The Springfield NCAA Division I hockey regional will involve the country’s best defensive team and the one that leads the nation in goals scored.
Cornell University, the University of Maine’s first-round opponent at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, has given up a nation-low 1.88 goals per game while Denver University’s Pioneers have scored 4.85 goals per contest which is most among the 64 Division I schools.
National Collegiate Hockey Conference champ Denver, the top seed for the tourney, will take on host UMass in the 2 p.m. opener on Thursday at the MassMutual Center.
Denver has 11 players who have scored at least 10 goals and that’s the same total for the other three teams combined.
Cornell University coach Mike Schafer, who is in his 29th year behind the bench, has guided his youthful team to a 21-6-6 record and the ECAC tournament title by virtue of a 3-1 win over St. Lawrence in the championship game.
It was Cornell’s first Whitelaw Cup (ECAC tournament title) since 2010.
Freshman center Jonathan Castagna had two goals in the final and was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.
Castagna was joined on the all-tourney team by two of his teammates, freshman defenseman Ben Robertson and center Gabriel Seger, the team’s only senior.
The game with UMaine will feature two of the youngest teams in the NCAA Tournament.
Thirteen of the 20 players who played in UMaine’s 4-1 Hockey East semifinal loss to Boston University were freshmen or sophomores.
Cornell had 11 in its win over St. Lawrence including nine freshmen.
Schafer said he is still trying to figure out his team.
“It’s a little crazy to say that. But we have nine freshmen in the lineup so you never know what you’re going to get from them,” said Schafer.
The Big Red has good scoring balance with four players having at least 11 goals and four others with at least seven.
Two of the players with double-digit goals are freshmen: Ryan Walsh (12 goals, 10 assists) and Castagna (11 goals, 14 assists). Sophomore winger Dalton Bancroft has 12 goals to go with 19 assists and Seger leads the team in goals (14), assists (28) and points (42).
“We have some good players. We don’t have to rely on one guy, like a Hobey Baker Award candidate, to carry us. We spread the wealth, which is good. Different guys have risen up at different times to produce offense,” he said.
Cornell is 12th in the country in offense, producing 3.36 goals per game.
Seger and junior goaltender Ian Shane, who is 21-4-6 with a nation-leading 1.70 goals against average to go with a .922 save percentage, were All-ECAC first team selections while Castagna and Robertson (5 goals, 18 assists) were picked to the ECAC All-Rookie team.
Shane was chosen the Goaltender of the Year.
Schafer said rebound control is Shane’s strength. He either holds on to the initial shot and doesn’t leave a rebound or he directs the puck into a safe place or to a teammate to begin the breakout.
“He can also make big saves when we need him to do that,” said Schafer, who has 541 career wins.
Cornell, which has four freshmen defenseman in its regular rotation, has allowed two goals or less 27 times in 33 games.
Schafer said at the outset of the season, their goals were to finish in the top three in the league standings, earn a home ice series for the quarterfinals and give themselves a chance to win a title.
They finished second and hosted Harvard for a best-of-three quarterfinal round series which they swept. The Big Red then used a five-goal third period to erase a 3-1 deficit and beat Dartmouth 6-3 in the ECAC semis in Lake Placid, N.Y. before topping St. Lawrence in the title game.
“And we’ve been fortunate enough to get it done,” said Schafer.
He expects a tough battle against UMaine.
“Ben Barr (UMaine head coach) has done a tremendous job. They are good, defensively. They are well-structured and they don’t beat themselves which has led them to have a very consistent year,” said Schafer. “And they have one of the best power plays in the country.”
Denver, 27-9-3, will come into the tournament with a 10-1-1 record over its last 12 games.
The Pioneers have a Hobey Baker Award finalist in All-NCHC first teamer Jack Devine (27 goals, 28 assists) and a unanimous first team selection in freshman defenseman Zeev Buium (11 & 37). Junior winger Massimo Rizzo (10 & 34) was a second team pick as was junior defenseman Shai Buium (7 & 27), Zeev’s older brother.
Zeev Buium was a unanimous pick to the All-Rookie team as was Denver forward Miko Matikka (19 & 12).
Denver has nine players with at least 30 points.
David Carle’s Pioneers have scored at least five goals in 24 of their 39 games.
UMass has lost three of its last four coming into the tournament including an 8-1 drubbing at the hands of Hockey East regular season and tournament champion Boston College in the league semifinals.
But the one win was an important 3-1 victory at Providence in the Hockey East quarterfinals and that win plus some favorable results in other league tournaments enabled the Minutemen to claim a tourney spot.
They have an All-Hockey East first team defenseman in junior Ryan Ufko (10 & 16), a second-team goalie in 6-foot-7 freshman Michael Hrabal (16-10-1, 2.46 GAA, .916 save percentage) and a third team defenseman in junior Scott Morrow (6 & 23).
Morrow shares the team scoring lead with freshman Jack Musa (12 & 17).
Denver won the national title in 2022, a year after UMass claimed its first NCAA championship.
