The No. 19 Massachusetts men’s hockey team is preparing for a series against New Hampshire on Friday and Saturday. The Minutemen (17-11, 10-8 Hockey East) and Wildcats (12-15-1, 6-11-1 HEA) have not met this season and enter the weekend heading in opposite directions.
UMass has pulled off an 8-2 record to open the 2026 calendar year, including a seven-game winning streak that ended with a loss to UMass Lowell last weekend. The Minutemen outscored opponents 23-9 over their winning streak and logged three shutouts.
After losing to the Riverhawks in the second of three straight games, UMass bounced back in a 5-2 win on home ice. Owen Murray and Jack Galanek scored 28 seconds apart, five minutes into the game, to give the Minutemen a quick 2-0 lead. The tally was Murray’s second of the season and his first since Nov. 29, and Galanek’s goal was his fourth.
Josh Mori’s goal with seven minutes to play in the first period cut the lead in half, and with Libor Nemec’s tally halfway through the second, UMass Lowell had all the momentum in a 2-2 game.
Four minutes later, freshman Justin Kerr, riding a three-game goal streak, entered the zone with speed after receiving a quick pass from Larry Keenan. Kerr glided to the right faceoff dot and ripped a wrist shot under Austin Elliott’s glove to make it 3-2 in favor of UMass and steal back all of the lost momentum.
Jack Musa netted a short-handed goal in the Minutemen’s win, giving him five goals in four games. This scoring flurry comes after going goalless in four straight and trudging through a stretch of 17 games with just three goals.
While UMass has been red-hot in the second half of the season, New Hampshire has gone ice-cold, limping to a 2-8-1 record since the calendar turned.
Much of the Wildcats’ success comes from senior forward Morgan Winters, who leads the team with 22 points. In their two wins, the Osprey, Florida native has six combined points, including a two-goal performance against Boston University in their last win. In all other games over that span, Winters has just five points. In six of those games, New Hampshire scored two or fewer goals.
Goaltending has also been an issue for the Wildcats. Kyle Chauvette sits at No. 10 among HEA goalies in goals allowed average and managing a .890 save percentage.
The Minutemen should be getting reinforcements in the form of the potential returns of Nick VanTassell, Bo Cosman and Václav Nestrašil from injury.
“I feel good, I’m excited,” VanTassell said. “[It] took a little bit to get my feet going … But all the guys have been helpful … I think that first five minutes of my first game back, just [playing] simple, getting my legs going [will be helpful].”
UMass sits at No. 20 in the NCAA Power Index (NPI), on the verge of qualifying for the NCAA tournament. At this stage in the season, every game carries immense postseason implications and could be the difference between making or missing the tournament.
“I think we can’t take [New Hampshire] lightly,” VanTassell said. We’re in the hunt for a playoff spot here … [We’ve] got to play desperate. We don’t really have a game to give up here.”
The series kicks off at the Mullins Center on Friday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m. and concludes at the Whittemore Center on Saturday, Feb. 21, also at 7 p.m. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.
James Rust can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @James__Rust.
