After watching some very entertaining hockey in the Big Ten and NCHC tournaments earlier this week, I wondered if Hockey East could match it.
Hell, yes! was the resounding answer.
UMass Lowell’s wild, stunning comeback win over top seed Boston College, 6-5, after 92 minutes of hockey on Wednesday was a classic, the game of the season (so far). It was an exhilarating display of postseason college hockey.
“I told the guys in the locker room that I’ve seen a lot of things in 25 years, but this ranks right up there,’’ said coach Norm Bazin after Matt Brown won it for the River Hawks.
“Being down 4-1, against the No. 1 team in the country, it’s got to be one of the greatest games of all time. It was just a crazy game. This sure had a lot of drama, a lot of momentum swings.”
Amen to that.
In the other semifinal game, UMass wore down Providence College, 5-2, setting up an all-Massachusetts-state-school matchup between the Minutemen and the River Hawks for the Hockey East championship in Amherst on Saturday night.
It should be a close one. Both UMass (15-5-4) and Lowell (10-8-1) are very well-coached and play a heavy, structured game. Both are among the top possession teams in the country.
They played twice during the regular season, with UMass posting 5-0 and 2-1 wins.
I believe the Minutemen have more weapons and better goaltending and those will be deciding factors.
The top players for UMass are some of the best in the league. They delivered excellent performances in the win over PC. Bobby Trivigno led the way with 1-2-3, Zac Jones, Josh Lopina and Marc Del Gaizo had 1-1-2, and Matt Kessel had two assists.
Lowell received impactful games from its best players, too. Andre Lee was a force with 1-1-2. Defenseman Anthony Baxter scored twice. Brown had 1-1-2 and Chase Blackmun chipped in with two assists.
In net there is a wide statistical gulf between the teams, and a significant edge for UMass.
The Minutemen’s Filip Lindberg wasn’t peppered with shots against PC, but made the stops he needed to make. Lindberg’s .937 save percentage is tied with Minnesota State’s Dryden McKay for best in the nation.
Lowell freshman Henry Welsch made some game-saving stops in outdueling an unusually subpar Spencer Knight of BC on Wednesday, but his save percentage is .894.
UMass has the better special teams with the 10th best power play (23.4 percent) and second-best penalty kill (90.2 percent) in the country. Lowell comes in at 22nd on the power play (19.6 percent) and 11th on the PK (76.5 percent).
Prediction: Safe to say this one is not likely to have the entertainment value that Lowell-BC had, though you never know. I see a physical game with the Minutemen coming out on top. In fact, I like the chances of UMass reaching the Frozen Four for the second time in three seasons. UMass 3, Lowell 2
