The Minutemen enter the weekend with a one-point lead over Maine for the eighth and final Hockey East playoff spot.
UMass defeated New Hampshire at Mullins Center on Nov. 2, but is searching for its first road win over the Wildcats since 2006.
AMHERST — The tension is building for the University of Massachusetts hockey team, but coach John Micheletto is happy with how his team is handling it thus far.
A third-period rally Saturday against Maine to at least temporarily reclaim the eighth and final playoff spot in Hockey East showed him that his team can step up in the clutch
“The comeback that we had on Saturday … was a nice step,“ Micheletto said. “We’re seeing a lot of these things for the first time, at least as we go about it together, so I think they’ve done a nice job of trying to work through the various adversities that a season will throw at you.”
But the Hockey East standings on the wall inside the team’s locker room at Mullins Center will tell the Minutemen they are just getting started with high-pressure games.
UMass is a point ahead of ninth-place Maine and four ahead of tenth-place Northeastern (which play two in Orono this weekend), making the margin of error is razor thin for UMass (11-17-2, 8-14-1) when it travels to No. 5 New Hampshire (17-8-5, 12-7-4) for games Friday and Saturday at the Whittemore Center.
“Everybody knows where we stand,” said forward Branden Gracel, the team’s leading scorer. ““We know where the two teams behind us are and the ones in front of us as well.”
One of the team’s initial goals was to earn home ice in the first round of the playoffs by finishing in the top four of Hockey East, but with that now mathematically unattainable, the team’s focus has had to shift to salvaging what’s left.
“We always wanted home ice but now that we can’t make it anymore, I think everybody’s just looking to make the playoffs and go on a little streak from there,” Gracel said.
While acknowledging the importance of earning a playoff spot this season, Micheletto did downplay any sort of lasting effects missing the postseason might have on his program.
“I don’t know that I’d view it as a step forward or a step backward either way,” Micheletto said. “Perceptions are for people other than me. I try to deal with realities.”
New Hampshire, though it’s locked securely into the Hockey East playoffs, has plenty to play for itself, currently sitting in a four-way tie at the top of the league with Boston College, UMass-Lowell and Providence.
The Minutemen defeated the Wildcats 2-1 in overtime at Mullins Center on Nov. 2, but the Whittemore Center and its Olympic-sized (wider and longer) ice sheet haven’t been kind to UMass in the past — the Minutemen are 0-8-2 there in their last ten and haven’t won there since Oct. 26, 2006.
The Wildcats’ ability to use the outside parts of the larger rink to their advantage has given opponents problems, and is a key part of what Micheletto is trying to prepare his team for this weekend.
“Their building is a little bit different than ours, and we’ve got to make sure that we’re getting a good feel for it really … and make sure that we don’t get caught outside the dots defensively,” Micheletto said.
The other part of the equation for UMass will be solving Wildcats goalie Casey DeSmith, who enters the weekend with a 2.20 goals against average and .925 save percentage.
“Offensively you’ve got to make sure that you’re getting second shots on (DeSmith),” Micheletto said. “With the way that he’s played over the course of the year, there’s no way to get around it.”