After UNH tied things up partially through the third period, the No. 17 Massachusetts hockey team answered with two late-game goals to close out a 21-win regular season. The victory secured the Minutemen (21-12-1, 14-9-1 HEA) second place in Hockey East standings after they came into the second half of the season sitting in last place.
“I’ve coached here 10 years, I don’t think we’ve ever finished in second place,” head coach Greg Carvel said. “It’s an unbelievable statement for this group of kids, and that climb up the ladder was much like the game tonight: not pretty. Every game, we don’t blow teams out; we find ways to win.”
Matthew Wilde registered the game-winning goal with five minutes of regulation left, his first of the season.
After collecting the puck to the left of the UNH net, the junior transfer from RIT chipped it towards Mikey DeAngelo right next to the crease. With a Wildcat (14-19-1, 8-15-1 HEA) poking for the puck, DeAngelo backhanded it, deflecting it right back to Wilde’s stick. The Ontario native flipped the puck up, banking it off Kyle Chauvette for the third UMass tally of the night.
“It feels good to contribute,” Wilde said. “[It’s] been a long year, but I’ve learned a lot and I’m really happy to contribute, especially at this point. We need everybody on board if we want to go far here.”
Wilde’s goal was the only five-on-five point for the Minutemen all night. Special teams converted on two of UMass’ four shots on goal in the first period, with the first coming from sophomore Larry Keenan, shorthanded.
In the defensive zone, Keenan blocked down Cy LeClerc’s shot with his body, then corralled the puck with his stick and picked up speed to carry it all the way down the ice. With three UNH skaters swarming him, the defenseman tossed the puck around the Wildcat in front of him, dragging the puck far on his backhand as he drove towards the net.
His approach drew Chauvette to his left post, and Keenan took advantage of the goalie’s commitment to the side and brought the puck to his forehand, reaching around Chauvette and sliding the puck into the wide-open net.
“[It] felt good, I think our team needed it in that moment just to get ahead,” Keenan said. “We play better with a lead, so it was definitely nice to get the first one.”
Jenčko found the other first-period goal for UMass, picking up his fifth power play goal this season out of his six total tallies
On the man advantage, Jenčko received the puck from Keenan at the right face-off dot and whipped the puck up towards Chauvette on a one-timer, finding the back of the net through some traffic.
The Slovakia native’s man-advantage goal was the only conversion on three power play opportunities, while the Wildcats went 1-of-4.
“That was the only sniff we had on the power play tonight, was [Jenčko’s] shot, thank God,” Carvel said. “I wasn’t happy with the power play … We knew they were going to pressure; we didn’t handle it at all. But, it’s great to see [Jenčko] heating up … I’ve been waiting for it, and he’s starting to feel it.”
Before Jenčko’s lamp-lighter, UNH found an empty net to collect its first goal on.
During a Wildcat power play, Michael Hrabal left his crease to play a dump-in puck behind the net, looking for one of the Minutemen. As he moved to pass the puck, it took a bounce in the direction of one of Felix Gagnon, who promptly intercepted the puck and smoothly handed it over to Marty Lavins, stationed out in front of the crease.
Hrabal could not get back between the pipes in time, and without a 6-foot-7 goaltender to oppose him, Lavins easily put the puck past the goal line to tie the game at one apiece.
Early in the third period, Kristaps Skrastins found an equalizer of the face-off, giving UNH hope for a win before Wilde claimed a go-ahead goal for UMass.
Holding on tightly to a one-goal advantage, the Minutemen looked to lock down their lead as the final couple of minutes expired on the clock. All the way from the boards behind Hrabal, Jack Galanek sent the puck all the way down the ice, nailing the empty net to give the Minutemen an insurance goal, closing out the game 4-2.
Up next, UMass returns home to the Mullins Center on Saturday, March 14 as it hosts a quarterfinal matchup of the Hockey East playoffs against a to-be-determined opponent. ESPN+ will stream the matchup
“[I] just heard that we won the [Charlie Holt Team] Sportsmanship Award again, which is really important to me,” Carvel said. “I want to be known as a team that’s really hard to play against, but plays the right way and plays with integrity.”
Caroline Burge can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @Caroline_Burge.
