The UMass hockey team will start off its second-half schedule with a home-and-home against No. 18 Boston University this weekend, beginning Friday night at the Mullins Center.
The Minutemen last played a home game nearly two months ago, in a 5-1 loss to then-No. 16 Providence on Nov. 22. Their final three games of the first half were all on the road (one at Army, two at Northeastern).
UMass (9-9) will look a bit different when it returns to the ice against the Terriers (9-8-1) as junior forward Nick VanTassell suffered an injury during the Minutemen’s exhibition against Simon Fraser on Jan. 2 and is classified as out “long-term”, per UMass head coach Greg Carvel.
VanTassell was tied for fourth on the Minutemen in points with 10, prior to his “upper-body injury.”
Freshman Justin Kerr and senior Kennedy O’Connor sit on the other end of the spectrum as potential returners to the UMass lineup as Kerr has been out since the Nov. 29 game against Army, while O’Connor hasn’t suited up since Oct. 10 at Stonehill. Both are participants at UMass practices.
Junior Cam O’Neill and senior Owen Murray appear to be full-go’s this weekend as well.
Similarly, the Minutemen had three players stay busy during the break with junior Jack Musa and sophomore Larry Keenan representing the runner-up U.S. Collegiate Selects at the Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland, while freshman Vaclav Nestrasil helped Czechia take silver at this year’s World Junior Championships in Minnesota.
Musa and Keenan are likely to return right away to the Minutemen lineup as their last game for the Selects was Dec. 31. Nestrasil’s availability is less certain since the gold-medal game happened this past Monday, Jan. 5.
“Most of our players went home for two weeks and Vaclav Nestrasil went directly to training camp and has played, probably, the most emotional hockey he’s ever played,” Carvel said. “He’s going to be spent, so we really need to manage him.
“Ideally, he plays for us this weekend, but we got to really manage him,” Carvel said. “He’s not had an issue with fatigue through the first semester, but that tournament, the history that I have of coaching, it catches up with most kids. We got to be real careful.”
Sweden won gold for the first time since 2012 in its 4-2 victory over Czechia.
UMass’ goalie situation was in flux for much of the first semester as the season’s starting goalie, Michael Hrabal, missed six games due to injury, then allowed five goals on 14 shots in his return to action versus the Black Knights.
Junior Jackson Irving shut out then-No. 12 Northeastern (his second blank slate of the season) in the Minutemen’s final game before the break on Dec. 7. After their 2-0 win over the Huskies, Carvel declared the net belonged to Irving, however Carvel appears to have changed his tune in regard to who’ll be manning the crease.
“If the season had kept going [it’d still be Irving’s], but when you take a two-week break and a month off… we told all the goalies, you got to earn it,” Carvel said. “Michael started the exhibition game because we felt he had a better week of practice than Jackson did and the games this weekend will be determined the same way.
“Jackson gave us a great run and he may again, but with that long of a break it was a reset for everybody,” Carvel said. “Mike has come back healthy, very focused, seen a higher level of compete from him in practice.”
As far as skaters go, Carvel pinpointed freshman Landon Nycz as one of several players he expects fans to take notice of once game action picks back up.
“He’s in a real growth spurt right now,” Carvel said. “Not physically, but his game. I think people are going to be really impressed with him the second half of the year. He came in here young, he made early mistakes. It’s basically gone exactly as I would’ve predicted it and now he’s gaining confidence and he’s flying.”
Nycz notched two points in the first 18 games of the season.
“There’s a handful of players on this team I’m excited for their second half,” Carvel said. “I think Michael DeAngelo is another one, who I think we’re going to see a real jump in his game. I think Justin Kerr, if we can get him healthy, I think you’re going to see a real jump in his game and that’s good because that’s two centermen who play important roles for us.”
Carvel mentioned sophomore Daniel Jencko, freshman Jack Galanek and Hrabal within that group of players that need to continue to be impact players for the Minutemen.
The Terriers pose as an interesting opponent for UMass at this juncture. First off, BU has yet to have found its top gear despite being selected to finish first in Hockey East during the preseason coaches poll.
Nineteen NHL draft picks are littered throughout the Terriers’ roster, but for whatever reason, it hasn’t clicked yet in 2025-26 as their longest winning streak through 18 games is three.
Cole Hutson is also the only BU player averaging higher than a point a game (20 points in 18 games) and the sophomore is a defenseman.
To help sort things out for the Terriers, head coach Jay Pandolfo decided to bring in a highly-regarded recruit slightly earlier as Tynan Lawrence, an expected top-10 draft pick at this summer’s NHL Draft, will join the Red-and-White to start the second semester, instead of next fall.
Lawrence had 10 goals and 17 points in 13 games for the United States Hockey League’s Muskegon Lumberjacks this season.
Regardless, UMass will approach its upcoming set with the Terriers with the same mindset of years past.
“As per usual, very talented group that you need to check well against them, you need to keep them out of the middle of the ice, you can’t skate by your checks, you have to finish your checks and have really good details, you can’t turn pucks over,” Carvel said. “You can’t allow their skill to be the difference in the game.”
The Minutemen last played BU during the Hockey East Quarterfinals in March, a game the Terriers seized in overtime, 3-2.
“They are what they always are,” Carvel said. “They’re very deep with skill and as I tell our players, skill can be neutralized, but if you don’t neutralize it, it will kill you, so we’ll do our best to neutralize it.”
Puck drop for Friday’s game in Amherst is scheduled for 7 p.m.