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Massachusetts Hockey 2018-19 Season in review

October 19, 2018

Minutemen Knock Off No. 1 Ohio State

The Minutemen turned heads and raised eyebrows when the squad knocked off then No. 1 Ohio State, 6-3 in its home opener in Columbus on the second weekend of the season.

It marked the Minutemen's fifth-ever win in program history over a No. 1-ranked team and second-ever on the road.

UMass finished the year with 10 wins over ranked teams, tying the highest total in program history.

November 2018

Minutemen Post A Perfect 7-0-0 Record

Capping November with the team's highest scoring output since 2014, a 7-4 win over UConn, the Minutemen went undefeated over a one-month stretch for the first time since the 1970-71 squad went 6-0-0 in December 1970.

UMass defeated three ranked teams in the month of November with a home-and-home sweep of No. 4/3 Providence (both 3-2 wins) and a non-league victory over No. 18 Princeton, 3-2, in overtime.

December 3, 2018

Minutemen Earn First No. 1 Ranking In Program History

Riding a program-record nine-game winning streak, the longest active winning streak in the nation at the time, the Minutemen went to No. 1 in the USCHO.com poll for the first time in program history with 26 first-place votes and 964 points.

UMass spent 20 straight weeks in the top five and earned a No. 2 ranking in the final USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls.

Prior to the 2018-19 season, the highest ranking in program history came in the USCHO.com poll on December 31, 2007 when the Minutemen were ranked fifth.

December 8, 2018

Minutemen #ChillTheBill Vs. Quinnipiac

After earning the first No. 1 ranking earlier in the week, the Minutemen saw their nine-game win streak snapped at No. 8 Quinnipiac on December 7 with a 4-0 loss to the Bobcats.

UMass headed back to the Mullins Center for a much-anticipated top-10 matchup on the back end of the home-and-home of the weekend series.

In front of a sold out, white-clad Mullins Center, the Minutemen rallied from a 1-0 deficit with a three-goal third period to defeat the Bobcats, 3-1, in front of a crowd of 8,412.

The sellout was the fourth in program history at the Mullins Center and first since February 5, 2010.

The crowd set a new Mullins Center attendance record for hockey, as well.

February 2, 8, 15 & 16, 2019

Minutemen Sweep Series With Boston University And Boston College For First Time In Program History

After winning an absolute barn burner at Agganis Arena over Boston University on February 2, the Minutemen hosted the Terriers a week later on February 8 and completed the sweep with a 4-2 win in front of a sellout crowd of 8,389 at the Mullins Center.

The Minutemen played another instant classic on February 15 against Boston College in front of 7,835 at Mullins.

With the Minutemen and Eagles deadlocked at 3-3, Jake McLaughlin rocketed home the game winner with 2.3 seconds remaining in regulation to give UMass the 4-3 victory.

The Minutemen erased an early 2-0 deficit to rally for their 22nd win of the season, which broke the previous program record, set in 2006-07.

The following evening, UMass traveled to Conte Forum and completed the regular season sweep of the Eagles with a 4-2 win.

February 28, 2019

Minutemen Clinch Hockey East Regular Season Title

On February 28, UMass scored three goals in the third period to rally for a 4-2 come-from-behind win at Merrimack that secured the Minutemen's first-ever Hockey East regular season title.

Sophomore Matt Murray made 18 saves against the Warriors en route to a program-record 20th win of the season (20-5-0).

Cale Makar's three-point effort helped the Minutemen to the win with a power-play goal, a shorthanded empty net goal and an assist on the game winner. He broke Thomas Poeck's record for assists by a defenseman in a single season with his 26th helper of the year coming against the Warriors.

March 15 & 16, 2019

Minutemen Host UNH In Hockey East Quarterfinals

After earning the No. 1 seed in the Hockey East Tournament, UMass hosted a Hockey East Quarterfinals series for the first time since 2007, facing No. 8 seed UNH.

The Minutemen erased a 3-0 second period deficit and went on to take Game 1 of the Hockey East Quarterfinals in double overtime, 5-4 over the Wildcats with Mitchell Chaffee netting the game-winner.

UMass put up four goals in the first 15 minutes of Game 2 to roll to a 6-0 victory over New Hampshire, advancing to the Hockey East Semifinals at the TD Garden for the first time since 2007.

The Minutemen finished the season 17-1-0 at the Mullins Center, a new program record for home victories.

Though falling to Boston College, 3-0, in the Hockey East Semifinals, the Minutemen played in front of an overwhelmingly pro-UMass crowd at the TD Garden, with the NewMass faithful making up a large portion of the 11,572 in attendance.

Despite the loss, the Minutemen still entered the NCAA Tournament with the No. 4 overall seed and the No. 1 seed in the Northeast Region.

March 29, 2019

Minutemen Open NCAA Tournament With 4-0 Win Over Harvard

After a scoreless first period between the Minutemen and the Crimson, freshman Anthony Del Gaizo broke the deadlock with UMass' first NCAA tournament goal since 2007 coming with 5:45 remaining in the second period.

UMass added three more in the third, including two from senior Brett Boeing to advance to the Northeast Regional Final with the shutout victory.

The win guaranteed that the Minutemen would be the only team in the nation to not lose back-to-back games during the 2018-19 season.

March 30, 2019

Minutemen Blank Notre Dame 4-0 To Earn Frozen Four Berth

The Minutemen used a three-goal second period to help carry the squad to its first Regional Championship in program history with a 4-0 shutout over No. 3 seed Notre Dame.

Jake Gaudet opened the scoring with a power-play goal 7:49 into the second period to put UMass on the board.

Amherst native John Leonard continued the fun with his second of the weekend moments later.

The goal was the No. 9 play on SportCenter's Top Plays that evening.

Cale Makar then netted his 16th goal of the year on a rocket of a one-timer from the point to make it a 3-0 game.

Oliver Chau later added the empty net goal in the closing minutes of the third.

UMass (later joined by Denver) became the first team to post back-to-back shutouts in an NCAA Regional since Boston College in 2012.

The win secured UMass' first regional title and first Frozen Four berth.

UMass fans made up a large portion of the over 10,000 fans that attended both days of the NCAA Northeast Regional at SNHU Arena.

Cale Makar Was Named The Most Outstanding Player at the NCAA Northeast Regional.

In addition to Makar, senior forward Brett Boeing, sophomore forward John Leonard and freshman goaltender Filip Lindberg were selected to the NCAA Northeast Regional All-Tournament Team.

April 11-13, 2019

NewMass Invades Buffalo For Frozen Four

Once again, UMass faithful proved that, wherever the Minutemen will go, they will follow as Maroon and White and Power U's blanketed I-90 and Western New York on the second week of April.

April 11, 2019

Minutemen Face Denver In National Semifinal

The Minutemen faced a formidable opponent in Denver, a program making its 16th Frozen Four appearance and third in the last four seasons. UMass found itself down 1-0 midway through the first, but then the nation's top power play went to work.

After freshman Bobby Trivigno leveled the score for the Minutemen, Mitchell Chaffee gave UMass a 2-1 lead with his squad-best 18th of the season at the 13:04 mark.

Just 18 seconds later, John Leonard made it 3-1 in favor of the Minutemen with the squad's third power-play goal of the period.

Not to be counted out, though, the Pioneers managed to rally in the third with two goals from Cole Guttman, forcing overtime with the equalizer coming with less than five minutes to go in regulation.

With a second overtime looming, freshman Marc Del Gaizo's rocket from the left point sent the Minutemen into the National Championship game.

ESPN's John Buccigross' "WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT!" call on the Del Gaizo game winner will be engrained in the collective memory of UMass fans for years to come.

April 12, 2019

Cale Makar Becomes First Hobey Baker Award Winner In UMass History

The top honor in college hockey went to the UMass defenseman, who was also named a First Team All-American alongside teammate Mitchell Chaffee.

Earlier in the week, UMass head coach Greg Carvel was announced as the Spencer Penrose Award winner as National Coach of the Year.

The honor came on the back of Carvel being tabbed the 2018-19 Clark Hodder Award Recipient (New England Coach of the Year) and the Hockey East Bob Kullen Coach of the Year.

The accolades added to a laundry list of awards already earned by the Minutemen in 2018-19...

Leonard Fowle Award (New England MVP) - Cale Makar

Bob Monahan Award (New England's Best Defenseman) - Cale Makar

Herb Gallagher Award (New England's Best Forward) - Mitchell Chaffee

Hockey East Player of the Year - Cale Makar (unanimous selection)

New England All-Stars - Mitchell Chaffee, Cale Makar, Jacob Pritchard

Program-Record Six Hockey East All Stars - First Team: Mitchell Chaffee, Cale Makar | Second Team: John Leonard, Jacob Pritchard | Third Team: Marc Del Gaizo, Mario Ferraro

Hockey East All-Rookie Team - Marc Del Gaizo

CHN and USCHO.com Player of the Year - Cale Makar

USCHO.com Coach of the Year - Greg Carvel

All-CHN First Team - Cale Makar

All-CHN Rookie Team - Marc Del Gaizo

April 13, 2019

Minutemen Take On Minnesota Duluth In National Championship Game

The Minutemen became the seventh UMass team in history to play for a national title.

The Minutemen came up short of the ultimate goal, falling to a veteran Minnesota Duluth team that secured its second straight national title with a 3-0 victory over UMass.

In the postgame press conference, Coach Carvel called the experience "a learning lesson."

"I think our team will take a step forward, having played that team," he said.

After posting a 6-2-0 record over the months of March and April with a 1.19 goals against average and a .947 save percentage with four shutouts to tie teammate Matt Murray's UMass record for shutouts in a season, Freshman Filip Lindberg earned the final National Goaltender of the Month and Hockey East Goaltender of the Month awards of the 2018-19 season.

Cale Makar was also named the Hockey East Player of the Month for March/April, capping a long list of monthly and weekly awards the Minutemen earned in 2018-19:

Hockey East Player of the Month - Cale Makar (October 2018 & March/April 2019)

Hockey East Goaltender of the Month - Matt Murray (November 2018), Filip Lindberg (March/April 2019)

Hockey East Player of the Week - Cale Makar (10/15/18, 10/22/18, 3/18/19, 4/1/19, 4/15/19) | John Leonard (10/29/18) | Matt Murray (11/12/18) | Oliver Chau (11/26/18)

Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week - Cale Makar (1/14/19, 3/4/19) | Marc Del Gaizo (4/15/19)

Hockey East Rookie of the Week - Bobby Trivigno (12/3/18) | Marc Del Gaizo (1/7/19) | Ty Farmer (2/4/19) | Filip Lindberg (4/1/19, 4/15/19)

UMass Team Records Set In 2018-19

Most Wins - 31

Most Hockey East Wins - 18

Most Home Wins - 17

Most Road Wins - 11

Longest Winning Streak - 9 Games

Most Goals (Hockey East Era) - 151

Most Power-Play Goals - 43

Most Games Played - 41

Lowest Goals-Against Average - 1.98

Most Shutouts - 5 (tied record from 1913-14)

Fewest Goals Allowed (DI Era) - 83 (third overall)

UMass Individual Records Set In 2018-19

Wins By A Goaltender - Matt Murray (20)

Points By A Defenseman - Cale Makar (49)

Assists By A Defenseman - Cale Makar (33)

Power Play Points - Jacob Pritchard (26 - tied record)

2018-19 National Leaders

Team Power Play Percentage - 28.5

Combined Special Teams - 57.9

Power Play Points - Jacob Pritchard - 26

Defenseman Scoring - Cale Makar - 49 points

For 2019-20 Ticket Information:

1-866-UMASS-TIX & UMassAthletics.com

Credits:

Photos by Thom Kendall, Richard T. Gagnon and Caroline O'Connor

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