We continue our team previews as we move closer to the season with the UMass Minutemen.

Last Year: 18-18-0 (13-14-0), 7^th in Hockey East

What Happened: After a fast start, the Minutemen cooled off as the season went on and lost a lot of momentum towards the end. Going into the final weekend of the season, it looked like UMass might be left out of the playoffs, but they came through with a sweep of Maine to finish at #7. In the quarterfinals, the powerful offense of BC was too much to handle on the road and for the second year in a row, the UMass season came to an end without a trip to the Garden.

Key Losses:

• James Marcou (F) – Led the team and was fourth in Hockey East with 51 points. With a whopping 40 assists, Marcou was one of the best playmakers in the country and when UMass got off to that hot start, he was in the running for the Hobey Baker. 26 of his points came on the power play. Marcou signed with the San Jose Sharks last March at the conclusion of the season.
• Casey Wellman (F) – Wellman, the primary beneficiary of Marcou’s playmaking, finished the season 7^th in conference scoring with 45 points and his 23 goals was good for third. He also tied for the league lead in power play goals with 11. Just like his wingman, Wellman went to the NHL, signing a deal with the Minnesota Wild.
• Justin Braun (D) – Graduated after scoring 88 points in his UMass career. Last season, he led the defense in scoring with a line of 8-23-31 and played in all 36 games. He is also property of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks.

Key Returners:

• Paul Dainton (G) – Dainton will definitely be one of the most experienced goalies in the Hockey East this year. In each of his first three years at school Dainton has seen the majority of minutes in net, racking up a total of over 5,000 through 92 games. He needs to continue to be the backbone of this team as his experience could determine whether this team makes the playoffs or not.
• T.J. Syner (F) – Going into his junior year, Syner will be counted on much more now that Marcou and Wellman are gone. He increased his production last year, finishing with 8 goals and 12 assists, but coach Toot Cahoon is going to need Syner to take the next step and do better this year.
• Michael Marcou (D) – One of the only blue-liners returning that has seen a significant amount of ice time, James’ brother is going to be one of the leaders of this young defense.

The Outlook: Anytime you lose a guy who had 50+ points the previous season, he’s obviously going to be tough to replace. But in addition to losing their big one-two punch with Marcou and Wellman, the Minutemen also took a hit defensively, losing Braun, Matt Irwin, and Martin Nolet. Paul Dainton is going to have to be very good in net because the young defense in front of him is bound to make some freshman mistakes. I think the consensus around Amherst was that last year was a chance to do something great, and everything went south down the stretch. Now that most of the talent from last season has left, this year could be just as disappointing.

Jared Shafran Hockey Add new tag, Hockey East, UMass