University of Massachusets Athletics
Saturday, January 17
Amherst, Mass.
7 p.m.
University of Massachusetts
12-10-0, 5-7-0
3
vs
1
Merrimack
10-12-0, 4-9-0
1
2
3
F
Merrimack
1
0
0
1
Massachusetts
0
1
2
3
Massachusetts Hockey Completes Weekend Sweep With 3-1 Win Over Merrimack
January 17, 2026 | Hockey
AMHERST, Mass. – For the second time on the weekend, Massachusetts hockey erased a 1-0 deficit, coming from behind to defeating Merrimack, 3-1 at the Mullins Center on Saturday night. With the victory, the third straight for the Minutemen, the squad moves to 12-10-0 on the season, 5-7-0 in Hockey East, while the Warriors drop to 10-12-0, 4-9-0 in league action.
"I was very happy with tonight's game," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "I really liked our first period, and yet we were down 1-0. We basically made one mistake, and it was in the back of our net. But this group, they're earning confidence. They're playing with confidence. I think a lot of that comes from Michael Hrabal who looks really comfortable in the net. This group, we're not going to score five or six goals a game. But tonight was a really solid win. I liked 60 minutes. It was just one of those games where, deep in your gut, you knew you're going to find a way to score and win the game. I'm very happy. Sweeps in this league are really, really hard. Especially when you win the first night, the other team usually comes back pretty hard. I liked how we played, I liked how we started the game and we never gave them a lot of momentum. I'm very happy with our group."
Merrimack opened the scoring late in the first period as Justin Gill won a battle along the blueline to keep the puck in the zone and Austin Oravetz set up Trevor Hoskin for a one-timer from the left faceoff circle at 18:35.
UMass leveled the score shortly after a power-play opportunity expired in the second. Mikey DeAngelo's initial shot on a cross-ice feed from Lucas Ölvestad was turned aside by netminder Max Lundgren, but freshman Lukáš Klecka was there to knock in the rebound 14:17 into the period.
With things knotted up at 1-1 in the third period, Ölvestad picked up an errant pass by the Warriors and skated up the ice on a 2-on-1 with freshman Justin Kerr. Opting to shoot instead of pass, Ölvestad rung the puck inside the far post to put UMass on top at the 3:28 mark.
The Minutemen added insurance with an empty net goal at 19:09 as sophomore Larry Keenan scored from the opposite goal line with freshman Václav Nestrašil and Ölvestad collecting the assists. Ölvestad's helper marked his third point of the night, a new career single-game high.
UMass out-shot Merrimack 41-25 on the evening and went 0-for-4 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.
Junior Michael Hrabal finished with 25 saves for the Minutemen and Lundgren turned aside 38 in net for the Warriors.
UMass will return to action next Friday, January 23, when the squad will open a two-game set at Vermont at 7 p.m. in Burlington.
"I was very happy with tonight's game," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "I really liked our first period, and yet we were down 1-0. We basically made one mistake, and it was in the back of our net. But this group, they're earning confidence. They're playing with confidence. I think a lot of that comes from Michael Hrabal who looks really comfortable in the net. This group, we're not going to score five or six goals a game. But tonight was a really solid win. I liked 60 minutes. It was just one of those games where, deep in your gut, you knew you're going to find a way to score and win the game. I'm very happy. Sweeps in this league are really, really hard. Especially when you win the first night, the other team usually comes back pretty hard. I liked how we played, I liked how we started the game and we never gave them a lot of momentum. I'm very happy with our group."
Merrimack opened the scoring late in the first period as Justin Gill won a battle along the blueline to keep the puck in the zone and Austin Oravetz set up Trevor Hoskin for a one-timer from the left faceoff circle at 18:35.
UMass leveled the score shortly after a power-play opportunity expired in the second. Mikey DeAngelo's initial shot on a cross-ice feed from Lucas Ölvestad was turned aside by netminder Max Lundgren, but freshman Lukáš Klecka was there to knock in the rebound 14:17 into the period.
With things knotted up at 1-1 in the third period, Ölvestad picked up an errant pass by the Warriors and skated up the ice on a 2-on-1 with freshman Justin Kerr. Opting to shoot instead of pass, Ölvestad rung the puck inside the far post to put UMass on top at the 3:28 mark.
The Minutemen added insurance with an empty net goal at 19:09 as sophomore Larry Keenan scored from the opposite goal line with freshman Václav Nestrašil and Ölvestad collecting the assists. Ölvestad's helper marked his third point of the night, a new career single-game high.
UMass out-shot Merrimack 41-25 on the evening and went 0-for-4 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.
Junior Michael Hrabal finished with 25 saves for the Minutemen and Lundgren turned aside 38 in net for the Warriors.
UMass will return to action next Friday, January 23, when the squad will open a two-game set at Vermont at 7 p.m. in Burlington.
Team Stats
MER
UMA
Shots
26
41
PPG
0
0
SHG
0
0
Penalties
5
1
Penalty Mins
21
2
Faceoffs Won
24
31
Game Leaders
+/-
3
Goals
1
Sh
3
A
2
+/-
0
Goals
1
Sh
3
A
0
+/-
0
Goals
1
Sh
3
A
0
+/-
1
Goals
0
Sh
3
A
1
Players Mentioned
UMass IH | Coach Greg Carvel Post Game Press Conference vs Merrimack | 01.17.26
Saturday, January 17
UMass IH | Post Game Press Conference vs Merrimack | 01.17.26
Saturday, January 17
UMass IH | Broadcast Highlights vs Merrimack | 01.17.26
Saturday, January 17
NewMass Minute; Win At Agganis
Wednesday, January 14