BUFFALO, N.Y. — It was during an informal meeting three years ago that University of Massachusetts athletic director Ryan Bamford realized Greg Carvel was the man to get the school’s hockey program to the Frozen Four.
“When I got a chance to sit with him, very informally, I think he was in jeans and a sweatshirt. He was on vacation. I had said to pop over to the office. We sat for two hours, but it felt like a 20 minute conversation,” Bamford began to explain.
“I said this is my guy. I thought he was the guy we could build a program around. He’s taken the program and run with it. We’re very happy he’s our head coach,” continued Bamford.
It wasn’t just Carvel’s communication skills during that informal meeting that impressed Bamford. While conducting the search, he had spoken to a lot of people and came away impressed with Carvel’s credentials.
“I had done a lot of homework on Greg. I had been in the ECAC at Yale for nine years. I had worked with Keith (Allain) and talked to a bunch of people around hockey. Greg’s name popped up a couple of times,” said Bamford who came to UMass from Georgia Tech.
“I liked the fact that he had NHL experience and he had done a good job of building that St. Lawrence program back up,” Bamford added.
An entire fan base, including long suffering ones who were behind the team through lean years, and ones that have joined the bandwagon, are thrilled to have Carvel guiding the Minutemen.
Carvel, now in his third season at the helm in Amherst, has his team in Saturday night’s national championship game against Minnesota Duluth. The Frozen Four appearance, the Hockey East Regular Season Championship, and 31 wins are all program firsts.
His team’s accomplishments led to him being named the recipient of the Spencer Penrose Award as college hockey’s top coach, it was announced on Tuesday. His star player, sophomore defenseman Cale Makar, joined him as a winner of a national award, being honored with the Hobey Baker Memorial Award.
Not only is Carvel a great x’s and o’s coach, he’s able to build relationships with his players, including one who is destined for stardom.
“Everybody on our team loves our coaches. They create such a personal relationship that we’re able to talk to them about anything regardless of whether it’s hockey or not. It’s that open relationship that’s helped our team succeed this year,” said Makar.
“He’s good about building relationships with players, scouts, fans, media, and other coaches. He does a really good job of being personable. He’s very respectful and understands the outside,” added assistant coach Jared DeMichiel.
One win away
With UMass on the brink of a national championship for the first time in school history, Carvel will look to keep his team focused and prepared all the while emphasizing the importance of having belief in winning.
While UMD, the defending national champion, is a formidable opponent, it’s not as if UMass has beaten a bunch of cupcakes en route to the title game. In the Northeast Regional final, the Minutemen knocked off Notre Dame. In Thursday’s semifinal, it was eight-time national champion Denver.
“I'd say we just played Notre Dame, who went to three Frozen Fours in a row, something like that. You just played Denver that won a national championship. Just another good team that we need to be at our best,” said Carvel when asked about his team’s belief as the newest member of college hockey’s Frozen Four fraternity.
UMass advancing to the Frozen Four was so unexpected that Carvel had to change some family vacation plans to visit his parents in Florida a little later in the week than originally scheduled.
“In September I made a flight for April 13th at 6:30. In February, I was like, Oh, my God. When I made it, I had no idea. I thought the season would be over. It's the only week with my kids are off of school. I made the flight. It hit me, Oh, my God. I think we have a flight for the same time as the national championship game,” said Carvel with a smile.
“(Friday) morning I made changes to my flight reservations. It was the happiest $200 per flight charge I'll ever make,” he added.
Carrying the flag
Not only has the success of the hockey team been great for the program, it’s been a source of pride for the entire school. The catch phrases “Flagship” and “NewMass” have been a rallying cry that has helped bring more eyeballs to the state’s flagship campus.
“The visibility and the brand awareness,” said Bamford when asked about the added benefits of the team’s winning ways.
“Anytime you can have success in hockey, football or basketball, it can gain national attention. Hitting number one and being in the top five for most of the year was great. It’s great to validate it at the Frozen Four and hopefully we can win a national championship,” he added.
For years, UMass has always taken a backseat to UMass Lowell in terms of success on the ice. This season, the Minutemen have enjoyed milestones that only it’s rival to the northeast had experienced before.
“It’s been great for the university and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It’s great that the flagship finally broke through. Hockey is big in the state,” said Bamford.
While the success of the 2018-19 team has been remarkable, Bamford hopes that it will be prolonged. In order to keep up with the Joneses of the college hockey world, fundraising must continue. It’s been easier to ask for people’s support with a winning team.
“With the visibility and awareness, we’ve been able to get people to invest. We want to keep it at a high level and sustain success. That’s our goal. We want to continue to be successful for a number of years to come,” Bamford explained.
Saturday night could be the icing on the cake.
