Frozen Friday: UMass Hockey Heads to Maine For Non-Conference Series With Black Bears

The UMass Minutemen have started this new hockey season with two totally different weekends. The first weekend featured losses to top-20 teams in Boston University and UMass-Lowell and the second weekend saw them sweep Michigan State at the Mullins Center and got people pretty excited for what could happen once this team gets into a groove.

This weekend's series is the first two-game example of the Hockey East schedule reduction effecting the Minutemen for an entire weekend. The Minutemen played UML in a non-conference game, but not a series like this weekend. It shouldn't change the way John Micheletto prepares, but it does make mixed results a more palatable option against teams like Maine.

So to get you caught up on what is happening around the world of UMass hockey, here are some collected links from around the internet.

SBNation College Hockey

Hockey East Weekend Preview: October 25-27
Jeff Cox makes his picks for this weekend and sees the Minutemen only taking one game. "This series looks like a split in the making. Maine 2-1 and UMass 3-2."

Hockey East: Three Stars of the Weekend
Cox named Maine freshman Stu Higgins as his third star of last weekend.

Stu Higgins - The junior forward scored both goals in Maine's 2-1 victory over Bentley on Saturday night. It was the first collegiate coaching victory for first-year bench boss Red Gendron. In the only game of the week for Maine, Higgins had the first multi-goal game of his career and first multi-point game since his freshman season.

Hockey East Week 3 Coverage
The good folks at SBN College Hockey will have all of your Week 3 coverage in their Story Stream. Keep this one bookmarked.

MassLive

Bye-Bye Buckeyes: Defenseman Ben Gallacher finds UMass hockey a better fit
The legendary Dick Baker has defenseman Ben Gallacher on how he is fitting in at UMass since coming to Amherst from Ohio State.

After sitting out the required one-year by NCAA transfer rules before playing college hockey again, Gallacher finds himself on a regular shift on defense paired with experienced Joel Hanley. He calls it a “better fit.”

Daily Hampshire Gazette

Freshman Steven Iacobellis, UMass hockey look to stay hot at Maine
Mark Chiarelli has UMass' best newcomer looking to keep up his streak of solid play.

The Massachusetts Daily Collegian

UMass hockey prepares for four straight against Maine
Cam McDonough has UMass players talking about this bizarre schedule that features four straight games against Maine.

“Yeah it’s definitely different from in the past,” UMass forward Conor Sheary said.

“We’ve never done something like that, but I guess we’ll know what to expect by the last few games. But it’s a little weird, a little different.”

UMass hockey gets commitment from local star John Leornard
Nick Canelas has UMass' latest commitment: a 2015 forward from Amherst and local powerhouse Cathedral High School.

Leonard scored 15 goals and had nine assists as a freshman last season, good for second on the team, to help lead the Panthers to the 2013 Super Eight tournament. Leonard will likely join the Minutemen’s 2016 freshman class that already includes Alex DeBrincat and Jake McCarthy.