While most of the defense returned, headed by Ryan Ufko and Scott Morrow, both the goaltenders and forward units had been completely revamped.

The following week, the freshman goalie did even better by backstopping Massachusetts to a sweep of Minnesota State, earning his first career shutout in the process.

While the scoring was sparked by the blueline, Jack Musa and Aydar Suniev were proving to be key contributors on offense and both finished in the team's top five as freshmen.

A sweep of Massachusetts Lowell gave the team a little breathing room but a pair of 1-goal losses to Maine put the Minutemen in a very precarious position as the conference tournament began.

Hrabal ended up having a great game, stopping 27 of 28 shots while the line of Ryan Lautenbach, Taylor Makar and Lucas Mercuri provided enough offense to carry the day.

[1] As they entered their semifinal match with BC, the Minutemen had moved up to 12th and were hoping to shore up their bid with a win over the nation's top team.

They were in a virtual tie with Colorado College and would need a very specific set of circumstances to push them ahead of the Tigers for the last spot in the tournament.

Remembering their less-than satisfactory performance against the Eagles, UMass came out fighting and tried to batter Denver into submissions with body checks.

In the second period, a seeing-eye shot from the blueline got through several bodies and sailed past a screened Hrabal for the opening goal of the game.

In the back half of the second overtime, a shot from the high-slot beat a screened Hrabal for the apparent winner but the goaltender had been interfered with by a Denver attacker.

[3] While the ending was bittersweet, UMass had managed to take the eventual national champions to the very limit and proved to be worthy of their berth in the tournament.

The Minutemen continued to lay the body and eventually forced Denver into a turnover behind their own net with about seven minutes left in the period.

Near the middle of the period, Behrens managed to get behind the Massachusetts defense and forced Linden Alger to take a hooking penalty.

With about 7 minutes to play, a mistake inside the UMass blue line by Aidan Thompson caused him to lose control of the puck.

Near the end of the man-advantage, Cole O'Hara had a glorious opportunity for a one-timer but he wasn't able to get good wood on the puck and Davis made a relatively easy save.

After a pair of near-misses by Denver, one from the doorstep by Jack Devine, UMass began generating some zone time of their own and the game continued to see-saw back and forth in the first 5 minutes.

The second overtime period began in a similar fashion, with scoring chances being generated by both teams, however, Denver's structure of was beginning to break down.

He fired a shot into the top corner of the net for the apparent winning goal but the play was reviewed for goaltender interference.

Sam Harris had made contact with Hrabal but the referees rules that he had been pushed into the crease by Aaron Bohlinger so the goal stood and Denver advanced.