Frozen Four: UMass hockey’s leading scorer, starting goalie out due to COVID protocols

COVID-19 protocols dealt the UMass hockey team a body blow Tuesday.

UMass will be without four players for the Frozen Four on Thursday due to COVID-19 protocols, the team announced Tuesday morning. The Minutemen will face defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth at 9 p.m. Thursday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.

Starting goalie Filip Lindberg, first-line forward Carson Gicewicz, fourth-line forward Jerry Harding and third-string goalie Henry Graham won’t play due to “contact tracing protocols and in accordance with University of Massachusetts policies,” the release said.

“I feel for these players who have sacrificed so much over the last year and committed themselves to getting our team to this point,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said in the release. “They have earned the right to compete for a national championship, and to have this unfortunate situation occur now is hard to comprehend. But nevertheless it’s a result that we have to accept, and we will move forward together and utilize the depth of our roster for Thursday’s game in Pittsburgh.”

The Minutemen left Monday afternoon for Pittsburgh and have been testing and quarantining since they arrived. UMass will undergo another round of testing at 3 p.m. Tuesday. The team is scheduled to practice Wednesday afternoon.

Lindberg has started UMass’ last 12 games and posted a 9-0-3 record. He leads the nation in both save percentage (.946) and goals against average (1.33). But UMass has a more than capable backup in senior Matt Murray. The two netminders alternated games for the first two series of the season – as they have for their entire careers – then Murray played 10 games in a row and won seven straight starts in late December and early January. He’s UMass’ all-time career leader in wins (51) and shutouts (11). Murray hasn’t played since Jan. 18 against Boston University. He’ll be making his NCAA Tournament debut Thursday. Lindberg started all four games in 2019 en route to the national championship game.

In a normal situation with Lindberg out, Graham would be the backup. With the freshman also unavailable, UMass will turn to senior student equipment manager Zac Steigmeyer as an emergency backup. The Ludlow native played at Springfield Cathedral and Pope Francis after the former closed down. Steigmeyer backed up Quinnipiac senior Keith Petruzelli, a finalist for the Mike Richter Award as college hockey’s top goalie, in high school and also played with UMass’ John Leonard at Cathedral.

Gicewicz leads UMass and is fourth in the nation with 17 goals. His four postseason tallies are tops in the NCAA tournament. No one left has more than two. He’s scored in both NCAA tournament games and has at least a goal in five of the past eight. The senior grad transfer from St. Lawrence plays on the first line with Oliver Chau and Jake Gaudet. Carvel has called his second line of Bobby Trivigno, Josh Lopina and Garett Wait his best, so they will potentially stay intact and have someone lower down the line sheet move into Gicewicz’s spot. Gicewicz has played every game this season. 

Harding has two goals and four assists this season.