by Mike McMahon/Staff Writer (@mikemcmahon)
(photo: Rich Gagnon)
The Cole O’Hara story and the story of this year’s Massachusetts Minutemen have a lot of parallels.
O’Hara had productive seasons in his first two years. The Nashville Predators’ prospect had 17 points (4 goals, 13 assists) as a freshman and 18 points (7 goals, 11 assists) as a sophomore.
This season, he exploded on the national stage.
O’Hara has 51 points (22 goals, 29 assists) in 38 games, which has helped the Minutemen earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
O’Hara is tied for fourth in the nation in scoring. According to CHN’s new CHIP metric, he’s was the sixth-best player in college hockey this season.
O’Hara absolutely should have been a Top 10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award. He wasn’t, but that’s not his concern. He’s much more focused on raising a national championship trophy in St. Louis on April 12.
“We’re confident,” he said. “Everything came together for us in the second half.”
That’s where O’Hara’s path and the path of his team intertwine.
The Minutemen had a productive first half. But after a Jan. 17 loss to Merrimack on the road, they were sitting at .500 (10-10-2).
The following night, they won 5-2 at home. And over the next two and a half months, the Minutemen would only lose three games.
Those three games were at Maine and BU (in the Hockey East quarterfinals), and at home to Boston College. In other words, they’ve only fallen to two No. 1 seeds and a No. 2 seed in this weekend’s NCAA Tournament.
Down the stretch, the Minutemen went 10-3-2, and have been one of the hottest teams in college hockey.
“We’re creating offense off of our defense,” O’Hara said. “At the beginning of the year, we stayed focused on getting better every day. We knew if we locked down things defensively, we could create off the rush. It’s easy to say now, but we knew if we kept focused on getting better every day, we’d see results.”
Personally, O’Hara has “gotten better every day” over the last two years.
You don’t often see huge jumps in production like what we’ve seen from O’Hara this season. Usually, it’s more gradual.
But those around him aren’t surprised. UMass coach Greg Carvel said earlier this season…
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