Yeats gets call, turns back Terriers in semis

BOSTON – There comes a point in time when all of a coach’s poker-faced pregame pronouncements mean nothing. There comes a time when all the things that have happened in a team’s past are weighed against what might happen in the future, and tough decisions are made.

There comes a time when the gate opens … players file out of the tunnel … and the goalie who will lead a team in a particular game skates onto the ice. … first.

For the University of Maine hockey team, that time came at 6:50 p.m. Friday night, 37 minutes before they’d face off against Boston University in a Hockey East semifinal at the FleetCenter.

The man who bolted onto the ice ahead of everybody else was a guy named Matt Yeats. Not Mike Morrison. Not the guy who had earned 18 of Maine’s 22 victories this season. The other guy.

Matt Yeats. Remember him?

BU coach Jack Parker does. Just ask him

“Yeats has played very, very well against us this year, and Morrison has not. Morrison has not,” Parker said. “I was betting we’d see Yeats.”

All week, UMaine coach Tim Whitehead, who’d returned to a two-goalie system again on March 1, was asked who would start in goal. All week, he refused to tip his hand. And all week, people assumed that Whitehead’s customary refusal to identify his goalie meant that Morrison was getting the nod.

Morrison, after all, is the all-league first-teamer. Yeats, after all, is the guy who sat on the bench for 10 of 11 games stretching from Dec. 30 through Feb. 8. When he returned, on Feb. 9, all Yeats did was get drubbed 5-2 by Merrimack.

Yeats admitted that showing up for work every day during that stretch was tough.

“I was really down in the dumps,” he said. “You could probably see it on my face every time I came into the locker room. But then I just realized, this is the way it is, and I’ve got to suck it up, deal with it, go out there and work hard, and if I get a chance, I’ve got to be ready to play.”

But on Thursday afternoon, just before hopping on a bus bound for Boston, Yeats had an interesting conversation with his coach.

“I had run out of sticks this year and we had just ordered some, but we weren’t expecting to get any in,” Yeats said.

“I stopped coach briefly and asked what we were doing with my stick situation for this weekend, and he said, ‘Yeah, they came in, and by the way, you’re gonna go tomorrow.’ … my chin almost dropped.”

So, why did Whitehead call on the guy who said, earlier in the week, that his classmate and teammate, Morrison, was the player who had earned the start.

Maybe because Whitehead knew he was also calling on the guy who was last year’s UMaine MVP, and who had compiled a 9-3 career record in postseason games … and who had played all but one postseason contest in his (and Morrison’s) last three years.

“I just think Mattie’s been really sharp every time he’s been in the net recently,” Whitehead said. “He had a good game against BU last time, and it’s not uncharted territory for him coming into the FleetCenter. He’s real comfortable here, so it was just a gut feeling that he would really play well.”

Two weeks ago, against BU, Yeats started the second game of the weekend series … and may have played better than Morrison had the night before.

A week ago, the Bears piled up seven goals against Boston College in front of Morrison on Thursday, but gave Yeats just three on Friday. He made sure it was enough, and won a 3-2 decision.

And on Saturday, there was Yeats. First out of the gate. First on the ice. First to get congratulated after the Black Bears had advanced to the Hockey East finals with a 4-3 win over BU.

Yeats admits the feeling was sweet after the bitterness that he’d harbored earlier in the year. But he said he learned a few things. Like what Mike Morrison had felt like … knowing he could play, and not getting the chance.

“It’s been a tough year for me, and I know Mike’s had three tough years like this where he didn’t get to play a lot,” Yeats said. “I finally had a taste of it. I’d never had that before, I’ve never been a backup before.”

Late Friday night, Whitehead had another goalie decision to make. New Hampshire is up next. He’s got an obviously hot goalie, though it’s not the one you might have expected.

Don’t tell anyone, but Whitehead’s about to share a secret. You think he’s gonna sleep on his goalie choice? Or is it possible that he already knows who will face the Wildcats today.

“Yeah. I do,” he said, before declining to name names … again. Then he laughed, the full, hearty laugh of a man who’s gut instinct had paid off.

“I haven’t told them,” he said, still smiling. “Why would I tell you?”