Merrimack Next Up For #8/9 Massachusetts Hockey

University of Massachusetts Hockey Game Notes
Games 5-6	#8/9 Massachusetts Minutemen (1-2-1, 0-0-0 HE) vs. Merrimack Warriors (0-0-0, 0-0-0 HE)
Dates \| Times	Saturday, December 5, 2020 - 4:30 p.m. Sunday, December 6, 2020 - 4:30 p.m.
Locations	Saturday: Amherst, Mass. (Mullins Center) Sunday: North Andover, Mass. (Lawler Rink)
Series History	UMass leads 44-42-8
Live Statistics	Saturday: Sidearm Sunday: Sidearm
Watch Live	Saturday: NESN+ \| SportsLive (outside New England) \| CBS Sports App Sunday: SportsLive \| CBS Sports App Hockey East Streaming Information
Listen (Radio)	WHMP AM 1400/1240 FM 101.5/107.5
Listen (Online)	WHMP Streaming Player \| TuneIn App (mobile devices)
Game Notes	Massachusetts \| Merrimack
Team Records	Massachusetts \| Merrimack
Twitter	@UMassHockey \| @UMassAthletics
Instagram	UMass Hockey \| UMass Athletics

Last Time Out: #7 UMass Drops Two To #2 BC
- No. 7 University of Massachusetts hockey erased a two-goal deficit to pull level with No. 2 Boston College at 3-3, but the Eagles went on net the lone third period tally to edge the Minutemen, 4-3 at Kelley Rink last Friday. Then on Saturday, the Eagles made the most of their opportunities to skate past the Minutemen, 6-3, at the Mullins Center. Both meetings were non-league matchups between the Hockey East foes.
- BC opened the scoring on Friday with the first period winding down. Jack McBain came streaking into the UMass zone and deposited a tap pass from Logan Hutsko behind Matt Murray at the 15:56 mark with Eamon Powell earning the secondary helper.
- Despite being shorthanded, the Minutemen pulled level with the Eagles 1:52 into the second period. Sophomore Matthew Kessel sent the puck ahead to classmate Zac Jones on a 2-on-1. Jones kept the puck himself and picked a corner to beat Spencer Knight and tie things up at 1-1 with his second of the season. It marked Jones' first career shorthanded goal and the first by a Minuteman since February 8, 2020 at Providence.
- The Eagles answered right back, though, with Mike Hardman sliding a puck underneath Murray from Matt Boldy and Hutsko just after the UMass penalty expired at 3:13. Boston College then expanded its lead to two at the 12:41 mark in the second.
- UMass countered with a power-play goal 15:05 into the stanza as freshman Josh Lopina redirected in a Colin Felix shot from the point for his first collegiate tally. Lopina added another just 1:13 later, knocking home the puck at the top of the crease from freshman Oliver MacDonald and junior Bobby Trivigno to level the score at 3-3.
- Just 1:06 into the final frame, Colby Ambrosio and Powell sent Boldy off on a partial breakaway to pocket the Eagles' fourth of the evening, the would-be game winner.
- UMass finished the contest with a 33-32 edge in shots and went 1-for-5 on the power play, while BC was 0-for-4. Murray logged 28 saves for the Minutemen and Knight had 30 stops for BC.
- On the back end of the home-and-home on Saturday there were minimal opportunities for either side in the early going unitl Boston College broke through for the opening tally at the 13:55 mark of the first period.
- UMass managed to equalize in short order as sophomore Jerry Harding found freshman Ryan Sullivan from behind the net and Sullivan tapped the puck over to senior Philip Lagunov who knocked it home at the doorstep at 15:36 for his second of the season. The helpers marked the first points for Harding and Sullivan's collegiate careers.
- BC regained the lead before the intermission, though, then just 90 seconds into the second period, Boston College pushed its lead to two as Colby Ambrosio put a rebound from Mike Hardman past netminder Filip Lindberg.
- MacDonald brought UMass back to within one at the 10:56 mark with a strike from the top of the right faceoff circle off a feed from senior Jake Gaudet and redshirt senior Carson Gicewicz. The assist for Gicewicz was his first point as a Minuteman.
- However, the Eagles countered at 12:44 with McLaughlin's shot from the perimeter that found its way through traffic past Lindberg with Trevor Kuntar and Giles earning the assists.
- Midway through the third, Gaudet brought the Minutemen back to within a goal once more, skying the puck over Spencer Knight at the net front from senior Oliver Chau and Gicewicz at 7:54.
- BC regained its two-goal cushion for the third time with Hardman's one-timer from Boldy and Knight, 13:11 into the third and Nikita Nesterenko added the empty net goal at 19:49.
- UMass out-shot the Eagles, 33-23 in the contest. The Minutemen were 0-for-2 on the power play and BC went 1-for-1, snapping the Minutemen's streak of 16 straight kills to begin the year. Lindberg finished the night with 17 stops and Knight made 30 saves for Boston College.

And The Beat Goes On
- From current NHLers 2019 Hobey Baker winner, 2020 Calder Trophy winner Cale Makar and 2019 Hockey East All-Star Mario Ferraro, UMass' hallmark has been its talent on the blueline during head coach Greg Carvel's tenure.
- UMass' defensemen scored 21 goals last season, which ranked eighth nationally, while the squad's 90 points by defensemen ranked ninth. Minutemen blueliners averaged 12.06 shots per-game, which led the nation in 2019-20.
- Individually, Matt Kessel led all rookie defensemen nationally last season with seven goals and is UMass' top returning goal scorer from the blueline for 2020-21. He was selected in the fifth round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft (150th overall) by the St. Louis Blues this fall. He is one of three draft picks patrolling the UMass blueline this season along with 2019 New York Rangers third round pick Zac Jones (68th overall) and 2019 Nashville Predators fourth round pick Marc Del Gaizo (109th overall).
- Jones, a Hockey East All-Rookie Team selection in 2019-20 in UMass' top returning point scorer (23 points). He was the top scoring rookie defenseman in Hockey East last season, Jones finished the year 16th in the nation in freshman scoring at .72 points per-game, third for the Minutemen overall with three goals and 20 assists and was +12 on the year. The two-time Hockey East Rookie of the Week became the first UMass defenseman during the program's Division I era to post 20 assists in his rookie season.
- As a team, UMass was sixth in the nation in scoring defense (1.97) in 2019-20 after ranking seventh (2.02) the season prior. The 2019-20 squad set a program record for the fewest goals allowed in a season, 67.

Shots!
- UMass finished second in the nation in shots on goal margin per-game at +9.91 and fourth in shots on goal margin (+337) in 2019-20. The Minutemen allowed the fourth fewest shots on goal per-game nationally last season with an average of 24.44.
- UMass allowed 30 or more shots on goal only seven times during the 2019-20 and held opponents under 20 shots on 10 occasions in 34 games. In comparison, the Minutemen allowed 19 or fewer shots six times in 41 games in 2018-19 and were 6-0-0 in those contests.

Home Is Where The Wins Are
- UMass is 35-8-1 in its last 44 games at the Mullins Center and went 29-5-1 over the past two seasons (2018-19 and 2019-20) for an .842 winning percentage. This stretch included a 16-game unbeaten streak (15-0-1) began on Jan. 11, 2019 against Vermont and came to an end on Nov. 30, 2019 with a 2-1 loss to Quinnipiac.
- The Minutemen's home winning percentage the last two years ranked second nationally behind only Minnesota State's .918. UMass' home wins total from October 2018 to March 2020 was good for third nationally, trailing only Minnesota State (39) and North Dakota (30).

Name A More Iconic Duo
- The Minutemen have returned arguably one of the most experienced goaltending tandems in the country in junior Filip Lindberg and senior Matt Murray. Both finished the 2019-20 campaign among the NCAA leaders, including both ranking in the top 10 nationally in goals-against average (Murray seventh, Lindberg eighth), while Murray finished 10th in winning percentage (13-6-0, .684) and Lindberg ranked 15th in the nation in save percentage (.927) last season.
- Murray was the NCAA statistical champion for winning percentage in 2018-19 with a record of 20-5-0, a mark that also surpassed a program record for wins previously held by former Minuteman and NHL veteran Jonathan Quick.
- Lindberg, who started all four of UMass' NCAA Tournament games in 2018-19, ended his freshman campaign second in the nation with a 1.60 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage. The Espoo, Finland native ended his rookie season fourth nationally in winning percentage (.733) with a record of 11-4-0 and tied for 10th nationally in shutouts with four.
- As a freshman in 2018-19, Lindberg set a new program single-season record for goals-against average and tied Murray's record for single-season shutouts. His save percentage was the highest by a UMass netminder since 1969-70, second all-time.
- Murray and Lindberg tied the program's shutout record (5) from1913-14 in 2018-19.
- Lindberg is currently the program's all-time career leader in save percentage (.927) and goals-against average (1.86), while Murray ranks third (.916) in save percentage and second in goals-against average (2.26) in school history. Murray is currently third all-time in career wins (43), two behind Paul Dainton's (2007-11) total of 45 and seven away from matching Gabe Winer's record (50).
- Murray holds UMass' career shutout record with eight to his credit. He entered the season tied for fourth among active NCAA netminders in shutouts, ninth in saves (1,527) and fourth in wins.
- Lindberg entered the season fifth among active goaltenders nationally in career save percentage and third in goals-against average.

Watch Out For Marc Del Gaizo
- While many know Marc Del Gaizo for scoring the overtime game winner that sent UMass into the 2019 National Championship game, that was merely the exclamation point on one of the best rookie seasons by a Minuteman defenseman in program history.
- Del Gaizo received Hockey East Third Team All-Star and Hockey East All-Rookie Team accolades and earned an All-CHN Rookie Team nod, as well.
- One of seven Minutemen to see action in all 41 games, Del Gaizo ranked 17th in the nation for points per-game by a freshman (0.71), and third in Hockey East with 29 points on 13 goals and 16 assists.
- The Basking Ridge, New Jersey native tied for third in the nation in plus minus at +31, tied for ninth in Hockey East in power-play points (14), power-play goals (6) and ranked fourth in defenseman scoring.
- Del Gaizo was the first rookie defenseman in Hockey East history to score 10 goals in league play, which tied for fifth overall on the Hockey East list for goals by a defenseman in a single season all-time.
- Though hampered with injuries through much of the first half of the 2019-20 season, the now junior assistant captain still managed to put up 15 points in 22 games last season on four goals and 11 assists and was +9.

Top Of The Charts
- UMass entered the 2019-20 season ranked No. 4 in the USCHO.com poll and No. 5 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Men's College Hockey Poll, which was the first time the Minutemen opened a season ranked in either poll. Thus far in 2020-21, the Minutemen have been ranked in the top-10 each week to begin the year.
- History was made on Dec. 3, 2018 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 was ranked for 20 straight weeks to end the 2018-19 season, and earned a No. 2 ranking in the final polls.
- UMass entered the national rankings on Oct. 22, 2018 coming in at No. 16 in the USCHO.com poll. The last time the Minutemen were ranked prior to October 2018 was in the USCHO.com poll released on Feb. 15, 2010.
- On November 5, 2018, 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 on Nov. 12, 2018 when 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, moving up to No. 3 in both polls on Nov. 26, 2018.
- 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 collected 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 received its first No. 1 ranking in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.

League Things And Other Tidbits
- 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).
- 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).
- 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.
- Matthew Kessel is the third member of his family to play college hockey. His brother Will played at Western Michigan from 2011-15 and captained the Broncos in 2014-15, while his brother Peter plays at Holy Cross and is in his junior season with the Crusaders.
- Linden Alger's father Richard played for UMass in the program's inaugural Division I season (1993-94) and then played the next two campaigns at Boston University (1995-97).

Scoreboard

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Players Mentioned

Linden Alger

Oliver Chau

Marc Del Gaizo

Colin Felix

Mario Ferraro

Jake Gaudet

Carson Gicewicz

Jerry Harding

Zac Jones

Matthew Kessel

Philip Lagunov

Filip Lindberg

Josh Lopina

Oliver MacDonald

Cale Makar

Matt Murray

Ryan Sullivan

Bobby Trivigno

Scoreboard

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