A weekend road set at Matthews Arena against No. 12 Northeastern will round out the UMass hockey team’s first half of the 2025-26 season, starting Saturday night in Boston.
The Minutemen lost their only game of the week last Saturday, falling 5-4 to Army, in a game junior goalie Michael Hrabal allowed five goals on 14 shots through two periods of play.
UMass, now 8-8 overall, can start to dig out from the basement of the Hockey East conference (last place, five points in seven games played) with a strong showing against the Huskies (9-4-0).
“If we bring our B-game, we don’t beat anybody,” Minutemen head coach Greg Carvel said. “That means up and down the lineup. I thought at West Point, a lot of our guys had their A-games going and our goalie didn’t. That’s why we lost that game.”
Hrabal’s forgettable performance against the Black Knights served as the Prague, Czechia native’s first start between the pipes since Nov. 1 against Cornell. Hrabal suffered an injury at some point after that second game against the Big Red, causing the Utah Mammoth draft pick to miss the Minutemen’s next six games.
“It’s not fun not practicing, not being with the team, but it is what it is” Hrabal said. “I feel like everyone goes through it at some point. It doesn’t matter now. What matters is the two games this weekend.”
Junior goalie Jackson Irving finished up the contest against Army, playing the final 20 minutes and turned aside all eight shots he faced.
With that, it seems as if a goalie battle is in store, for the first time this season, to decide who’ll get the nod versus Northeastern.
“He’ll have to earn it at practice this week,” Carvel said on Hrabal. “He’s a high-level goalie, we needed to get him back, he finally felt really good about his health and I’m not so sure he had earned it, but we needed to get him going. Unfortunately, we lost the [Army] game because of it. That’s fine, he’s just got to earn it in practice.
“He won’t get back in now until we know he’s at the level that he needs to be,” Carvel said.
The Huskies have similar uncertainty in the goalie department as junior transfer Lawton Zacher, who has been one of the nation’s top netminders in the early-goings of the season with a .943 save percentage in 10 games played, hasn’t suited up for Northeastern since Nov. 15 against UConn.
Sophomore Quintin Sigurdson has stepped in and has played three consecutive for Northeastern, going 2-1-0 with a .936 save percentage.
The Huskies handed UMass its first loss of the season on Oct. 17, beating the Minutemen, 4-2 at the Mullins Center.
“They’re a good team,” Carvel said. “I don’t think people expected them to be as good of a team as they are. We didn’t compete very well in the first period of that game, if I remember correctly.”
UMass’ lines were thrown into a blender ahead of the Army game and Carvel felt its second forward line of Vaclav Nestrasil, Jack Galanek and Daniel Jencko earned more time together moving forward.
Juniors Jack Musa and Nick VanTassell will also remain together, per Carvel, however after that, more alterations are expected to come against the Huskies.
“You’ll continue to see things shaken up,” Carvel said. “I think we’ll have Musa and VanTassell together, I’m not sure who we’ll put on a line with them. Taking [Justin] Kerr out, I think we’re going to move Musa to center to shore up our center ice.”
Kerr suffered an injury against the Black Knights and did not finish the game.
Junior transfer Matthew Wilde, who hasn’t dressed in the past four games, could potentially draw back into the UMass lineup based on some encouraging comments from Carvel.
“Matty Wilde is a really good player with the puck,” Carvel said. “But he’s got to play faster. We can get him there. He’s a guy that’s in the wings right now, but I won’t be surprised if at some point this year, he takes a step and then you’re going to see what he’s capable of, because he’s really good with the puck.”
This weekend will mark the Minutemen’s final appearance at Matthews, as the building will be shut down in 2026 and later torn down, to make room for a new facility in the coming years.
UMass has a 13-25-2 all-time away record against the Huskies, but have claimed four of the last five at Matthews.
Puck drop on Saturday is set for 7 p.m. Sunday’s follow up with begin at 5:30 p.m.
Nestrasil named to Czechia’s World Junior roster
For the third year in a row, a UMass hockey player will represent Czechia at the IIHF World Junior Championships.
Nestrasil was among the 26 players picked earlier this week and the Minuteman is the only player with NCAA ties to be selected. Hrabal starred for Czechia the past two tournaments.
“It’s a dream come true obviously,” Nestrasil said. “Watching that ever since I was growing up, I’m glad I can be a part of that right now. I can battle for my spot and hopefully help my country win some medals.”
Czechia as done well at World Juniors recently, taking medals (silver, two bronze) in each of the last three years.
Nestrasil represented Czechia two year ago as part of its under-17 national team.
“It’s a pleasure every time I can do that,” Nestrasil said. “To have that badge on my jersey and play for my country and play for my family, my friends, everybody, I love it.”
This year’s tournament will be held in Minnesota, beginning Dec. 26.