The UMass men’s hockey team’s ambitions were marred in the 11th hour.
Four members of the team, including the Minutemen’s top scorer and top goalkeeper, have been removed from the roster due to COVID-19 contact tracing protocols, as per university guidelines.
Front row right wing Carson Gicewicz, goalkeepers Filip Lindberg and Henry Graham, and fourth row right wing Jerry Harding will not travel to Pittsburgh with the team for the Frozen Four.
Sixth-placed and Hockey East champion UMass (18-5-4) will face two-time defending champion No. 9 Minnesota Duluth (15-10-2) in the NCAA semi-finals on Thursday evening at the PPG Paints Arena. UMass went to the NCAA title game for the first time in 2019, but fell 3-0 against Duluth.
“I feel for these players who have sacrificed so much over the past year and pledged to get our team to this point,” said UMass head coach Greg Carvel in a prepared statement.
“You earned the right to fight for a national championship and it is hard to understand that this unfortunate situation is happening now.
“But it’s still a result that we have to accept. We’ll move forward together and use the depth of our squad for Thursday’s game in Pittsburgh. ”
Matt Murray will replace Lindberg on the network. Murray was the Minutemen’s No. 1 goalkeeper early in the season before being replaced by Lindberg in January. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound senior from St. Albert, Alberta, Canada is 9-4-0 in 13 starts with 2.01 goals against the average and a savings of 0.913 percent.
Lindberg, a Minnesota wild draft pick, is 9-1-4 with 1.32 goals against the average, a savings of 0.946 percent and four exclusions.
Lindberg allowed only four goals in five postseason games, including a 1-0 win over UMass Lowell in the Hockey East title game and a 4-0 win over Bemidji State in the East Region Final in Bridgeport, Conn.
Lindberg has 10 career shutouts and was the backbone of the team during the playoffs. He was between the pipes for UMass 2019 defeat by Duluth and was looking forward to his shot for redemption.
Gicewicz, who moved from St. Lawrence this season, was the finisher (17-7-24) on the team’s front row with center Jake Gaudet (5-7-12) and right playmaker Oliver Chau (5-2- 25). . Gicewicz has scored five power play goals and scored his first career hat trick in defeating Bemidji State.
Harding has two goals and four assists in 25 games and runs the right flank with George Mika in the middle and left wing Anthony Del Gaizo.
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