BOSTON — Michael Hrabal has arrived.
UMass hockey’s junior netminder turned aside all 26 shots he faced in the Minutemen’s 2-0 win over No. 19 Boston University at Agganis Arena on Saturday night.
Hrabal’s play throughout his first shutout of the season is more of what UMass head coach Greg Carvel was expecting entering this season, rather than what the Utah Mammoth prospect put together through 12 games during the first half.
“I thought Michael Hrabal was outstanding, the best we’ve seen from him this year,” Carvel said.
The 6-foot-7 puck-stopper’s shutout against the Terriers counted as his first win in five starts, with the last victory coming back on Halloween against Cornell.
An undisclosed injury didn’t help matters for Hrabal during the first half of the season as the Prague, Czechia product missed six straight games.
However, following an extended rest period due to the holiday break, Hrabal looked more like the goalie that managed a .938 save-percentage during the second half of last season, in the win in Boston.
“We just couldn’t generate enough offensely against them tonight,” BU head coach Jay Pandolfo said. “When we did, their goalie was excellent.”
Hrabal’s best save of the night occurred during the first period, flashing the leather with the glove to rob Terrier freshman Jonathan Morello on an open look.
Morello chipped the puck behind both UMass defensemen, executed a clean forehand-backhand deke but Hrabal read it the entire way, saving a sure goal.
“That was a huge save,” Carvel said. “That was obviously, to me, the best chance they had. Thank God he took care of that one. This is the Mike that we’ve needed all year and we just didn’t have him in the first half. I give him credit, we really challenged him, he went home and he’s come back and he’s being the goaltender that we’ve needed him to be.”
Vaclav Nestrasil and Jack Musa netted the Minutemen goals, with Nestrasil’s coming midway into the first, while Musa’s crossed the goal line with less than a minute left in regulation in a BU empty-net situation.
Nestrasil pocketed the game’s first goal with a sneaky steal behind the BU net, then tucked a wraparound try into the empty cage for the 1-0 Minutemen lead at 11:39 of the first.
“That’s all he does is slap his stick on the ice, all practice long he slaps his stick,” Carvel said. “He wants the puck, he wants everyone to pass him the puck and I guess it worked because the BU goalie passed it to him tonight.”
UMass’ first penalty of the night had just come off the clock — a Matthew Wilde tripping infraction — ahead of Nestrasil’s slick strike.
The Minutemen’s penalty kill wound up 3-for-3 against the Terrier’s potent power play on Saturday.
“The penalty kill was outstanding,” Carvel said. “My assistant coaches run the PK and they had a really good grasp of what we needed to take away. Just like 5-on-5, I thought we did a really good job doing things to take away, so BU really couldn’t build energy, build momentum.”
The Terriers appeared to have fallen behind 2-0 during the second period, but the hosts challenged for goalie interference and it was a successful one as UMass junior Bo Cosman had collided with BU goalie Mikhail Yegorov at the same time a Musa shot tickled the twine.
Despite getting the goal scrubbed, the Terriers never capitalized.
Musa, on the other hand, got his retribution, scoring an empty-netter with 53 seconds left, improving UMass’ record to 10-10.
“We ended the first half with a shutout at Northeastern, [now] a shutout here and one-goal against last night,” Carvel said. “This group, any coach is going to tell you they want a team that can play good, defensive hockey. We’re not the offensive team that we were last year, the last couple of years, so we need to be a good defensive team.”
Next on the docket for the Minutemen is a home-and-home against Merrimack, starting Friday, Jan. 16.