The University of Massachusetts hockey team is headed to a second consecutive Frozen Four. The Minutemen defeated Lake Superior, 5-1, and Bemidji State, 4-0, over the weekend to advance out of the East Regional in Bridgeport, Conn.
Head coach Greg Carvel and his staff have implemented a sustainable model for success that other staffs in Hockey East could benefit from, if they can replicate it. Much of this weekend’s success came as a direct result of the coaching philosophy that Carvel has not veered from during his time in Amherst.
When Hobey Baker Award winner Cale Makar, now starring for the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche, guided UMass to the program’s first Frozen Four in 2019, many pundits assumed the Minutemen were a flash in the pan. While players such as Makar are once-in-a-generation talents, the UMass coaching staff has found a way to maintain a program capable of making consistent trips to the NCAA tournament and having success once there.
