UMass hockey returns to action with road games vs Yale, Lowell

AMHERST — After winning four of its last five games to close out the first semester, the UMass hockey team will be back in action after nearly a month off with games at Yale Friday and UMass-Lowell on Saturday. Both are at 7 p.m.

Minuteman coach Greg Carvel was eager to get going.

“We’re trying to get them back into game shape. That’s my concern right now,” he said. “I like the fact that our young team is starting to look mature. You can see big differences in a lot of these kids, how they carry themselves, how they play, how they’re developing as players.”

The Minutemen will be without Cale Makar for the weekend games as the standout freshman defenseman is representing Canada at the World Junior Championships in Buffalo, New York. He’ll be back for next week’s games at Vermont.

With Makar out and Shane Bear choosing to return to junior hockey, UMass will have just six defensemen available. Freshman Eetu Torpstrom, who has played in three games, will slide into Makar’s spot in the lineup.

“We’ll need Eetu to step up and the other five guys to be better than before,” Carvel said. “It’s an opportunity for Eetu. He’s struggled with injuries since he got here. It’s a tough defensive crew to crack.”

Mario Ferraro, who was among the last players cut by Team Canada for the WJC, will anchor the UMass blue line.

“I think he was very proud of himself. He opened a lot of people’s eyes in Canada,” Carvel said. ”

UMass (9-7) will play its final nonconference game at Yale (6-8) before closing the year with 17 straight Hockey East games.

Junior forward Joe Snively leads Yale with seven goals and six assists. Junior goalie Sam Tucker has played the bulk of the minutes in goal. He’s 5-7-0 with a 2.93 goals against average and a 89.6 save percentage. Sophomore Caleb Kaczperski started in Saturday’s 4-2 win over New Hampshire and coach Keith Allain could chose to stick with him.

Lowell is 10-9-0 overall and 6-6-0 in Hockey East, and hosts Vermont, Friday. The River Hawks have lost three of their last five games and have been up and down all season.

Sophomore Keith Hausinger leads the Lowell with seven goals and nine assists, while Ryan Lohin isn’t far behind with five goals and 10 assists.

Christopher Hernberg has been the primary goalie. He’s 10-3 with a 1.94 goals against average and 92.8 save percentage.

UMass (3-4-0 Hockey East) is ninth in the conference with six points, but the Minutemen have played just seven league games. Nobody else has played less than nine and most have played at least 10. The opportunity is there to gain ground if the team plays well.

“We have a lot of games left with no weekends off and some mid-week games. We’re going to have to manage our guys and make sure we stay energized,” Carvel said. “We’ve shown we can skate with anybody as long as we’re healthy and energized.”