#19 Massachusetts Hockey Continues Series Against UMass Lowell With Home-and-Home

Games 27-28	Massachusetts Minutemen (16-10-0, 9-7-0 HE) at UMass Lowell River Hawks (9-17-0, 5-11-0 HE)
Dates \| Times	Friday, February 6, 2026 \| 7:15 p.m. Saturday, February 7, 2026 \| 7:30 p.m.
Location	Lowell, Mass. (Tsongas Center) Amherst, Mass. (Mullins Center)
Series History	vs. UMass Lowell: UMass Lowell leads 50-41-10
Live Statistics	Friday \| Saturday
Watch Live	ESPN+ \| International Stream NESN (Sunday)
Listen (Radio)	WHMP FM 101.5, AM 1400
Listen (Online)	WHMP Streaming Player \| App: Download The Varsity Sports Network on your mobile device
Game Notes	Massachusetts \| UMass Lowell
Game Program	vs. UMass Lowell
Team Records	Massachusetts \| UMass Lowell
Twitter	@UMassHockey \| @UMassAthletics
Instagram	UMass Hockey \| UMass Athletics
Tickets	Friday \| S aturday

LAST TIME OUT
- UMass won both its games last weekend to push its streak to seven straight, taking Friday's home matchup 3-2 over Northeastern in overtime and then defeated UMass Lowell on the road Sunday, 6-4.
- The teams battled through an even scoreless first period. Then, midway through the second, the Huskies took a 1-0 lead, ending Hrabal's shutout streak at a program record 191 minutes and 14 seconds. Dylan Hryckowian and Amine Hajibi won a puck battle below the goal line and fed Austin May in the slot for the finish at 9:49.
- UMass was quick to equalize with a highlight reel individual effort from Larry Keenan. Holding the puck at the blueline, Keenan deked his way around the Northeastern defense and backhanded home his fifth of the season at the 13:11 mark.
- Junior Jack Musa then put the Minutemen on top just before the intermission. Freshman Jack Galanek advanced the puck ahead to classmate Václav Nestrašil out of the UMass end and Nestrašil carried it over the Huskies blueline before setting up Musa with a drop pass that he finished off for his 10th of the season at 18:48.
- Northeastern leveled the score at the 4:39 mark of the third. When Hryckowian buried a one-timer from Vinny Borgesi and Hajibi from the left faceoff circle.
- Justin Kerr ultimately potted the game winner from the high slot in the final minute of the extra frame. Keenan and Galanek collected the assists.
- The Huskies ended the night with a 44-27 shot advantage and both teams were 0-for-1 on the power play. Michael Hrabal totaled 42 saves for UMass and Lawton Zacher stopped 24 for Northeastern.
- On Sunday UMass Lowell opened the scoring early in the first with Josh Mori picking up the puck from Libor Nemec and Dalin Wakley and making an end-to-end rush that he finished with a wrister into the top corner of the Minutemen net at 3:44.
0 UMass tied things up at one apiece 14:17 into the frame. Freshman Lukáš Klecka completed a tic-tac-toe play from Galanek and Musa into an open net.
- Before the intermission, Musa gave the Minutemen their first lead of the day as he finished off a give-and-go from freshman Coleson Hanrahan at 17:27. The assist marked Hanrahan's first point of his collegiate career, while junior Owen Mehlenbacher earned the secondary helper.
- Kerr put UMass up by a pair 12:46 into the second, cleaning up a rebound from Cam O'Neill and Daniel Jencko in front.
- UMass Lowell responded with a power-play goal from Diego Buttazzoni to close the gap to 3-2 before Musa capped the period with his 12th of the season from Galanek and O'Neill, firing a shot past Austin Elliott while streaking down the slot.
- Two goals in 70 seconds by the River Hawks early in the third period knotted the score at four apiece. Josh Mori found the back of the net at 3:24 and TJ Schweighardt followed with the equalizer at 4:14.
- With the threat of overtime looming, Sophomore Cam Dunn tucked home a wrister from the right faceoff circle, set up by classmates Francesco Dell'Elce and Larry Keenan at 17:06.
- Musa then capped his four-point day by completing his hat trick with an empty net goal at 18:06 from Galanek and senior Lucas Ölvestad. Galanek ended the contest with three assists and O'Neill with two as UMass' additional multi-point scorers.
- The River Hawks finished with a 31-25 shot advantage and went 1-for-1 on the power play, while the Minutemen were 0-for-2.
- Hrabal totaled 27 saves to improve to 13-6-0 on the season, while Elliott stopped 19 shots.

MUSA AND KERR COLLECT HOCKEY EAST WEEKLY AWARDS
- UMass picked up a pair of Hockey East weekly awards after the squad extended its winning streak to seven with victories over Northeastern and UMass Lowell this past weekend. Junior forward Jack Musa was selected as the Boston Children's Hospital Player of the Week and freshman forward Justin Kerr was tabbed the Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week.
- Musa led UMass in scoring in the 2-0-0 week, posting five points (4g, 1a) on eight shots and was +4 with two blocks. The Orange Park, Florida native scored the go-ahead goal in Friday's win over Northeastern after the Minutemen trailed 1-0. On Sunday, set a career single-game high with four points, including his second career hat trick.
- Kerr scored the game winner in the final minute of OT on Friday in UMass' 3-2 win over Northeastern. The Grand Rapids, Minnesota native followed up with third goal of the season in Sunday's 6-4 victory at UMass Lowell.

HRABAL, ÖLVESTAD EARN MONTHLY AWARDS
- Goaltender Michael Hrabal and senior defenseman Lucas Ölvestad earned monthly honors from Hockey East after helping the Minutemen to a 6-1-0 record in January. Hrabal was selected as the Boston Children's Hospital Player of the Month and Ölvestad received Army ROTC Defender of the Month recognition. It marked the first monthly awards for any UMass player since 2023.
- Hrabal started all seven games in January and played 422:19 minutes, posting a 6-1-0 record with three shutouts, a 0.85 GAA and a .973 save percentage, stopping 215 of 221 shots over the seven games. The Prague, Czechia native broke a program record with 191 consecutive shutout minutes, as well. Hrabal made 42 saves in a shutout win at Vermont on January 23 and had 42 saves in a 3-2 victory over Northeastern to cap the month. He did not allow more than two goals over any of his seven starts, letting up one or less on five occasions, with his only loss coming on January 9, a 1-0 setback to Boston University. Hrabal earned two Hockey East Weekly honors for the month as the Goaltender of the Week on Jan. 12 and the Player of the Week on Jan 26.
- Ölvestad led UMass in scoring in January with six points on three goals and three assists, including two game winners and was +8 with eight blocks. The Stockholm, Sweden native helped lead a team defense that had a 0.85 GAA for the month and three shutouts. Ölvestad registered a career high three points with the game-winning goal and two assists at Merrimack on January 17 and followed up with a goal and an assist in a 4-0 shutout at Vermont on January 23. He scored the only goal in a 1-0 shutout victory over Vermont on January 24 and was named Hockey East Player of the Week on January 19.

HRABAL NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
- Junior goaltender Michael Hrabal was named the Hockey East Boston Children's Hospital Player of the Week on January 26. It marked Hrabal's second weekly award of the season and eighth for a member of the Minutemen.
- Hrabal stopped all 64 shots he faced, posting two shutouts in a weekend sweep at Vermont for a 1.000 save percentage and a 0.00 goals against average. The Prague, Czechia made 42 saves in Friday's 4-0 win and followed up with 22 saves in a 1-0 victory on Saturday. He was named the No. 1 star on Friday and the No. 2 star on Saturday.

GOING STREAKING
- With two more victories last weekend, UMass' winning streak is now up to seven straight, the longest winning streak for the Minutemen since winning a national title in 2021, ending the year with seven consecutive victories. There have only been two winning streaks longer in program history: a nine-game stretch in the fall of 2018 and an eight-game streak from March 1970 to December 1970.
. Going back to the 4-0 win against Maine on November 7, five of the Minutemen's last 10 victories have been shutouts and three of the last seven.
- The Minutemen have outscored their opponents 23-10 since January 1, going 7-1-0. Jack Musa (5,g, 2a), Lucas Ölvestad (3g, 4a), Cam O'Neil (2g, 5a)l all have a team-high seven points during that eight-game span.

ÖLVESTAD SELECTED AS DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
-Junior goaltender Michael Hrabal and senior defenseman Lucas Ölvestad have earned monthly honors from Hockey East after helping the Minutemen to a 6-1-0 record in January. Hrabal was selected as the Boston Children's Hospital Player of the Month and Ölvestad received Army ROTC Defender of the Month recognition. It marks the first monthly awards for any UMass player since 2023.
- Hrabal started all seven games in January and played 422:19 minutes, posting a 6-1-0 record with three shutouts, a 0.85 GAA and a .973 save percentage, stopping 215 of 221 shots over the seven games. The Prague, Czechia native broke a program record with 191 consecutive shutout minutes, as well. The previous record was set by Mike Johnson with 169:56 consecutive shutout minutes in November 2001.
- Hrabal made 42 saves in a shutout win at Vermont on January 23 and had 42 saves in a 3-2 victory over Northeastern to cap the month. He did not allow more than two goals over any of his seven starts, letting up one or less on five occasions, with his only loss coming on January 9, a 1-0 setback to Boston University. Hrabal earned two Hockey East Weekly honors for the month as the Goaltender of the Week on Jan. 12 and the Player of the Week on Jan 26.
- Ölvestad led UMass in scoring in January with six points on three goals and three assists, including two game winners and was +8 with eight blocks. The Stockholm, Sweden native helped lead a team defense that had a 0.85 GAA for the month and three shutouts. Ölvestad registered a career high three points with the game-winning goal and two assists at Merrimack on January 17 and followed up with a goal and an assist in a 4-0 shutout at Vermont on January 23. He scored the only goal in a 1-0 shutout victory over Vermont on January 24 and was named Hockey East Player of the Week on January 19.

ÖLVESTAD SELECTED AS DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
- Senior defenseman Lucas Ölvestad was selected as the Hockey East Army ROTC Defender of the Week on January 19. It marked Ölvestad's first career honor and the seventh weekly award for a member of the Minutemen in 2025-26.
- Ölvestad factored in all three goals in UMass' 3-1 win over Merrimack on January 17 to complete its sweep of the Warriors. The Stockholm, Sweden native netted the unassisted game-winning tally in the come from behind victory, scoring in the third period. He was +3 on the weekend and blocked three shots, including two in the final 2:27 of the January 16 road victory at Merrimack. The Minutemen held a 3-2 lead before the squad added an empty netter with 25 seconds to play.

HRABAL TABBED GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK
- Junior goaltender Michael Hrabal was selected as the Hockey East Stop It Goaltending Goaltender of the Week, the league announced on January 12. It marked Hrabal's first honor of the 2025-26 season and the sixth weekly award for a member of the Minutemen.
- In a weekend split with No. 19 Boston University, Hrabal stopped 55 of the 56 shots he faced over 118 minutes in between the pipes, posting a .982 save percentage and a 0.51 goals-against average for the week.

NESTRASIL EARNS SILVER AT WORLD JUNIORS
- Freshman Václav Nestrašil earned Silver at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship after helping his native Czechia reach the championship game where the squad fell to Sweden, 4-2 in the Gold Medal game.
- Nestrašil is the fifth medal winner from UMass since 2023 as current Minuteman sophomore goaltender Michael Hrabal helped Czechia to Bronze medals in 2024 and 2025 and Kenny Connors and Ryan Ufko were part of a Bronze Medal winning Team USA squad in 2023.
- In total, eight individuals from UMass have collected nine medals at the IIHF World Junior Championship. Goaltender Filip Lindberg captured Gold with Finland in 2020 and Cale Makar took home Gold with Canada in 2018, while that same tournament Director of Equipment Operations Josh Penn earned a Bronze medal on staff with Team USA. Stephen Werner was the first Minuteman to collect a medal at the World Junior Championship, winning gold with the United States in 2004.
- In the tournament, Nestrašil registered eight points on two goals and six assists over seven games and was +4 with a game-winner and a power-play goal.

HOME AWAY FROM HOME
- Since the 2018-19 season, UMass is 15-7-2 against Providence College, while all other opponents are 33-74-15 against the Friars in that span.
- The Minutemen are 8-2-1 in their last 11 matchups at Schneider Arena, an improvement from 0-10-1 in their previous 11 games dating back to the 2017-18 season.

IRVING EARNS GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK NOD
- Jackson Irving was named the Hockey East Goaltender of the Week on November 10. It marked UMass' third weekly honor of the season and the second of Irving's career.
- The Newbury, Massachusetts native started both games against No. 6 Maine and posted a .934 save percentage for the series making 85 stops with a 3.01 GAA and a 1-1-0 record.
- Irving logged a career high 48 saves in the game one loss to the Black Bears and earned the game's No. 3 star. He rebounded by posting 37 saves in his second collegiate shutout, 4-0 over Maine and was tabbed the No. 1 star of the game.

NESTRASIL NAMED ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
- Following his contributions to Massachusetts hockey's win at Stonehill on October 10, freshman forward Václav Nestrašil was tabbed Co-Hockey East Rookie of the Week. The honor marked the third for a member of the Minutemen this season and the first of Nestrašil's career.
- In the 4-1 victory over the Skyhawks at Warrior Arena, Nestrašil registered a hat trick, which included two power-play goals. The three tallies came on seven shots for the Prague, Czechia, native, a team high. His performance marked the first hat trick by a UMass freshman since 2015.

MILESTONES APPROACHING FOR HRABAL
- Junior Michael Hrabal played in his 78th career game against No. 19 Boston University on January 9, passing current director of player development Steve Mastalerz '15 for sixth all-time in career games played for a UMass goaltender.
- With 48 wins to his credit, Hrabal just passed Paul Dainton (2007-11) for third in program history, he is two victories shy of matching Gabe Winer for second (50 wins).
- Currently at 2,345 saves for his career, Hrabal is 37 saves away from breaking into the top-five in program history in that category.

MUSA, KEENAN REACH SPENGLER CUP FINAL WITH U.S. COLLEGIATE SELECTS
- Junior forward Jack Musa was named to the United States Select hockey team for the 2025 Spengler cup on October 30. Sophomore defenseman Larry Keenan was added to the roster on November 13. The pair were two of 25 student-athletes from across NCAA men's ice hockey selected to compete in the prestigious tournament in late December.
- The USCS team reached the championship game of the tournament, falling to host HC Davos, 6-3, after previously defeating HC Sparta Praha, 5-3, and Team Canada, 3-2.
- Musa and Keenan played in all four games for USCS with Musa scoring two goals. He leads UMass in points with 28 on 13 goals and 15 assists through 26 games on the season. As the top returning scorer for the Minutemen from 2024-25, Musa put up 35 points last season as a sophomore, appearing in all 40 games and contributing 18 goals and 17 assists. Thus far in his career in a UMass uniform he has registered 92 points in 103 games on 43 goals and 49 assists.
- Keenan has logged 11 points on five goals and six assists across 26 games this season. Over the 66 games of his career, he has totaled 22 points (9g, 13a) with a +19 rating.
- With the addition of Keenan to the Spengler Cup roster, UMass became the fifth team to send more than one player to the tournament in Davos, Switzerland. The Minutemen joined North Dakota, Minnesota Duluth, Notre Dame, and Penn State as teams with more than one player on the roster.

SHOTS—EVERYBODY!!
- UMass' 70 shots on goal in the squad's Oct. 4 matchup against Northern Michigan set a modern NCAA record (since 2004) for shots in a regulation game. Freshman Václav Nestrašil led the Minutemen with a game-high eight shots on goal.

FIRSTS
- Milestones set by the Minutemen this season…
- Collegiate debuts - (10/4 vs NMU): Václav Nestrašil, Jack Galanek, Lukáš Klecka, Landon Nycz, Charlie Lieberman; (10/10 at Stonehill): Elias Zimmerman (10/17 vs. Northeastern): Coleson Hanrahan; (10/18 vs. Bentley): Justin Kerr, A.J. Lacroix
- Goals - (10/4 vs. NMU): Klecka, Nestrasil; (10/5 vs. NMU): Nycz; (10/17 vs. Northeastern): Bo Cosman; (11/6 vs. Maine): Galanek; (12/6 at Northeastern): Cam Dunn; (1/16 at Merrimack): Kerr.
- Assists - (10/4 vs. NMU): Galanek, Lieberman; (10/18 vs. Bentley): Nestrasil; (10/24 at Omaha): Klecka; (10/25 at Omaha): Nycz; (11/20 at Providence): Kerr; (1/23 at Vermont): Dunn; Coleson Hanrahan (2/1) at UMass Lowell.

MUSA AND KLEČKA COP FIRST WEEKLY AWARDS OF THE SEASON
- Forwards junior Jack Musa and freshman Lukáš Klecka both received weekly awards from Hockey East following a weekend sweep of Northern Michigan to start the 2025-26 campaign. Musa was tabbed Co-Hockey East Player of the Week, while Klecka earned Rookie of the Week recognition.
- Musa put up five points on three goals and two assists in the pair of wins against the Wildcats, won 5-of-5 faceoffs and was +3 on the weekend.
- Klecka scored in both games against Northern Michigan for the first two tallies of his career. He totaled five shots and was +2 in his opening weekend of collegiate competition.

STATE OF THE U
- University of Massachusetts hockey has youthful roster in its 10th season under head coach Greg Carvel in 2025-26 as the squad is comprised of 16 returnees and 11 newcomers, which includes 16 freshmen and sophomores.
- UMass saw the bulk of its roster turnover on the forward front, losing seven players to graduation and professional hockey. Cole O'Hara and Aydar Suniev tallied nearly 25% of the team's total points last season, with Suniev providing 38 (20g, 18a) and O'Hara tying the single-season points record with 51 (22g, 29a). Massachusetts also saw Lucas Mercuri (18g, 16a, 34pts), Dans Locmelis (7g, 24a, 31pts), and Kenny Connors (10g, 20a, 30pts) all ink their NHL entry-level contracts; Mercuri also joined Joey Musa and Ryan Lautenbach as graduates. The Minutemen returned just four of their top-10 scorers from last season, two of whom were forwards: Jack Musa and Daniel Jencko.   Musa tallied the third-most points in the 2024-25 season with 34, and Jencko posted the second most points among all freshmen with 16. The forward group returns seven total members from last season and welcomes nine new members, including transfers Owen Mehlenbacher and Matthew Wilde.
- Seniors Lucas Ölvestad, Owen Murray, and Kennedy O'Connor provide a veteran presence on the Minutemen's back end this season. Sophomores Larry and Francesco Dell'Elce were lineup regulars in their rookie campaigns; Dell'Elce ranked seventh-highest last season in total points, leading his class with 24 (7g, 17a). The Minutemen have added two freshmen to their blue line this season, in Coleson Hanrahan and Landon Nycz.
- Massachusetts' goaltending tandem remains the same for the 2025-26 season. Michael Hrabal leads the group into his junior campaign after starting 35 of 40 games as a sophomore. He is backed up by fellow junior Jackson Irving and sophomore James Norton.

IRONMEN
- Among players returning to the Minutemen for the 2025-26 season, four players played in all 40 games during the 2024-25 season: Jack Musa, Francesco Dell'Elce, Owen Murray, Larry Keenan
- Junior Jack Musa has yet to miss a game – he has played in all 103 possible games across the first two-plus years of his collegiate career.

CALE MAKAR: SECOND NORRIS, FIRST OLYMPICS
- Former Minuteman Cale Makar was awarded the James Norris Memorial Trophy for the second time in his career after being a finalist for the fifth time in six seasons. Makar posted 30 goals and 62 assists across 80 games in the 2024-25 season, putting him at ninth-most points across the league. Makar also had the most goals, assists, and points by a defenseman.
- Makar was also one of six players named to Canada's Olympic Games Preliminary Roster. He will be making the trip to Milan, Italy in February for his first career Olympic appearance.

AND DON'T FORGET DANS
- Former UMass forward Dans Locmelis (2023-25) has been named to Latvia's roster for the upcoming 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
- Locmelis and Makar are the fifth and sixth Olympians from the UMass hockey program and the first Minutemen to represent Latvia and Canada, respectively. John Lyons and Justin McCartny played for Team USA in 1924, Jonathan Quick was a U.S. Olympian in 2010 (Silver) and 2014 and Thomas Poeck played for Austria in the 2002 Winter Olympics.

CAREER HIGHS
- Among the tenured Minutemen returning for the 2025-26 season, the following players posted career highs during the 2024-25 campaign:
- Lucas Ölvestad (C), 4g, 16a, 20pts, +8
- Owen Murray (C), 5g, 9a, 14pts, +5
- Jack Musa, 18g, 16a, 34pts, +18
- Nick VanTassell, 2g, 2a, 4pts

HRA-BALLIN'
- The third-highest Minutemen ever selected in the NHL Entry Draft at 38th overall, Michael Hrabal's sophomore season saw him land on Hockey East's Third Team All-Star roster.
- With 36 games logged in the 2024-25 season, Hrabal posted a 2.39 GAA and a .924 save percentage with a 19-12-5 record. He was named Hockey East's Goaltender of the Week three times during the 2024 season (12/9, 2/17, 2/24) and Hockey East's Defender of the Week one time during the 2024-25 season (1/13).
- Hrabal's 1,028 saves in the 2024 campaign ranks second all-time in program history for a single season, and his 19 wins tied for third highest in a single season.

SCHOLARLY SQUAD
- Among UMass' 20 Hockey East All-Academic Team recipients from the 2024-25 season, 13 return to the squad this season with Owen Murray, Kennedy O'Connor, Bo Cosman, Michael Hrabal, Jackson Irving, Francesco Dell'Elce, Cam Dunn, Larry Keenan, Charlie Lieberman, Jack Musa, James Norton, Lucas Ölvestad, and Nick VanTassell.
- James Duerr, and Cam O'Neill were named Hockey East's Top Scholar-Athletes and were selected to the 2024-25 Hockey East Academic All-Star Team.
- Transfer Owen Mehlenbacher was also named to his conference's all-academic team while at Wisconsin.

STANDING TALL (AND STRONG)
- UMass came into the 2025-26 season as the 11th youngest program in college hockey with average age of 21.6 years old, yet they are the tallest team coming in at an average height of 6'1.8".
- Michael Hrabal is tied for second-tallest player and is the tallest goalie in Division I Hockey, standing at 6'7". Freshmen Elias Zimmerman and Vaclav Nestrasil are tied for fifth tallest players, both at 6'6".
- UMass comes in as the fourth heaviest team, with an average weight of 193 pounds.

MURRAY AND ÖLVESTAD LEAD MINUTEMEN IN 2025-26
- Senior defensemen Owen Murray and Lucas Ölvestad have been named captains for the 2025-26 season.
- Murray has appeared in 116 games over his three-plus seasons with the Minutemen, including a season-high 40 games in the 2024-25 campaign. To date has totaled 31 points on nine goals and 22 assists, with career highs (5g, 9a) in his junior season.
- In his first season as a Minuteman, Ölvestad appeared in 28 games and registered 20 points on four goals and 16 assists. He led all defensemen with 13 points (3g, 10a) across 24 Hockey East games. Ölvestad brought experience from a 2024 NCAA National Champion during his time with Denver.

PUTTING PEN TO PAPER
- Following the end of the 2024-25 season, five Minutemen inked their NHL Entry-Level Contracts: Lucas Mercuri (TBL), Dans Locmelis (BOS), Cole O'Hara (NSH), Kenny Connors (LAK), and Aydar Suniev (CGY).
- Connors' contract marked the 20th Minuteman to sign an NHL contract under the coaching of Greg Carvel. In total, 21 Minutemen have signed NHL contracts in the Carvel era.
- Ryan Lautenbach also signed an ATO with the San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League (AHL).

ROOKIE LAPS
- Ryan Ufko, who signed his NHL Entry-Level Contract following the conclusion of the 2023-24 season, made his NHL debut for the Nashville Predators on April 14, 2025. He became the 25th Minuteman to play in an NHL game.
- Aydar Suniev made his NHL debut with the Calgary Flames three days later, on April 17.
- Taylor Makar became the 27th former Minuteman to play in the NHL when he skated for the Colorado Avalanche against the San Jose Sharks on November 1.

IN OUR CARVEL ERA
- Head coach Greg Carvel, in his 10th season of his UMass tenure, has led the Minutemen to six seasons of 20+ wins, including a 21-win showing in the 2024-25 season.
- Carvel earned his 166th victory of his UMass career in a 3-1 win over New Hampshire on February 22, tying him with Don "Toot" Cahoon as the program's all-time wins leader. He took sole possession of the record with a 5-3 win over UMass Lowell on March 1. Carvel now stands at the top of the list with 186 wins and counting.
- In the Carvel Era, the Minutemen are 8-4 in the NCAA Tournament with two trips to the National Final (2019 and 2021) and one National Championship (2021) and have made five NCAA Tournament appearances under Carvel.
- UMass is 22-40 all-time in the Hockey East Tournament, 12-9 under Carvel and 10-4 since 2019 with consecutive Hockey East Tournament titles in 2021 and 2022, the first two in program history.
- Overall, under Carvel (Hockey East and NCAA Tournament), UMass' postseason record is 20-13 with two Hockey East Championships, two Regional Championships and one National Championship.

A TRIP TO FARGO
- The Minutemen earned their sixth NCAA Tournament berth in 2025, which sent them to North Dakota for the Fargo Regional as the No. 3 seed. This marked UMass hockey's first trip to Fargo.
- Massachusetts faced the No. 2 seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, their first meeting since a 4-3 overtime loss in the first round of the 2022 Tournament. This time, the Minutemen were able to knock out the Gophers and secure a 5-4 overtime win with a tap-in goal from Aydar Suniev.
- The Minutemen saw their season end with a narrow 2-1 loss to the No. 1-seeded Western Michigan Broncos, the eventual national champions. This was the first meeting between the two programs.

THE PROSPECT POOL
- The Massachusetts roster features seven NHL draft picks across five different franchises.
- UMass returns Nick VanTassell (Ottawa, 2023 seventh round), Cam O'Neill (Ottawa, 2022 fifth round), Larry Keenan (Detroit, 2023 fourth round), and Michael Hrabal (Arizona, 2023 second round)
- Wisconsin transfer Owen Mehlenbacher is a Detroit seventh round pick from the 2022 draft.
- Sophomore Francesco Dell'Elce was selected in the 2025 NHL draft by the Colorado Avalanche in the third round.
- Freshman Vaclav Nestrasil was selected 25th overall by Chicago in the 2025 NHL Draft. He became the highest drafted UMass forward and the second-highest draft pick in program history, trailing Cale Makar (Colorado, 2017 4th overall).

MINUTEMEN FROM AROUND THE WORLD
- UMass' 2025-26 roster is comprised of student-athletes from five different countries: Canada, Czechia, Slovakia, Sweden, and the United States.
- Six Europeans marks the most for the Minutemen in program history, with the previous high of five occurring most recently last season in 2024-25.
- There are three Canadian provinces (Manitoba, Ontario, British Columbia) represented and eight different states (Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey).
- Springfield native Kennedy O'Connor is the closest to home at 27 miles, while Vaclav Nestrasil and Michael Hrabal are the furthest from home (Prague, Czechia) at 3,963 miles.

HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE
- UMass has gone 101-41-13 at the Mullins Center over the past six-plus seasons (2018-present) for a .694 winning percentage. This stretch included a 16-game unbeaten streak (15-0-1) that began on Jan. 11, 2019 against Vermont and came to an end on Nov. 30, 2019, with a 2-1 loss to Quinnipiac.

FAMILY TIES
- Lucas Ölvestad's father, Jimmie, played for the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2001-2003 and Lucas was born in Tampa during his father's NHL tenure. Jimmie Ölvestad went on to have an extended pro career with Djurgårdens IF back home in Sweden.
- Kennedy O'Connor's father, Thomas, played at UMass from 1994 through 1998 before going on to a professional career with the Wheeling Nailers (1998-99) and Augusta Lynx (2000-01) of the ECHL and the Syracuse Crunch (1998-99) and Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins (1999-00) of the AHL. O'Connor's sister, Kayla, was a college hockey player as well, playing at Trinity from 2014 to 2018.
- Václav Nestrašil's older brother Andrej played 128 NHL games over three seasons (2014-17) with the Detroit Red Wings and Carolina Hurricanes. He is still playing professionally in their native Czechia.
- Jackson Irving's father, Bruce, was a goaltender at Cornell.
- Cam O'Neill's brother Colin played hockey at UMass Lowell (2016-18) and his brother Jason played hockey at Providence (2017-21).
- Larry Keenan's grandfather Larry Keenan played in the NHL for the Toronto Maple Leafs (1961-62), St. Louis Blues (1967-71), Buffalo Sabres (1970-72) and Philadelphia Flyers (1971-72).
- Owen Murray's great uncle Dallas Smith played for the Boston Bruins from 1966-1977 and was Bobby Orr's defensive partner.
- James Duerr's brother Sam played hockey at Maine (2021-23) and Bentley (2023-25).

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