year and added three assists, factoring in four of the squad's six tallies on the afternoon, including setting up his brother Anthony's game-winning goal.
- Through 29 games, Del Gaizo now has 22 points on the season on 10 goals and 12 assists and is tied with defensive partner Cale Makar at a team-best +25. He is fifth in Hockey East in defenseman scoring, tied for fifth in freshman scoring, tied for the league league in plus-minus and is in the top-10 in power-play goals (6, t-3rd) and power-play points (12, t-4th).

Lindberg Wins Gold With Finland
- Freshman goaltender Fille Lindberg became the third Minuteman in program history to win gold at the IIHF World Junior Championship when Team Finland defeated the United States, 3-2 in the Gold Medal Game on Jan. 5 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
- The Espoo, Finland native joined current teammate Cale Makar who took home the 2018 title with Canada last year and former UMass forward Stephen Werner (2002-06), who won a Gold Medal with Team USA in 2004.
- Lindberg earned an 18-save shutout in Finland's 5-0 victory over Kazakhstan in the Preliminary Round. He has appeared in eight games thus far as a freshman for the Minutemen this season and holds a 2.07 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage over 434 minutes in net.

A Minute On Murray
- Sophomore goaltender Matt Murray was selected as the Hockey East Stop It Goaltending Goaltender of the Month for November after starting six of seven games for UMass over the month and posting a 6-0-0 record.
- He logged a 2.15 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage to help the Minutemen to their first undefeated month at 7-0-0 since Dec. 1970, which included three wins over ranked teams and a 5-0-0 record in league action.
- The St. Albert, Alberta native was named Hockey East Player of the Week on Nov. 11 after a weekend sweep of Providence where he made 58 saves over the pair of victories and picked up his first career assist in a 3-2 win over No. 18 Princeton.
- Murray was the first goaltender in UMass' Division I history to start a season 11-0-0. He currently holds a 2.03 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage, which rank second and fourth in Hockey East and 10th and 14th nationally.
- With a record of 18-4-0, Murray holds the nation's best winning percentage at .818. He is one shy of matching Jonathan Quick's record for wins in a season by a UMass goaltender (19).

Cream Of The Crop
- UMass enters Thursday night's matchup against UConn sitting in first in the Hockey East standings with UMass Lowell and Providence six points back (24), Northeastern seven points back (23) and Boston College nine points back (21) with five games remaining in the regular season. The Minutemen have a game in-hand on Providence, whom the squad will face on Saturday on the road.
- The Minutemen are currently first in Hockey East in goals per-game (3.79), second in scoring defense (2.10), power play (30.8%) and special teams net (+17), sixth in penalty kill (83.9%).
- All four of the league's top scorers are Minutemen as Jacob Pritchard is first (37 points), Cale Makar is second (34 points) and John Leonard is and Mitchell Chaffee are tied for third (33 points).
- Chaffee is tied for second in the league in goals (15), Pritchard is fifth (14) and Leonard is tied for ninth.
- Makar (24), Pritchard (23) and Leonard (21) are second, third and tied for fourth, respectively, in assists.
- Pritchard (21 points, 1st), Leonard (16 points, 2nd), Marc Del Gaizo (12 points, t-4th) and Chaffee (12 points, t-4th). comprise four of the league's top-five in power play point scorers, while Makar is tied for eighth with 10 points. Pritchard is tied for the league lead in power-play goals (7) while Chaffee and Marc Del Gaizo are tied for third (6) and Leonard is tied for sixth (5).
- Four Minutemen occupy the league's top-10 in plus-minus: Makar (t-1^st, +25), Marc Del Gaizo (t-1st, +25), Chaffee (7th, +17) and Jake Gaudet (t-9th, +15).

It's Been A While…
- UMass' six goals in the 2018-19 opener vs. Rensselaer were the most for the Minutemen in a season opener since 2015-16 and the most in a home opener since 2008-09 (a 9-4 win over Providence).
- Also in the season opener vs. RPI, the Minutemen finished the night with four power-play goals, going 4-for-7 with the man advantage. The last time UMass accomplished such a feat was against Michigan State at the Mullins Center on Oct. 20, 2013.
- UMass' seven-goal output against UConn on Nov. 30 was the Minutemen's highest scoring output since Nov. 7, 2014 against American International.
- The sellout against No. 8 Quinnipiac on Dec. 8 was the fourth sellout in program history at the Mullins Center and first since Feb. 5, 2010 against Boston College. The crowd of 8,412 set a new Mullins Center attendance record for hockey. Overall (including both away and neutral site games), it was the 16th largest crowd to ever witness a UMass hockey game.
- UMass' six goals against No. 8 Northeastern on Jan 18 matched the highest scoring output vs. a ranked team in program history—the Minutemen scored six goals against No. 18 Vermont (6-2, W) on Nov. 24, 2009 and six against No. 3 Northeastern (6-4, W) on Jan. 30, 2009.
- Jacob Pritchard's 37 points so far are the most by a member of the Minutemen since current volunteer assistant coach T.J. Syner had 37 in 36 games in 2011-12.

Rankings History
- History was made on Dec. 3 as the Minutemen earned their first No. 1 national ranking in program history, sitting at the top of the USCHO.com poll with 26 first-place votes and 964 points. UMass finds itself in the No. 2 spot this week, its 14th straight week in the top five.
- UMass entered the national rankings on Oct. 22, coming in at No. 16 in the USCHO.com poll. The last time the Minutemen were ranked prior to this October was in the USCHO.com poll released on Feb. 15, 2010.
- On November 5, UMass moved up to No. 9 in the USCHO.com Poll and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll in the No. 9 spot as well, the highest ranking for the Minutemen since November 30, 2009 (No. 9).
- UMass surpassed all previous highs in rankings this November when, on Nov. 12, the squad was sitting at No. 4 in both polls.
- Previously the highest ranking in program history came in the USCHO.com poll on Dec. 31, 2007 at No. 5. The Minutemen spent six weeks in the top-10 during the 2007-08 season. After sitting in the No. 4 spot for two weeks, UMass improved upon its all-time highest ranking, sitting at No. 3 in both polls on Nov. 26.
- The Minutemen earned their first-ever top-10 ranking (No. 9) on Nov. 10, 2003 and ranked as high as No. 7 that season.
- UMass earned its first ever national ranking on Jan. 6, 2003. (No. 15 USCHO.com poll/No. 14 USA Today/American Hockey Magazine Poll).
- On Jan. 14, 2019, UMass earned its first No. 1 ranking in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.

Special Teams Success
- A key piece of the Minutemen's success thus far in the 2018-19 campaign has been its special teams units. UMass has scored at least one power-play goal in 18 of 29 games and has logged multiple power-play goals on 10 occasions this season.
- The Minutemen currently rank first in Hockey East by a healthy margin with a 30.8 (33-for-101) power play percentage, which is second in the nation.
- On the penalty kill, the Minutemen are sixth in Hockey East and 18th in the nation with a 83.9% PK percentage. UMass leads the nation in combined special teams at 58.0%.
- The program record for power-play goals in a season is 38, set in 1995-96, the current Minutemen squad has 33 in 29 games.

Look Out For Leno
- After registering just a goal and an assist through the first four games of the season, sophomore John Leonard heated up in a big way with the start of Hockey East play.
- In the opening weekend of league action, Leonard totaled six points over the two contests on a goal and five assists and was +4 in a two-game sweep of Merrimack, factoring in six of the nine goals the Minutemen scored on the weekend.
- In the road matchup with the Warriors, Leonard assisted both the game-tying extra attacker goal with 33 seconds to play in regulation and the overtime game winner. He finished the night with three assists and was tabbed the Hockey East Player of the Week for his efforts.
- On Nov. 3 at New Hampshire, Leonard contributed a goal and two assists against the Wildcats and capped his streak of four straight multi-point games with a goal and an assist in the Nov. 8 win over #4/3 Providence.
- He has 15 points in his last 11 games with seven goals during that stretch and five multi-point efforts and was named the UMass Student-Athlete of the Week this week after scoring two power-play goals against Boston College last weekend.
- Leonard is first in Hockey East in points in league play with 28 on 10 goals and 18 assists.
- He is also tops in league action in assists (18) and is second in power-play points (15).

Fitting Right In
- Graduate transfer Jacob Pritchard, who is in his first season with the Minutemen after playing three seasons at St. Lawrence, wasted little time finding his way onto the scoresheet at UMass.
- Pritchard had three points in his UMass debut, a 6-1 win over Rensselaer in the season opener, on a goal and two assists.
- He added three more points to his season total during the Merrimack series, logging a goal on Friday and a goal and an assist in the second game of the weekend against the Warriors. He followed up with his third multi-point game of the season at UNH on Nov. 3, contributing a goal and an assist. He wrapped up a four-game point streak with an assist in the Nov. 8 win over #4/3 Providence.
- Pritchard posted his second three-point game of the year with a goal and two assists, all on the power play, in a 4-2 win over New Hampshire on Nov. 18 and was named the UMass Student-Athlete of the Week.
- In the month of January, Pritchard led Hockey East in scoring with 12 points (5g, 7a) over eight games with four multi-point efforts. He currently leads the Minutemen and Hockey East in scoring with 37 points in 29 games. He is seventh nationally in points per-game (1.28).
- The Mullins Center has been particularly comfortable for Pritchard who leads UMass in scoring at home with 22 points in 14 games (7g, 15a).
- Pritchard tied for first in the nation in power play points with 22 (7g, 14a) and is tied for ninth nationally in power-play goals.
- Pritchard was named UMass Student-Athlete of the Week (1/22) after a four-point weekend (1g, 3a) in a weekend split with No. 8 Northeastern, which included a three-point performance in UMass' 6-1 win over the Huskies on Jan. 18.

Picking Up Where He Left Off
- Sophomore Mitchell Chaffee opened up the 2018-19 season with three goals in the two-game series vs. Rensselaer (Oct. 12-13), which included the game winner in the second contest vs. the Engineers, helping him earn co-UMass Student-Athlete of the Week (10/15) honors.
- He has scored goals in 13 out of 26 games so far and has posted seven multi-point games and a five-game point scoring streak.
- On Nov. 3 vs. New Hampshire, Chaffee set a then single-game high with a three-point night (1g, 2a) and was named co-UMass Student-Athlete of the Week for a second time this season.
- He surpassed that single game best with two goals and two assists against UConn on Nov. 30 and once again garnered UMass Student-Athlete of the Week honors. Chaffee set a new single-game career high with three assists against Boston College on Feb. 15.
- Chaffee currently leads the Minutemen with 15 goals after tying for the team lead in goals last season with 13 in 39 contests. He is currently tied for third in Hockey East in points (33), tied for second in goals (15), tied for fourth in power-play points (12), tied for third in power-play goals (6) and seventh in plus-minus (+17).

#HobeyNeedsMoreCale
- Hobey Baker candidate sophomore Cale Makar has made his presence known to UMass' opponents since the start of season and was selected as the Hockey East Player of the Month for October after leading Hockey East in scoring over the opening month of the season with 11 points on three goals and eight assists in six games and was +4. He was named the Hockey East Player of the Week twice in October (10/22 and 10/15).
- Makar posted at least one point in five of six contests with three multi-point games, helping the Minutemen to a 5-1-0 record, the first five-win October in program history.
- The Calgary, Alberta native set a single game career-high with four points on two goals and two assists in the season opener vs. Rensselaer on Oct. 12, marking the first time a UMass skater had a four-point game since Oct. 16, 2015 and first time a UMass defenseman had four points in a game since Nov. 18, 2006, when Mike Kostka contributed four assists in an 8-1 win over UConn at the Mullins Center.
- He also had a three-point night to help UMass upset then-No. 1 ranked Ohio State on the road, 6-3 on Oct. 19.
- To open up Hockey East play Makar contributed three assists in a weekend sweep of Merrimack (10/26 and 10/27), which included assisting UMass' game-tying extra attacker goal against the Warriors with 27 seconds to go in regulation on the road in game two, a game the Minutemen went on to win in overtime.
- Makar tied his career-single game high with four points (2g, 2a) in UMass' 5-1 win over Vermont on Jan. 12 and was selected as the Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week following that performance.
- Makar is currently 16th in the nation in points per-game (1.17), 11th in assists per-game (0.83) and is third in in defenseman scoring. Overall he is second in Hockey East in points (34), second in assists (24), tied for eighth in power play points (10), tied for first in plus minus (+25) and is the league's top scoring defenseman.
- He capped a five-game point streak on Nov. 3 with a goal and an assist at New Hampshire, a career high, and has set a new career best for goals in a season after posting five tallies in 34 games as a freshman.
- On Feb. 1 against BU, Makar joined an elite club, becoming just the third UMass defenseman to post 30 points in the season, joining UMass Hall of Famer and All-American Thomas Poeck (41 points in 2003-04 and 37 points in 2002-03) and All-American and NHL veteran Justin Braun (31 points in 2009-10).

Down Goes No. 1
- UMass' 6-3 win on the road against then-No. 1 Ohio State on Oct. 19 marked the Minutemen's fifth-ever win in program history over a No. 1-ranked team and second-ever on the road. The last time in both instances came at No. 1 Boston University on Feb. 10, 2012.
- The Minutemen's other three wins against No. 1 teams were: 11/5/11 vs. Boston College (5-1), 11/14/08 vs. Boston University (5-1) and 1/28/95 vs. Maine (4-2).

Notable Firsts
- All seven UMass freshmen skaters made their collegiate debuts against Rensselaer on Oct. 12, while goaltender Filip Lindberg made his debut on Saturday, Oct. 13, at RPI and had 20 saves en route to his first career win.
- In addition, graduate transfer Jacob Pritchard made his UMass debut in the Friday night contest against RPI (10/12) and had the first three points of his career come in the opening period, with a goal and two assists.
- Defenseman Marc Del Gaizo notched his first career goal and first career assist in the season opener on Oct. 12 vs. RPI.
- Defenseman Ty Farmer and forward Anthony Del Gaizo also had their first career tallies come in the RPI series, Farmer's on Friday and Del Gaizo's opened the scoring on Saturday.
- Forward Bobby Trivigno's first career point came in UMass' 6-1 win over RPI on Oct. 12 and followed up with his first career multi-point game on Oct. 13 at RPI. He had another multi-point game at #1 Ohio State on Oct. 19, scoring the first two goals of his career vs. the Buckeyes.
- Defenseman Colin Felix had an assist on Oct. 13 at RPI for his first collegiate point.
- Farmer picked up his first collegiate assist in UMass' 5-1 win over Merrimack on Oct. 26. Anthony Del Gaizo earned his first collegiate helper on his brother Marc's overtime game winner the following night at Merrimack on Oct. 27.
- Freshman Bobby Kaiser scored the game-winning goal at Holy Cross on Nov. 16 for his first career tally.
- Sophomore Matt Murray picked up his first career assist on UMass' first goal of the game in a 3-2 win over Princeton.

Building Blocks From 2017-18
- In 2017-18, the Minutemen posted a 12-win improvement from 2016-17, marking the biggest one-year turnaround in program history and in Division I hockey this past season. UMass' 17 wins from a season ago were the most for the program since 2009-10 (18) and seventh-best for a season in program history.
- UMass' nine Hockey East wins in 2017-18 were the most for the program since 2012-13 and tied for seventh-most in program history.
- The top-three nationally-ranked recruiting class assembled by Carvel and his staff heading into 2017-18 lived up to its billing as UMass led the nation in freshmen scoring by a wide margin. The class' 67 goals were the most by a freshman class in UMass' Hockey East era and second all-time in assists (102) and points (169), as well.
- Among other milestones set by Carvel's Minutemen last season, the program hosted and won its first postseason series since 2007 and posted four wins over ranked opponents, including three over top-10 teams.

The Gang's All Here
- UMass returns all five of its top five point producers from a season ago in sophomores John Leonard (28 pts), Mitchell Chaffee (24 pts), Oliver Chau (24 pts), Mario Ferraro (23 pts) and Cale Makar (21 pts) who all led the Minutemen as freshmen.
- In total, UMass returns 215 of 281 points from a season ago (76.5%) and 78 of its 104 goals (75%).

Here's Johnny
- After a stellar freshman campaign in 2017-18, Minutemen forward John Leonard was selected in the sixth round, 182nd overall, by the San Jose Sharks in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. Leonard became 27th NHL draft pick in program history and the fourth Minuteman drafted by the San Jose Sharks.
- The Amherst, Massachusetts native was the first UMass player since Justin Braun in 2007 (San Jose, 7th round/201st overall) to be selected following his freshman season in Amherst.
- Leonard joined classmate Mario Ferraro as the second San Jose draft pick on the current UMass roster as Ferraro was selected 49th overall in 2017.
- Leonard led UMass in scoring in 2017-18 with 28 points on 13 goals and 15 assists over 33 games. He was tabbed the Hockey East Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Month for March, which was his fourth award of the season after previously being named Hockey East Rookie of the Week twice and Player of the Week once during his freshman campaign.
- Leonard helped the Minutemen to their first Hockey East Tournament series win since 2007 with four points on two goals and two assists in UMass' 2018 Hockey East Opening Round series against Vermont. He had multi-point games in both of UMass' victories over UVM, which included leading UMass' third period comeback in game one and a highlight reel goal in the Minutemen's 5-1 series-clinching victory that was a SportsCenter Top 10 play.

O Captain, My Captain!
- In April, Niko Hildenbrand was tabbed as UMass' captain for the 2018-19 season, while sophomores Cale Makar and Mario Ferraro will wear the "A"s for the Minutemen.
- As a sophomore in 2017-18, Hildenbrand nearly doubled his freshman year point production, finishing seventh on the squad in scoring with 17 points on eight goals and nine assists over 36 games.
- The Vacaville, California native was +4 with one shorthanded tally and two game winners to his credit and blocked 35 shots while posting four multi-point games.

He's Coming Back!
- Electing to return to UMass for his sophomore season, defenseman Cale Makar is the first NHL draft pick to play multiple years of college hockey after being selected in the top-10 of the NHL Entry Draft since James van Riemsdyk went on to play three seasons at New Hampshire after being selected second overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2007.
- Makar, the No. 4 overall pick by the Colorado Avalanche in 2017, was named a co-recipient of the 2018 George C. Carens Award from the New England Hockey Writers Association as co-rookie of the year, a Hockey East Third Team All-Star and to the Hockey East All-Rookie team following his freshman season with the Minutemen in 2017-19.
- Makar totaled 21 points in his freshman campaign over 34 games on 5 goals and 15 assists to finish fifth on the squad in scoring. The Calgary, Alberta native ranked second for the Minutemen in plus minus at +9 and contributed two power-play goals, one shorthanded goal and one game winner with three multi-point games to his credit.
- He was selected as Hockey East Rookie of the Week on Jan. 15 after a three-point weekend against Vermont and finished with 13 points (4g, 9a) in 20 league games. Makar finished ninth in defenseman scoring in Hockey East and ranked seventh nationally in scoring among freshmen defensemen at 0.62 points per-game.

Super Mario
- Sophomore Mario Ferraro will serve as an alternate captain for the Minutemen alongside 2017-18 defensive partner Cale Makar. Ferraro, a 2018 Hockey East All-Rookie Team selection, broke Brandon Montour's record for points by a freshman defenseman in UMass' Hockey East era, logging 23 points on four goals and a team-best 19 assists as the Minutemen's top scoring defenseman in 2017-18.
- Seeing action in all 39 games, the King City, Ontario native was +5 with six multi-point games, two power-play goals and one game winner. Over 24 Hockey East contests, he totaled 14 points on two goals and 12 assists. Ferraro finished tied for sixth in Hockey East in defenseman scoring and tied for ninth in freshman scoring.

Murray Makes His Mark
- Freshman goaltender Matt Murray is coming off of a solid freshman campaign in which he broke the UMass single season shutout record previously set by Jonathan Quick in 2006-07 and Markus Helanen in 2000-01 with four on the year.
- Murray saw 58.1% of the squad's minutes in net and posted a 2.70 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage over 1,376 minutes over 24 games. Both his GAA and save percentage from 2017-18 rank 10th in program history for a single season and were the best by a UMass netminder since 2008-09.
- The St. Albert, Alberta native was tabbed the Hockey East Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week on Jan. 22, was honored as the Hockey East Player of the Week on Feb. 12, and picked up his third different Hockey East weekly award of the 2017-18 season on Feb. 26 when he was selected as the Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week.

League Things And Other Tibits
- Freshmen Anthony and Marc Del Gazio's father Anthony played college hockey at Merrimack (1983-84). They are the fourth set of siblings to play for the Minutemen in the program's modern era (James Marcou 2007-10 and Michael Marcou 2008-12; Jeff Turner 1997-2001 and Tim Turner 1999-2003; Mike Warner 2000-04 and Tim Warner 2001-05).
- Freshman Bobby Trivigno is the second member of his family to play in Hockey East, following in the footsteps of his sister Dana who was a standout forward and former captain for Boston College where she put up 138 points in 148 career games for the Eagles (2012-16).
- Freshman Filip Lindberg first started playing goal after receiving his first set of hand-me-down pads from former Merrimack goaltender and fellow Finland native Rasmus Tirronen who played for the Warriors from 2011-15.

Welcome Home T.J.
- Former UMass captain T.J. Syner has returned to his alma mater to join head coach Greg Carvel's staff as a volunteer assistant coach for 2018-19. The Springfield, Massachusetts native, who played for the Minutemen from 2008-12, has rejoined the program following seven seasons in the professional hockey ranks.
- Syner saw action in 135 games over his four-year collegiate career, totaling 37 goals and 60 assists for 97 points to rank 14th all-time on UMass' career scoring list and is tied for 10th in career assists.
- As a senior in 2011-12, Syner served as a team captain and led the Minutemen with 37 points (13g, 24a) en route to a Hockey East All-Conference Honorable Mention nod.
- Upon completion of his collegiate eligibility, Syner began his professional career with the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League and split time between the AHL and ECHL's Reading Royals from 2011-14, winning a Kelly Cup championship with Reading in 2012-13.
- He went on to play three more ECHL seasons with the Utah Grizzlies (2014-16) and the Worcester Railers (2017-18) and spent the 2016-17 season overseas with Val Gardena HC (AlpsHL) and Coventry Blaze (EIHL). Syner logged 203 points over 282 career ECHL games on 80 goals and 123 assists.

Scoreboard

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Players Mentioned

Mitchell Chaffee

Oliver Chau

Anthony Del Gaizo

Marc Del Gaizo

Ty Farmer

Colin Felix

Mario Ferraro

Jake Gaudet

Niko Hildenbrand

Bobby Kaiser

Philip Lagunov

John Leonard

Filip Lindberg

Cale Makar

Jake McLaughlin

George Mika

Matt Murray

Jacob Pritchard

Bobby Trivigno

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics