UMass starting goalie Filip Lindberg and three others are in quarantine and will miss the Frozen Four.

UMass senior Matt Murray doesn’t exactly fit the job description of a substitute goalkeeper.

This tag doesn’t easily fit a player who holds program records for most wins (51) and shutouts (11) along with a career of 2.21 goals against average and a savings of 0.915 percent.

Murray has not started a game since Minutemen lost 4-3 at Boston University on January 18. Then head coach Greg Carvel changed the starting role to Filip Lindberg, who has been the keeper of the blue color ever since.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Murry will be stationed in Lindberg’s place between the pipes when UMass (18-5-4) meets two-time defending champions Minnesota Duluth (15-10-2) (9) in the Frozen Four semifinals on Thursday evening. The state of Minnesota (22-4-1) will face the state of St. Cloud (19-10-0) in the early (5) game at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

“I hate to call him a substitute goalkeeper because he has the records for wins and failures in the history of our program, so I’m not worried about the goal,” Carvel said after the team skated at PPG on Wednesday.

“I’m worried about the team in front of him and I hope that he will have an easy night because the team in front of him is playing well. If we have to rely on our goalkeeper to make a lot of saves, we won’t win the game. We were very fortunate to have two strong goalkeepers. ”

The Minutemen succeeded in keeping the raging coronavirus at bay throughout the season, but had to postpone games in February during a system-wide shutdown.

The club’s bubble management was compromised on Friday when Lindberg, right-winger Carson Gicewicz, goalkeeper Henry Graham and right-winger Jerry Harding removed from the roster due to COVID-19 contact tracing protocols as per university guidelines were.

“That gives us enough time to digest it and get past it,” said Carvel. “The message is that this is another obstacle. This has been a tough year and every team faced obstacles along the way.

“The kids have really made sacrifices all year long, done a great job, and it’s the only positive test we’ve had all year. That has been an advantage for us in a lot of the Hockey East games and Matt Murray is a very good goalkeeper. ”

Led by Hobey Baker Award-winning defender Cale Makar, UMass clinched a semi-final win over Denver and rose to the 2019 NCAA title game for the first time in program history. Lindberg was on the bench between the pipes with Murray when the Minutemen were beaten 3-0 by reigning champion Duluth Bulldogs.

“I know people think we’re understaffed and we lost some good players to this game, but that’s fine because we like our depth and the guys jump in and go ahead and play the way we want that they play. Said Carvel.

“We are very happy to be back and I think this team absolutely deserves to be here. It’ll be fun playing Duluth again to see where we are two years later. You are still the standard bearer. ”

Murray was the Minutemen’s No. 1 goalkeeper early in the season before being replaced by Lindberg. The 6-foot-1,195-pound veteran from St. Albert, Alberta is 9-4-0 in 13 starts with 2.01 goals against the average and saved 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 only allowed four goals in five postseason games with two exclusions.

“For the past four years I’ve been careful to maintain a high work ethic and make sure I’m ready for any kind of opportunity, and that’s exactly it,” said Murray. “This is an opportunity not only to get back online, but also to make a huge contribution to the success of our team and I’m looking forward to it.”

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