One Manitoban will be making an appearance in next week’s NCAA Frozen Four for U.S. college hockey supremacy.
Winnipeg’s Kurt Keats helped the University of Massachusetts Minutemen qualify for the national semifinals, where they will face the University of Denver Pioneers next Thursday.
While it’s the first-ever trip to the Frozen Four for both Keats and UMass, the other three qualifying teams are all perennial powerhouses.
“It’ll definitely be a tough challenge for us,” Keats said from Amherst, Massachusetts.
“Providence, Minnesota-Duluth and Denver have all won it in the last five years. We’ve kind of thrived in that underdog role. Nobody picked us to come out of the Northeast Region, nobody picked us to finish first in Hockey East, so I think we’re a team that kinda thrives with that chip on our shoulders.”
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UMass won two of their three meetings with Providence this season, but Keats said they really don’t know a whole lot about the other two teams.
“When you get to this point in the season, you just know every game is going to be an absolute war,” Keats said.
Keats is the only player left from his freshman class after the team underwent a coaching change. The results speak for themselves as the program has had a massive turnaround since Greg Carvel was hired as head coach.
“Our first year under coach Carvel, I think we won five games,” he said. “And then last year, 17. And then obviously this year we’re having a great year. So I think just a combination of bringing in, obviously, good hockey players, but a lot of players that are high character guys.”
Keats is one of only three seniors on the team, so the leadership role has almost fallen in his lap.
“As one of the older guys, it does kind of fall upon me,” Keats said. “But there’s so many guys in that room that are leaders, so it helps to have a room full of leaders like that.”
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Keats calls himself a depth guy after scoring one goal with six assists in 32 games this season.
The 23-year-old played minor hockey for both the Winnipeg Monarchs (bantam) and the Winnipeg Wild (midget). He tallied 25 goals over two seasons with the MJHL’s Winnipeg Blues and was named to the league’s all-rookie team in his first season. He was eventually traded to the BCHL’s Powell River Kings, but he still has many fond memories of playing hockey in Winnipeg.
“We had a lot of good teams,” Keats said. “Played with a lot of good players who went on to play in the Western League or some played college. Madison Bowey is with the (Detroit) Red Wings now, so we had some great teams.
“My two years with the Blues — I can’t say enough about my experiences there.”
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