The University of Massachusetts hockey team is coming home after starting its season with three straight road games. UMass (0-2-1) will compete in its home opener at the Mullins Center on Friday and will face Boston University (2-0-1) for the second straight game.
UMass battled BU to a 2-2 tie last Saturday night at Agganis Arena, and "The Mass Attack" now put their efforts towards "winning the two game set," head coach Don Cahoon said.
"We played well in the second and third periods last game, but we want the win," senior forward Brian Keane said. "We want to prove ourselves to ourselves, the school, and our fans. It's a big game."
They will have the chance to prove themselves to the school and fans at the Mullins Center on Friday, something that they haven't had the chance to do yet this season.
"I'm really excited," Keane said. "Anytime we play big teams like BU we get a great following and our student section is unbelievable. Probably the best in Hockey East."
For freshman members of the Mass Attack this will be their first time playing in front of the UMass faithful.
"It's going to be awesome," freshman goalie Jeff Teglia said. "I hear it's incredible. I can't wait. Hopefully the fans gives us the energy we need to win the game."
With the energy level as high as it will be, Coach Cahoon will have to make sure it doesn't become a distraction for the first year players.
"You've got to keep it between the glass," Cahoon said. "You can't be looking around and getting caught up with the event and the ruckus. Our guys have to keep a narrow focus."
One of the things that UMass will have to focus on is getting off to a good start. The Minutemen have not yet held a lead in any of their three games this season, and have constantly been playing from behind. When asked if playing with a lead for a change was a goal going into Friday coach Cahoon answered, "no question."
"Hopefully we'll have our best first period this coming Friday," Cahoon said.
Not all bad has come from the Mass Attack's recent experience playing from behind. The Minutemen have proven that they are capable of coming back in games and reducing leads.
"This year, in the games we've kind of been behind the eight-ball," Senior goalie Paul Dainton said. "With that said, we have shown the ability to get back in games whereas previous teams may have shut down or other teams might have shut down. Our guys just don't give up which is a huge positive."
Dainton's status for Friday is still up in the air after missing last game with a leg injury, but Dainton did practice fully on Wednesday.
"It feels fine," Dainton said. "It's one of those things where you just want to be 100 percent back so it's not lingering."
If Dainton can't go Friday, the likely starter would be Teglia, who filled in for Dainton in Saturday's game and gave the Minutemen 33 saves earning him HEA Rookie of the Week honors, according to the team web site.
"I try to prepare myself like I'm going to play every single game," Teglia said.
Despite the recent familiarity between UMass and BU, the Minutemen don't expect a duplicate of the last meeting.
"It's going to be a different environment," Cahoon said. "It's going to be a different game, probably even a different lineup so it's a whole new experience."
"We definitely know who we're playing against," Keane said. "But then again, I'm sure [BU wasn't] very happy with the way they played in the second and third [periods], so I think we're going to see a whole different team."
BU also presented some problems in key areas for the Minutemen and the two game set format could give UMass a chance to prepare and fix those problems.
"They won 59 percent of the draws," Cahoon said. "We always aim to win 55 percent of the draws. They have big, strong center-ice men and that presented some problems for us."
"They're a good fast team," Teglia said. "Their forwards are really skilled and they have a couple of good defensemen that are offensive minded as well. We just need to play to our strengths and I think we'll be fine."
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