Good morning!
The Boston University hockey team arrived in their peppermint stick jerseys on Wednesday and worked the Cole mine in front of 4,649 fans at the Mullins Center. 

Cole Hutson, an 18-year-old defenseman from Chicago, scored two goals and notched a pair of assists including a helper to older brother Quinn that sealed a 4-2 win. The outcome atoned for a 4-0 loss to UMass on Saturday at Agganis Arena that was likely helped by Hutson’s absence after he took a charging call in the first period that warranted a game misconduct.

UMass was hoping for a sweep on Wednesday after goals by Jack Musa and Aydar Suniev, but BU is loaded with a dozen draft picks and Michael Hrabal had stood on his head for too long between the pipes.

The Terriers hadn’t beaten the young netminder since Macklin Celebrini’s twine tweaker last season, a span of 100 minutes and 56 saves that ended when Devlin Kaplan’s second period goal portended a third period onslaught.

“Too many penalties gave them a chance to build momentum,” UMass coach Greg Carvel told Nathan Strauss on the postgame show.

Best Show in Town

Carvel has transformed a moribund program into the crown jewel of UMass athletics, and it will survive a .500 season. Indeed the Minutemen finished just two games over .500 in Hockey East last season but nearly beat eventual national champion Denver in the NCAA regionals. 

Anything can happen in the tournament, but first they have to get there and right now they’re on the outside looking in. When conference play resumes in January, they’ll have a crucial opportunity to move 12 points up the standings with two games each against doormats Northeastern and Merrimack that will either make or break them.

The Minutemen are averaging 5,000 fans in the Mullins Center. It’s loud and there’s a feel-good vibe in the building. Management has installed new metal detectors to get them in quicker and in the heart of winter the team has scheduled games an hour earlier against Northeastern, Alaska, UNH and UMass-Lowell.

The souvenir shop was moved to a less crowded area and free coffee is available on the northwest side of the concourse.

The team is evolving into a brand. Fans are proudly wearing UMass hockey gear — hats, sweatshirts and hoodies — and buying $200 Cale Makar jerseys. “Don’t hold me to it, but from what I hear he’s a big deal in the NHL,” said the sales clerk.

According to College Hockey News, Carvel is seven wins shy of 250. Why not honor him with a bobblehead night?

Seeking Chemistry

With 17 games down and 20 to go, Carvel reflected on a shaky first half that included two losses and a tie to lowly UVM, and a loss and tie to UConn, another chump team.

“We’ve lost four games we dominated the opponent and either couldn’t get the puck in the back of the net or couldn’t get saves,” Carvel said during a recent email exchange.

In baseball a manager can stick with a batting order, but hockey’s fluid and coaches are constantly juggling the lines. “The top two lines are usually your best six forwards,” said Carvel. “Either stack one line or try to balance them so you can maximize scoring. The third line is often a checking line that you can try to match against the opposition’s best line. The fourth line is high energy, physical line, not a lot of skill but hard to play against.”

After Cam O’Neill broke his hand against Providence last month, Carvel put Dans Locmelis on the first line with Jack Musa and Kenny Connors and moved Lucas Mercuri up to the second line with Aydar Suniev and Cole O’Hara. The juggling act worked, they combined to score 13 goals and win four of the next six games.

Carvel made another switch at BU, moving Michael Cameron from the fourth line to the second line and Cameron set up the team’s first goal. “Cameron’s a guy I plug into a line to give them speed and energy. His speed is hard to defend. He was out for a long time with a concussion but he’ll be great for us if he can start scoring again.”

Carvel has high hopes for Daniel Jencko, one of the few freshman newcomers up front. The Slovakian-born 19-year-old has over 250 games on his resume, first in his homeland, then Sweden and finally in the USHL where he had nine goals in 30 games for Youngstown. In his first eight games for the Minutemen he has three goals and three assists.

“Jencko hurt his wrist and was out for about six weeks,” said Carvel. “He’s come a long way with his compete and could be an NHL player one day. 

“O’Neill,” Carvel added, “will be back after Christmas.”

Blue Line Production

Despite returning only three defensemen — Linden Alger, Owen Murray and Kennedy O’Connor — Carvel said that junior transfer Lucas Olvestad and freshmen Francesco Dell’Elce, Larry Keenan and Finn Loftus have meshed more quickly than he anticipated.

“We knew that our back end would need time to come together. Lots of mistakes early but our goals against is going down and [the defense] is scoring a goal per game which might be tops in the country,” said Carvel.

“Keenan has pro potential but needs to harden up. [Denver transfer] Olvestad has been a great addition who plays to our identity and has been a leader since day one, and Dell’Elce is another player who came here undrafted but will be after his freshman year because that’s what we do.”

Goaltending improves

Carvel likes to joke that hockey should simply be called goaltending; a hot tender can carry a team and a cold one can be its undoing. A second round draft choice by Arizona (now Utah), Hrabal’s save percentage didn’t reach .900 — hockey’s version of the Mendoza Line — until the win against Army two weeks ago.

“Hrabal had a rough start and we helped him reset after the UVM series in Burlington,” said Carvel. “He was outstanding at BU and at Providence, both big road wins for us. He’s still only 19 years old. He’s young and is still maturing. If he can get to .925 we will win a lot of games.”

If Hrabal falters, Carvel will turn to Newbury native Jackson Irving of Cushing and the Sioux Falls Stampede, who thus far has a sparkling .949 save percentage albeit in a small sample size. “He’s grown significantly over his time at UMass. I have full confidence putting him in any time. He’s a great number two for us.”

How does this bode for the second half? “We’re not far off,” said Carvel. “Our goalie is improving, our defense is improving, and I think we can score more goals. Special teams are solid. The ship is moving in the right direction.”

Maybe so, but after seeing UMass succumb to a relentless BU offense on Wednesday it was obvious there are bigger ships in the ocean.

Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@icloud.com