University of Massachusets Athletics
Friday, October 16
Amherst, Mass.
7 p.m.
University of Massachusetts
2-2-1, 1-0-0
4
vs
1
Northeastern
1-1-0, 0-1-0
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northeastern | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Massachusetts | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
#19/18 Massachusetts Downs Northeastern 4-1 To Pick Up First Hockey East Win
October 16, 2026 | Hockey
AMHERST, Mass. – No. 19/18 Massachusetts hockey trailed for just 23 seconds and went on to score four unanswered goals to secure a 4-1 victory over Northeastern on Friday night at the Mullins Center in the teams' Hockey East opener. With the win, the Minutemen improve to 2-2-1 (1-0-0 HE), while the Huskies fall to 1-1-0 (0-1-0 HE).
"It's a solid win. It's good to get our first league win," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "Came out of out of the box and probably could have scored first shift, and they score quickly, and we score right back. And then not a lot of goals after that, but a lot of chances. I thought (Ethan) Eskit played extremely well again. He's proven to me what he's capable of night after night. I thought (Václav) Nestrašil was our best player. He played hard tonight and got rewarded for it. I'm still seeing a lot of young mistakes out there, and the thing I like about this team is that we do have a lot of young players, which means there's a lot of room for growth. Our puck management needs to be better. I thought that still a lot of the chances for our opponent are coming off of our stick first, but Eskit did a great job tonight, taking care of mistakes that we made."
Northeastern opened the scoring just 66 seconds into the contest. Tyler Fukakusa and Joel Kjelberg won the puck in the defensive end to spring Miguel Marques on an odd-man rush that he finished himself with a wrister from the left faceoff dot.
UMass responded on its next shift. Freshman Melvin Novotny sent the puck out to the left point for a shot from sophomore Landon Nycz and Nestrašil was there in the slot for the redirection at the 1:21 mark.
The score remained knotted at 1-1 until 2:50 into the second period. Sophomore Coleson Hanrahan set up a one-timer from junior Daniel Jencko at the blueline and sophomore Lukáš Klecka tipped it home at the net front.
Sophomore Gavin Cornforth gave the Minutemen some insurance at the 2:19 mark in the third period, relentlessly pursuing a rebound and circling the net to poke the puck home at the opposite post. Jencko and senior Jack Musa collected the assists on the play.
Nestrašil then capped the scoring 10:28 into the final frame, picking off an errant Northeastern pass in the neutral zone and skating in alone on Sam Caulfield to collect his second of the night.
The Huskies ended the contest with a narrow 28-26 shot advantage and went 0-for-3 on the power play, while UMass was 0-for-2.
Eskit totaled 27 saves for the Minutemen, while Lawton Zacher and Caulfield had 16 and six stops, respectively for Northeastern.
The teams will be back in action tomorrow, October 17, to play a non-league matchup on NESN at 5:30 p.m.
"It's a solid win. It's good to get our first league win," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "Came out of out of the box and probably could have scored first shift, and they score quickly, and we score right back. And then not a lot of goals after that, but a lot of chances. I thought (Ethan) Eskit played extremely well again. He's proven to me what he's capable of night after night. I thought (Václav) Nestrašil was our best player. He played hard tonight and got rewarded for it. I'm still seeing a lot of young mistakes out there, and the thing I like about this team is that we do have a lot of young players, which means there's a lot of room for growth. Our puck management needs to be better. I thought that still a lot of the chances for our opponent are coming off of our stick first, but Eskit did a great job tonight, taking care of mistakes that we made."
Northeastern opened the scoring just 66 seconds into the contest. Tyler Fukakusa and Joel Kjelberg won the puck in the defensive end to spring Miguel Marques on an odd-man rush that he finished himself with a wrister from the left faceoff dot.
UMass responded on its next shift. Freshman Melvin Novotny sent the puck out to the left point for a shot from sophomore Landon Nycz and Nestrašil was there in the slot for the redirection at the 1:21 mark.
The score remained knotted at 1-1 until 2:50 into the second period. Sophomore Coleson Hanrahan set up a one-timer from junior Daniel Jencko at the blueline and sophomore Lukáš Klecka tipped it home at the net front.
Sophomore Gavin Cornforth gave the Minutemen some insurance at the 2:19 mark in the third period, relentlessly pursuing a rebound and circling the net to poke the puck home at the opposite post. Jencko and senior Jack Musa collected the assists on the play.
Nestrašil then capped the scoring 10:28 into the final frame, picking off an errant Northeastern pass in the neutral zone and skating in alone on Sam Caulfield to collect his second of the night.
The Huskies ended the contest with a narrow 28-26 shot advantage and went 0-for-3 on the power play, while UMass was 0-for-2.
Eskit totaled 27 saves for the Minutemen, while Lawton Zacher and Caulfield had 16 and six stops, respectively for Northeastern.
The teams will be back in action tomorrow, October 17, to play a non-league matchup on NESN at 5:30 p.m.
Players Mentioned
F
/ Hockey
D
/ Hockey
F
/ Hockey
F
/ Hockey
D
/ HockeyTeam Stats
NOR
UMA
Shots
28
26
PPG
0
0
SHG
0
0
Penalties
3
5
Penalty Mins
6
10
Faceoffs Won
31
28
Game Leaders
+/-
2
Goals
2
Sh
4
A
0
+/-
2
Goals
0
Sh
1
A
2
+/-
1
Goals
1
Sh
3
A
0
+/-
1
Goals
1
Sh
2
A
0
Saturday, October 17
Saturday, October 17
Friday, October 16
Friday, October 16