“Giddy-up.”-Kramer from Seinfeld
Regardless of how great UMass played early, or how bad they’ve played late, one fact remains. The Mass Attack has found themselves in a dogfight for Hockey East tournament positioning, and has a shot to make the NCAA. Would I like them to be playing better? Yes. But they still have a chance, which starts tonight in a must-sweep series at Merrimack.
Merrimack does three things of note. They can score, they give up a lot of goals, and they don’t lose at home. Offensively they are lead by Freshman sensation Stephane Da Costa and Chris Barton, the Warriors answer to Wellman/Marcou. They other lines are not very deep (nobody else on the team has more than 20 points), but this line is formidable, and presents a pretty stiff challenge to a strug-a-ling Minutemen defense.
Merrimack watches the puck find its way into their own net plenty, giving up well over three goals a game. They don’t have a starting goalie, as they rotate Andrew Braithwaite and Joe Cannata the way UML does with Hutton/Hamilton. The only difference is, Hutton/Hamilton don’t suck. Braithwaite/Cannata….not so great. At the very least, they don’t scare me. Could be just what the doctor ordered for a strug-a-ling Mass Attack offense.
Tonight’s game is at Lawler Arena, where Merrimack has been awesome. They are 10-2 there, which is the best home ice advantage in Hockey East. It’s a tiny rink, which plays to their advantage, as it hamstrings the quicker and more talented teams. If UMass wins tonight, I think this becomes an easy sweep. If they don’t, who knows how dejected they will feel. But I can’t pick against the Warriors at home. It’s foolishly optimistic for ANY team to expect a win there this year, let alone a team who is scuffling. So while the Minutemen desperately need this game….it’s going to be tough. But who knows, because everything up to this point is now irrelevant. It’s a 5 game season, and time for UMass to get busy living, or get busy dying.
Hopefully the former.
-Josh
MassAttack's Blog 