For the University of New Mexico, finishing the 2019-20 season on a strong note is key to the Lobos having a more successful season a year from now.

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“The team is playing good and playing the hockey I knew we could,” UNM coach Grant Harvey said. “We played some great hockey this second half of the season. We will wrap up the season looking a lot different than when we started.

“My expectations for this year are to finish strong the rest of the season. Postseason play is frankly out of the question, but we can set a standard of play for the rest of the season that would be a great lead to the next season. I feel like we can win our remaining games and rest our heads high as we played an extremely tough schedule on purpose. It will pay dividends down the road for us.”

Harvey said although the season went well, he was faced with challenges along the way.

“I had to deal with the perils of eight freshmen budgeting their time between, school, work and hockey, and sometimes not in that order,” said Harvey. “We also suffered from what I call ‘senior high school slumber,’ and that goes for on the ice and off the ice. I believe the senior year for incoming freshmen is too easy. The level of hockey is too easy, and they are used to being the cat’s meow and mistakes aren’t nearly as costly as they are in college, so they can get accustomed to bad habits.

“It took a good 10 games to get my defensemen to stop pinching. Opposing teams were blowing their doors as off as they tried to hold the blue line and they would chip it off the boards and go right around them, surrendering a disgusting amount of breakaways. We finally stopped the pinching and the bleeding stopped.”

According to Harvey, noteworthy freshman players for the Lobos this season include forwards Jared Carnes (Los Alamos) and Garrett McKinstry (Rio Rancho), converted defensemen Tylec Kohlrust (Rio Rancho) and Leandro Richert (Hungary) and goaltender Sam Fisher (Los Alamos).

— Matt Mackinder

(Feb. 27, 2020)