Two years after making their first ever Frozen Four, the UMass Minutemen are going back.
Carson Gicewicz registered a natural hat trick to lead UMass to a 4-0 win over Bemidji State in Saturday's regional final in Bridgeport.
There was no Frozen Four last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, so this will actually be the second straight that the Minutemen have made.
Gicewicz's hat trick was the first of his college career, the first by anyone in the NCAA tournament since 2017, and the latest high point in a season that has seen the graduate transfer become not just a crucial part of the team, but its leading goal-scorer.
In his first three collegiate seasons at St. Lawrence, Gicewicz was a solid offensive player, but his career high in goals was nine. In his junior year in 2018-19, that number dropped down to four. He was set to be a senior captain for St. Lawrence in 2019-20, but suffered a season-ending knee injury just two games in.
This past summer, Gicewicz decided to make the move to UMass as a graduate transfer, teaming up with coach Greg Carvel, who had originally recruited him to St. Lawrence before taking the UMass job in 2016. It has paid major dividends for all involved.
The 6-foot-3, 212-pound power forward has emerged as a force playing on UMass' top line with seniors Oliver Chau and Jake Gaudet. Gicewicz now has a team-high 17 goals on the season after Saturday's hat trick, seven more than anyone else on the team. He also scored a goal in the Minutemen's 5-1 first-round win over Lake Superior State on Friday.
Gicewicz's first goal Saturday came 14:24 into the first when he buried a shorthanded two-on-one feed from Chau. The second came a few minutes later when he deflected in a Matthew Kessel shot from the point. He finished off the hat trick and essentially put the game to rest 6:34 into the second when he went to the net and finished off a nice setup from Gaudet.
Bemidji had little chance of coming back, as UMass did what it's done a lot recently -- completely shut down its opponent. The Minutemen haven't lost since Jan. 18 and they've allowed more than two goals just once in 12 games since then.
They held the Beavers to 18 shots on goal, one week after holding UMass Lowell to 16 in a 1-0 win in the Hockey East championship game. On the rare occasions their opponents do get chances, they have to try find a way to beat junior goalie Filip Lindberg, who has a .946 save percentage this season.
The Minutemen now get ready to head to Pittsburgh for the Frozen Four, where they will play the winner of Saturday night's Fargo regional final between North Dakota and Minnesota-Duluth on April 8 in the national semifinals. (UPDATE: Minnesota-Duluth won that game in an epic five-overtime thriller.)
In 2019, UMass and Minnesota-Duluth met in the national championship game, which UMD won 3-0. Despite losing top players Cale Makar, Mario Ferraro and John Leonard from that team to the NHL since then, the Minutemen have made it back. They don't have that kind of star power this year, but they just might be a more complete team.
