The Massachusetts hockey team is getting ready for a home-and-home series with UMass Lowell on Friday and Saturday. The teams clashed last weekend, with the Minutemen (16-10, 9-7 Hockey East) coming out with a 6-4 victory through Jack Musa’s hat trick.
UMass comes into the weekend as one of the hottest teams in the country. The Minutemen have registered seven straight wins, the first time they’ve done so since 2021, when they won the national championship.
The River Hawks (9-17, 5-11 HEA) let in six goals in the prior loss to UMass, but they clawed their way back into the game multiple times to remain competitive.
In the second period, Diego Buttazzoni scored on the power play to respond to three straight goals from the Minutemen.
Despite being down two in the early stages of the third period, UMass Lowell struck twice through Josh Mori and TJ Schweighardt to scrap its way back to a tie game. However, with three minutes left, all its efforts went to waste because of a nifty Cam Dunn finish to seal the victory for UMass.
“We kind of know them after playing one game,” UMass centerman Owen Mehlenbacher said. “We know what they are going to give us this weekend coming up. It’s definitely going to be more intense and more physical. Two UMass schools going at it, three games in a row. It’s definitely a big rivalry, so it’s going to get physical, it’s going to be tough and it’s going to be a long series, but it’s fun.”
Mehlenbacher and some of his bottom-six line-mates have been at the forefront of the Minutemen’s momentum of late. In the last four games, Mehlenbacher has notched four points, along with Cam O’Neill, who has five and Dunn, who’s added two.
“I think we are just staying consistent,” Mehlenbacher said. “We aren’t trying to do anything crazy, just playing Minutemen hockey. We’re just pushing the tempo, advancing zones and doing all the little things.”
O’Neill is now up to 10 points on the season, a significant improvement on his four-point freshman season and three-point sophomore campaign.
“I think another person that needs to be pointed out is [O’Neill],” head coach Greg Carvel said. “O’Neill, in the last few games, has had six points. He’s had a lot. [Mehlenbacher] is chipping in now. We’ve got guys that are chipping in that really didn’t give us anything the first half of the season, so it’s a team effort. It’s great to know that one night maybe Musa gets you a hat trick and another night your fourth line gets you three goals.”
Musa was the main act in Sunday’s win, and his five points across both contests last weekend won him HEA Player of the Week.
“I think [Musa] brings that every game,” Carvel said. “I challenged [Musa] this year. When your team needs it to just take it over. Whatever this team needs, you do it. The Lowell game was exactly that. He played 23 minutes, I think, scored three goals and just rose to the challenge. I think he’s as good of a forward as there is in Hockey East.”
Along with Musa, UMass has had a brick wall on the back end with recent HEA Player of the Month Michael Hrabal. He registered a .973 save percentage and a 0.85 goals allowed average in the month of January. He continues to be the shutdown goaltender that Carvel expected at the beginning of the season.
The Minutemen are still attempting to get back to full strength with Nick VanTassell, Bo Cosman and Václav Nestrašil dealing with injuries.
The two-game series will commence on Friday, Feb. 6, in Lowell, and will continue into Saturday back at the Mullins Center to finish it off. Puck drop is at 7:15 p.m. on Friday and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. The games can be streamed on ESPN+.
Ezekiel Altman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @EzekielAltman.
