Mike Machnik sent me a note and asked:
 
Question: do you think the big ice has not worked to UMass's advantage
this year?  They have hosted many teams that are a lot quicker than
them.  This might be a good topic for a post, other people might be
interested too.
 
        I agree with both parts. This should be posted.
 
        Our radio broadcasters frequently refer to the Olympic sized ice
surface at Mullins to be a home ice disadvantage for the Minutemen. It's
a theme they've used all year, and having been to 26 of Umass' 31 games
(Home and Away) I feel that I've seen enough of them to agree.
        UMass is a young team who's strength thus far has been the
standout goaltending of Brian Regan. The numbers might not reflect it, but
he deserves a H.E. All Rookie team spot as much as Noble. The top
forwards, although not league scoring leaders have been fairly solid.
Manganaro, Bonneau, Fawcett et. al. have had solid seasons. Wher they have
been weakest, and burnt most often is on defense. Although it is
probably the biggest D in the league, they are not the speediest and the
vast ice surface at Mullins is harder for them to manage.
        My best example of this is against UNH. The Wildcats are renouned
fo their speed at forward, and are putting an Olympic sheet in New
Snivley for just that reason. The Flinton-Royal-Mowers line is the
speediest, and most crisp passing line in Hockey East for my money. The
night we went up to Manchester though, we contained them well on the tiny
ice surface. The 6-3 final hardly told the story. It was 3-2 after two
when inexpreience and a rowdy crowd kicked in.
        The two games in Mullins, the Wildcats put on a pair of offensive
displays, outscoring us by a combined 13-4. They were able to use the
larger ice surface to their advantage as they just went around our
defensemen with ease.
        When we play on the road it's usually a better game, because we
lack  speed (especially at D) and the rinks on the road better suit us.
We lost 7-0 and 5-1 at home to BU, but played 7-4 at Walter Brown. We
lost 5-2 here against Providence, but won 7-3 and lost 5-4 in overtime at
PC. Maine, the sole exception to this rule, likes the smaller Alfond ice
for the same reason. Unlike the high flying Black Bears of '93, they're
built with tenacious D, and they did better containing our forwards at
Orono. (So I hear, this is one of the five I missed). The game here
against maine was a different story as you all know.
        This program is just two years old (Still in diapers) and as
Mallen has more time to recruit and bring in some players more suited for
Mullins, it will someday become a big adavantage. For now he's only got
so much to work with though, and we've taken some lumps here. Someday
teams built on D (read:BU) will not want to step onto the Olympic ice to
face 8,389 screaming fans and a speedy Minuteman unit, but for now, we're
content with a steady improvement.
 
Leigh
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