{"id":93450,"date":"2019-04-12T14:32:19","date_gmt":"2019-04-12T19:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=93450"},"modified":"2019-04-13T18:56:45","modified_gmt":"2019-04-13T23:56:45","slug":"umass-doesnt-buy-into-battle-tested-talk-ahead-of-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/04\/12\/umass-doesnt-buy-into-battle-tested-talk-ahead-of-final\/","title":{"rendered":"UMass doesn’t buy into battle-tested talk ahead of final"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
UMass finishes its practice on Friday (Melissa Wade).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BUFFALO, N.Y.<\/b> — When the Frozen Four began, Massachusetts was the apparent answer to the old “Sesame Street” question: Which of these things doesn’t belong?<\/p>\n

After all, Providence, Denver and Minnesota Duluth made up three of the last four national champions.<\/p>\n

UMass, in startling contrast, had never even been to the Frozen Four before, much less win it all.<\/p>\n

So when the Minutemen defeated Denver in overtime after surrendering a 3-1 third-period lead, conventional thinking would have said that the white-knuckle victory would make the Minutemen more battle-tested for a championship game against a Duluth team appearing in it for a third straight year.<\/p>\n

Far better that the game go into overtime than be the kind of wire-to-wire win they enjoyed over Harvard and Notre Dame in the Northeast Regional.<\/p>\n

That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.<\/p>\n

And while Denver came close to killing UMass with a dominating third period, it could not slam the coffin on the Minutemen, who rebounded in a big way in OT.<\/p>\n

So UMass was now stronger, more ready to face Duluth. Right?<\/p>\n

Instead, the Minutemen were indifferent at best about the possible benefits.<\/p>\n

“Yeah, maybe a little bit,” Cale Makar said. “But at the end of the day, we’ve got to be prepared for whatever comes our way. It was a fun win, going into OT. Hopefully, we don’t have to go through that again.”<\/p>\n

UMass coach Greg Carvel went even further, shooting down the battle-tested theory entirely.<\/p>\n

“No, I don’t feel that way,” he said. “[I’m] just glad we have a day off in between. We should be able to recover and be fully energized to go.<\/p>\n

“Whatever style of game [it was] last night — which apparently was very physical because everybody was getting thrown out — we’ll be set for Duluth. We have a pretty good understanding of how they play. They’re like Denver: a very defensive-minded team [that] doesn’t give you a lot. They’re a little bigger team, play a little heavier style.<\/p>\n

“We’ve played Providence three times this year, a very similar team, another heavy team [and won two of the three].<\/p>\n

“But we fully respect the opponent. We fully respect they’re the defending champion. They’ve been here every year.<\/p>\n

“We understand we’re the underdogs. It’s all right. We’re fine with that.”<\/p>\n

UMass will be welcoming back Niko Hildenbrand and Mitchell Chaffee, who both received five-minute majors and game misconducts for hits to the head, Hildenbrand’s just six minutes into the game and Chaffee’s late in the second period.<\/p>\n

Both play right wing, which created a chasm at the position, and they are also two of the team’s four top penalty killers, a major void Thursday night. Chaffee is also the team’s top goal-scorer as well as the physically largest Minuteman player in terms of weight, the only one in excess of 200 pounds.<\/p>\n

Their return should be a major lift to the team.<\/p>\n

“When we came off the ice, they were high-fiving and hugging everybody,” Carvel said. “You could tell by looking in their eyes those kids had been sitting in terror. None of these kids want to be a reason why a season like this comes to an end.<\/p>\n

“They both really are impactful players on our team. Niko is our captain and plays big minutes on the kill. We needed a lot of that last night.<\/p>\n

“We’ll receive the absolute best they can give the team tomorrow night.”<\/p>\n

In the locker room after Marc Del Gaizo scored the overtime game-winner, Hildenbrand embraced his teammate.<\/p>\n

“Thank you, man, for saving me,” Hildenbrand said.<\/p>\n

As Hildenbrand and Chaffee return, UMass lost Bobby Trivigno, who was suspended for the title game due to a postgame review of a forearm to the head late in the third period.<\/p>\n

“[Chaffee and I] definitely have to bring energy,” Hildenbrand said after the win, not yet aware of the Trivigno suspension.<\/p>\n

“How do you not get up for a national championship? We talked about it, we joked about it. Maybe we’ll have a little more gas than some of the other guys. We’ll be ready to go for sure.”<\/p>\n

As will all of the Minutemen except for Trivigno, the freshman sparkplug who had scored 28 points this year and provided surprising physical play considering his 5-foot-8, 152-pound frame.<\/p>\n

“I love him,” Carvel said, almost certainly knowing of the suspension but not able to mention it prior to the NCAA’s 2 p.m. announcement. “He’s tough as nails, scores big goals and plays every situation.<\/p>\n

“As coaches, there are certain kids you want on your team. Bobby is one of those kids. [He] plays the game on edge. He knocks down as many guys of the opponents [as] anybody on our team. He’ll knock down three guys a game. Good, physical hits.<\/p>\n

“He scores goals, goes to the front of the net, does it all. Unbelievable player.”<\/p>\n

And a huge loss.<\/p>\n

The Minutemen, however, survived the loss of Chaffee and Hildenbrand on Thursday. They’ll need to survive the loss of Trivigno on Saturday to win the national championship.<\/p>\n

“We came here to win two games, not just one,” Jacob Pritchard said.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Matt Vautour from Masslive.com for use of the Hildenbrand quotes.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Minutemen played their first close game of the NCAA tournament on Thursday and go for their first title on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":93451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[954,957,962,964],"coauthors":[805],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUMass doesn't buy into battle-tested talk ahead of final - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Minutemen played their first close game of the NCAA tournament on Thursday and go for their first title on Saturday.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93450\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UMass doesn't buy into battle-tested talk ahead of final - College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Minutemen played their first close game of the NCAA tournament on Thursday and go for their first title on Saturday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93450\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-12T19:32:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-04-13T23:56:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/190412-13454425.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"699\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"463\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David H. 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