UMass hockey: Minutemen muster third straight win, sweep Merrimack

AMHERST — The UMass hockey team is heating up.

Saturday’s 3-1 win over Merrimack at the Mullins Center not only gave the Minutemen their first series sweep since opening weekend against Northern Michigan, they’ve also only allowed four goals in four games since returning from the semester break.

Junior goalie Michael Hrabal was locked in versus the Warriors again, totaling 54 saves altogether in the series, while senior captain Lucas Olvestad and freshman Lukas Klecka each scored crucial goals during Saturday’s finale.

“This group is earning confidence, they’re playing with confidence and I think a lot of that comes from Mike Hrabal, who looks really comfortable in net,” UMass head coach Greg Carvel said.

Hrabal’s 25 saves helped the Minutemen improve to 12-10-0 overall, plus jump several spots in the Hockey East standings. UMass now sits in eighth-place with 15 points following the six-point weekend.

“He’s been our best player since coming back from break,” Olvestad said.

The Warriors tallied the first goal of the game on Trevor Hoskin’s sixth tuck of the season late in the first period. The sophomore one-timed a back-door feed from Austin Oravetz past Hrabal at 18:35 of the opening frame and the visitors held the 1-0 edge into the first intermission.

UMass didn’t net the equalizer until 14:17 of the second period, three seconds after a power play opportunity expired. Sophomore Mikey DeAngelo’s initial shot never made it all the way through, but the puck laid right at Klecka’s feet around the Merrimack goal mouth and despite having his back to the yawning cage, Klecka backhanded the puck in to make it a 1-1 game.

“I’m just trying to get better at scoring every day in practice and then just trying to shoot the puck as much as I can,” Klecka said.

Klecka’s equalizer was his first strike since Oct. 31 against Cornell.

The Minutemen were awarded a five-minute power play toward the tail end of the second period after Warriors freshman Justin Gill hit DeAngelo with a late, high hit to the head, but couldn’t capitalize.

DeAngelo left the game and did not return. Carvel said he needed “a lot of stitches,” but didn’t know the extent of the injury postgame.

UMass’ man-advantage woes were the only negative from the weekend as it went 0-for-7 in the sweep, including 0-for-4 at Mullins.

“That’ll be the focus now, our power play,” Carvel said. “I can’t remember the last time we scored a power play goal.

“Our first unit has to start doing more,” Carvel continued. “They had done such a good job at the beginning of the year, I was giving them space, but now it’s an issue for me.”

The Minutemen went ahead 2-1 on a 2-on-1 opportunity early in the third. Olvestad corralled the loose puck on the near boards in the neutral zone after a Warriors shot rimmed all the way around and out near the UMass bench, leading to the odd-man rush.

The defenseman’s second goal of the year was a crisp snap shot that beat Merrimack goalie Max Lundgren low, glove side at 3:28.

“I was thinking pass at first but then I kind of got closed off,” Olvestad said. “[Carvel] was saying on the bench that a D-man would score so I thought I’d make the big man happy there, too.”

Sophomore defenseman Larry Keenan iced the game with an empty-netter that spanned the length of the ice sheet with less than a minute remaining, before the final buzzer sealed the 3-1 final.

“That feels really good getting that and getting in the race again,” Olvestad said on winning both games against the Warriors. “Merrimack is a hard team to play against too, especially at their place too, it’s never been an easy game there, so that one felt good.”

UMass, which has now won three straight, will look to keep the winning ways going when it travels to Burlington, Vermont, next week for two against the surging Catamounts (9-12-0), who have claimed wins in four of their last five, including a sweep against ranked-Northeastern.

The Minutemen have not won five consecutive games since the 2022-23 season.