History will be made when the No. 14 UMass hockey team squares off with Stonehill at Warrior Ice Arena in Boston on Friday.
Friday’s tilt will mark the first ever meeting between the Minutemen and Skyhawks. Stonehill recently made the jump to Division I as it became an independent program during the 2022-23 season following more than two decades in the Northeast-10 (Division II) Conference.
The Skyhawks are quite literally building their program from the ground up as a new, on-campus rink is in the works to be built within the next five years. Stonehill will play at the Boston Bruins’ practice facility for all but one of its home games this season.
Head coach David Berard has brought respectability to the program as the former Holy Cross bench boss squeezed 12 wins out of the Skyhawks in his first year at the helm last season. Stonehill won just two games the year prior.
“I’m a big fan of Coach Berard,” UMass head coach Greg Carvel said. “He’s a great man, good coach.”
Berard averaged 13 wins in six seasons pre-COVID with the Crusaders. Berard’s final year came in 2020-21 and Holy Cross went 4-12.
Stonehill was swept by Lake Superior State last weekend to open its 2025-26 season 0-2-0.
UMass picked up a pair of wins against Northern Michigan at the Mullins Center over the weekend, however, Friday’s battle will see the Minutemen play on a narrower, NHL size ice rink (200 x 85 feet). Mullins is slightly wider as a hybrid sheet (200 x 95), yet Carvel is intrigued to see how this group handles less space for the first time this year.
“Because we’ve not skated at an NHL-size in six weeks, I’m just hoping we don’t all run into the boards when we’re skating around for the first time,” Carvel said. “I’m excited to see because we are a big team and I liked this weekend that they showed that they’ll play hard.”
While he was held off the scoresheet against the Wildcats, junior forward Owen Mehlenbacher embodied the Minutemen’s hard-to-play-against style, getting in on forechecks, while also being defensively responsible all weekend long.
Coming to UMass from a Wisconsin team that plays against mostly high-skill competition in the Big 10 conference, Mehlenbacher felt he fit right in with the Minutemen’s demanding systems.
“We have to work here for sure,” Mehlenbacher said. “[Carvel] expects a lot out of us, every little detail, we have to execute to a high level. I think that’s the one thing about the culture we have here at UMass. The integrity we have on the ice and the integrity that we play with, everything has to be held to a high standard and we play for each other and we expect that out of each other.”
Mehlenbacher centered UMass’ second line with returners Cam O’Neill and Nick VanTassell.
On the blue line, freshman Landon Nycz opened eyes with his fluid skating ability and active stick in the defensive zone against NMU. The Detroit native scored his first collegiate goal in Sunday’s game and partner Larry Keenan was impressed with what he saw from the 18-year-old.
“I think he’s pretty confident out there, great skater, good hockey sense,” Keenan said. “No complaints, he’ll be good.”
Keenan and Francesco Dell’Elce were linked together for essentially all of last season as the Minutemen’s second D-pair. Now with Nycz, Keenan noticed similarities between his new partner and his previous one.
“They both got that offensive sense,” Keenan said. “Landon is obviously a little bit more physical, bigger and stuff, but overall, both great players to play with.”
Junior goalie Michael Hrabal will ultimately be the last line of defense for UMass and looked more comfortable in the crease on Sunday following Saturday’s opener where the 6-foot-7 netminder barely saw any action early on.
As one of the most talented goalies in Hockey East and even, all of college hockey, Carvel wants Hrabal to take the next step from being a good goalie, to a difference maker.
“Last year, he grew to the point that you could win with a goalie like that,” Carvel said. “I’d like to see him win games for us [this year]. Ideally, I don’t want us to play poorly for him to have to win games for us, but consistency, just to show that he’s ready for the next level.”
Carvel added he challenged the Czechia puck-stopper to finish the season with a .940 save percentage. In 2024-25, Hrabal had a .924 save percentage in 36 games played. Since the 1999-2000 season, less than 25 goalies have compiled a .940 save percentage or better.
Expect a similar, if not identical, Minutemen lineup in Boston as Carvel felt a few bottom-six forwards secured spots in the starting lineup.
“I told the group at the beginning of the year, it’s going to be hard to be in the lineup,” Carvel said. “We’ve got really good players [who] aren’t in the lineup and if you can’t play to the standard consistently and check consistently, you’ll be replaced.
“This is the deepest group of forwards we’ve had,” Carvel continued. “Maybe not as many high, high end guys. To me, Jack Musa is high, high end. We may not have a bunch of 40-50 point scorers, but I think we’ll have a lot of guys around 20 points, 20-30.”
Puck drop at Warrior is set for 7 p.m.