The postseason is here for the No. 14 UMass hockey team.

Following a 4-of-6 point weekend against Maine at the Mullins Center to close out the regular season, the Minutemen (19-12-5) will have a quick turnaround with an opening round matchup in the Hockey East Playoffs against Vermont on Wednesday in Amherst.

UMass earned the No. 6 seed in the Hockey East standings, while the Catamounts dropped to last place after New Hampshire swept UMass Lowell this past weekend to jump up into 10th. It’s single-elimination for the entire Hockey East playoffs and the Minutemen hope to reverse their fortunes against a UVM group that counted as the only conference opponent to go undefeated against UMass this season.

“I think it’s the only team in the league we didn’t beat this year,” Minutemen head coach Greg Carvel said. “Time to beat ’em.”

The Catamounts tied and shut out the Minutemen in Burlington, Vermont in early November, then came to Mullins two weeks later and beat UMass, 3-2, on Nov. 24.

Each team has trended in opposite directions since then. UMass has lost just five times over its final 22 regular season games, while UVM has eight wins over the same span, including an active seven-game losing streak.

The Minutemen have improved in just about every facet of the game from their initial meetings with the Catamounts, but the approach they adapted from the second half of the season on, has resembled a playoff-like style of play.

“I’d say we got a lot more desperate,” Minuteman forward Bo Cosman said. “Our game has grown so much. We block more shots now, we play harder defense. Every single stride has been from defense and then it goes into creating that offense. That’s where I think we’ve seen the most improvement. We’ve been harder on blocking shots and creating good offensive opportunities from our defense.” 

Defensively, UMass has really settled in, particularly in regard to its freshmen pair of Larry Keenan and Francesco Dell’Elce. After the game against the Black Bears on Saturday, Carvel said Keenan has gone from the Minutemen’s fifth defenseman, to their No. 1 defenseman over the course of the regular season.

“Making smart plays and giving the puck to our forwards, we know they can score,” Keenan said on the aspect of his game he’s been focusing on. “Give the puck to the forwards and let them create and build heavy shifts down low.”

The Minutemen may be without a key blueliner against UVM as junior Lucas Olvestad did not return to Saturday’s game after playing just 55 seconds in the first period. Monday at practice, Olvestad was seen wearing a cast around his arm and the former Denver Pioneer did not participate in on-ice drills.

Freshman Finn Loftus would be the next man up on UMass’ backend. The Blaine, Minnesota native hasn’t seen more than a minute of ice time since the Minutemen’s 4-2 win over Merrimack on Jan. 31. Loftus played three minutes, 20 seconds in that game against the Warriors.

“It’s all a part of the process,” Loftus said on not getting much playing time this season. “Everyone has a different path to success. There’s a lot of good players on our team, so I just kind of have to work my way up and keep working hard.”

Offensively, UMass has put together fast starts in three straight games, outscoring its opponents 6-0 in the first period. The Minutemen finished the regular season with a 15-7-3 record when netting the game’s first goal and 11-3-3 mark when leading after 20 minutes.

“We’re starting to build good energy in the locker room and take it onto the ice and it’s been working good,” Dans Locmelis said. 

In total, UMass tallied the ninth-most goals scored (123) and 16th-most (1,117) shots on goal in the nation across 36 regular season games.

The Catamounts aren’t the most offensively potent team around as they averaged 2.9 goals a game in the regular season and have but two double-digit goal scorers in Colin Kessler (11) and Timofei Spitserov (12). UVM gave up 114 goals this season, the most among all 11 Hockey-East teams, plus only blocked 346 shots, second-least in the conference.

“We got a very strict game plan going into this,” Cosman said. “I feel like we’re very prepared for them. Obviously in the beginning of the season, we didn’t have the start that we wanted. Now, I feel like we’ve taken a lot of progress and strides toward where we want to be.”

UMass has a greater than 95 percent chance to make the NCAA tournament, regardless of what happens during the Hockey East Playoffs, after taking a majority of points against Maine a week ago. The same can’t be said for Vermont, which must win Hockey East to earn a NCAA invite.

Should the Minutemen win on Wednesday, they’d travel to Boston on Saturday for a date with the No. 3 Terriers at Agganis Arena.

Puck drop for Wednesday’s game at Mullins is set for 7 p.m.