AMHERST – Valley Solar got its money’s worth.
The UMass hockey power play sponsor was invoked five time against Union on Saturday at the Mullins Center, as the Minutemen drew five penalties. They converted four of them to goals, increasing their nation-leading power-play percentage to 50, in a 7-0 win to sweep the Dutchmen.
UMass outscored Union 14-1 in two games at the Mullins Center, their highest series output in at least 20 years.
“We’re scoring a lot of goals. It’s too early for me to feel like this is what we are, but we’re trending in good ways, both offensively, defensively, special teams, goaltending, we’re trending well in every area you want to be trending well,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said. “Hockey East is going to be a different animal. To this point it’s all good, but when we start playing Hockey East games I’ll know what we really are.”
Hockey East play begins Friday against Merrimack at home (7 p.m., ESPN+).
UMass is 8-of-16 on the power play this season and went 7-of-11 in the two games against Union. Scott Morrow scored two of the power play goals, while Lucas Mercuri and Tyson Dyck each tapped in one.
Morrow orchestrates with fellow NHL draft pick Ryan Ufko on the top unit, and the pair has decimated shorthanded opponents thus far.
“They are two elite college hockey defenseman, really gifted offensive defensemen. I don’t ever talk to them about offense,” Carvel said. “They teach me things. I can’t teach them anything. That part of the game is superb. Two guys that are just fun for me to watch play the game.”
Not so fun for Union. Morrow accumulated three points on the power play in the two games, while Ufko generated three assists, one Saturday on a Morrow slap shot. Both are willing and able to shoot and pass well enough to either lead or follow above the dots.
“We try and be unpredictable up there move around a little bit. A lot of teams are stationary on the power play, but I think we’re both threats and a lot of teams play with like one forward high, so we kind of just 2-on-1 them, and we’re willing to use whichever one of us is open,” Morrow said. “It’s probably pretty hard for teams to stop when they’re trying to guard to both of us with one guy, which is most of the time.”
As much time as UMass spent on the power play Saturday, the Minutemen were on the penalty kill even more. They killed all six of Union’s power plays in a game that featured more than a full period of players in the penalty box (11 penalties, 22 minutes).
“We take a lot of pride in our special teams, and just keeping pucks out of the net in general,” Morrow said. “Anytime you can go 6-for-6 on anything, it’s pretty awesome.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.