The UMass hockey team will knock out its longest road trip of the 2026-27 regular season when it heads to Colorado College for its first games of the year this Friday and Saturday.
Nearly seven months after the Minutemen were eliminated from the Hockey East tournament, and in turn, a NCAA Tournament berth, to eventual conference champion Merrimack at the TD Garden last March, they’ll take on a hungry Tigers team out at Robson Arena for its first game action of the new campaign.
UMass loaded up on high-end freshmen forwards this offseason, seven of whom enter as NHL draft picks, however senior Jack Musa’s decision to return for his senior year counted as the most crucial development from the summer.
The Orange Park, Fla. native decided to hold off on turning pro as an undrafted free agent and return to Western Mass. for one more kick at the can, where the crafty forward will likely eclipse 100 career points (80 currently).
“Ultimately at the end of the day, I thought it’d be better for me to come back to school and I’m happy I made that decision,” Musa said.
As a result, Musa was named captain of the Minutemen, alongside sophomore Coleson Hanrahan, while juniors Larry Keenan and Francesco Dell’Elce will serve as alternate captains. Senior Cam O’Neill was originally slated to to don an “A”, however the right-shot forward suffered a season-ending shoulder injury during the preseason.
“It’s definitely a huge honor to be a captain on this team,” Musa said. “I think it’s all the captains before me that have showed me the way and paved the way for us. Taking stuff from each of those guys and then just using it myself to be a great leader has really helped me so far.”
Among the aforementioned newcomers up front are Maxim Masse, Max Curran, Egor Barabanov and Jasper Kuhta, who all came over from various CHL squads.
Toss in skilled returners in sophomore Vaclav Nestrasil, junior Daniel Jencko and sophomore Jack Galanek, to name a few, and the Minutemen shouldn’t struggle to fill opposing nets this season.
“Everything excites me, our forwards, our D, our goalies, we got every piece right now,” Musa said.
UMass brought in some noteworthy blueliners that’ll join an already stacked group. Chief among that list is freshman Samu Alalauri.
The Lahti, Finland product has opened some eyes during the preseason slate and all signs point to the 6-foot-2 rearguard starting the season on a pair with Keenan.
“He’s a great D-man,” Alalauri said. “It feels pretty easy to me to play next to him. I think we have good chemistry together. We can do a lot of stuff, but still together, it feels right to me.”
The Minutemen lost two key pieces on defense to graduation in Owen Murray and Lucas Olvestad, yet Alalauri seems poised to ease that transition on both sides of the ice.
“I’m a two-way D-man who likes to play with the puck as well,” Alalauri said. “Defense is my thing here and the UMass thing as well, so I don’t want to allow any goals.”
Barrett Dexheimer and Mathieu Taillefer count as the other incoming freshmen defensemen.
Not to be forgotten, the Minutemen will have a new starting goalie this year following Michael Hrabal signing with the Utah Mammoth at the end of last season.
UMass has three capable replacements in returner Jackson Irving, while freshmen Tobias Trejbal and Ethan Eskit come to the Pioneer Valley with impressive junior hockey resumes.
Trejbal was the USHL’s Goaltender of the Year after notching a 30-9-3 record with a 2.12 goals-against average and .916 save percentage with the Youngstown Phantoms.
Eskit arrives from the WHL, where the puck-stopper spent the past three seasons and accumulated nearly 50 wins (44).
Despite the question mark in between the pipes, the college hockey world has high expectations for this year’s version of the Minutemen. In the first USCHO, national poll of the season, UMass slotted in at 10th.
Similarly, among Hockey East teams, the Minutemen were picked first by the media and second in the coaches poll.
Head coach Greg Carvel officially enters his 11th season behind the bench for UMass, 10 years after taking over.
Carvel earned his first ever win with the Minutemen in 2016 when they hosted Colorado College on Oct. 7.
A decade later, the Tigers will look to start their season strong after failing to attain a winning record the past two seasons.
Puck drop for Friday’s opener is set for 9 p.m. ET.
