This past weekend’s series between Massachusetts and Michigan may have pitted the defending champions against the “anointed champions for this coming year” in the Division 1 men’s college hockey world, but Greg Carvel didn’t want to make his Minutemen’s trip to Ann Arbor out to be anything more than two hockey games.
Michigan’s top two lines, of course, include four of the top five NHL draft picks from last year, including the Bay State’s own Matty Beniers of Hingham and likely future Seattle Kraken fame. But, high-caliber talent is nothing new to the Minutemen and their competitors in Hockey East.
“We’ve played against BU, BC and Providence. They all have lots of draft picks. We have lots of draft picks,” Carvel said last Wednesday. “This is just another game. We’ll play as hard as we can. It doesn’t matter what team we’re playing.”
Like any other weekend against any other team, the Minutemen will take away important lessons from their weekend in Ann Arbor. The 4-1 and 4-2 losses to the Wolverines snapped their 14-game span without a regulation loss dating back to a season-opening home sweep at the hands of now-No. 1 Minnesota State.
