A border battle awaits the No. 19 UMass hockey team this weekend when it takes on No. 13 Connecticut in a home-and-home set that’ll carry significant Hockey East and NCAA Tournament implications.
The Minutemen, with just four games left in the season, hold down fourth place in Hockey East (32 points), which would grant them a bye (plus home-ice advantage) into the quarterfinal round.
The Huskies occupy third place with 37 points.
In the national picture, UMass is 19th in the NPI, which is about four or five spots away from the expected cutline for at-large bids into the NCAA Tournament.
UConn is clinging to 14th in the NPI, despite being swept by Boston College last weekend.
Essentially, a sweep this weekend, for either team, would drastically improve their chances of earning a spot to play in the NCAA Tournament.
“I circled this weekend a while ago,” Minutemen head coach Greg Carvel said. “How we were trending and I said if one of these two teams sweep this weekend, it’s going to have a huge impact on everything.”
UMass has been chasing down UConn since the start of the second half and normally, a 9-3 record would be enough to close the gap, however, the Huskies have held their pace, posting a 8-4-1 record since returning from winter break.
Much of UConn’s successes this season can be traced to senior goalie Tyler Muszelik, who has the fourth-best save percentage (.932) in the entire country. Junior Joey Muldowney remains one of Hockey East’s most lethal goalscorers as well with 15 tucks to his name this season.
The Minutemen can counter with the nation’s hottest goalie in junior Michael Hrabal (.931 save percentage) and junior Jack Musa (14 goals), who should return to UMass’ lineup after missing the series against UNH last week due to the flu.
While Carvel has the luxury of throwing out incredibly skilled players over the boards like Musa, Vaclav Nestrasil and defensemen Larry Keenan, to name a few, the balancing act of managing ice time for his top guys becomes even more of a chess match at this point in the season for the 10th-year bench boss.
“The issue that we don’t have is that we don’t ever get into high-penalty games,” Carvel said. “If we play a game where one team has three power plays, it’s pretty unique now.
“I’m always very aware of managing energy levels because some of our top players are freshmen,” Carvel continued. “[Justin] Kerr, [Jack] Galanek, Nestrasil, [Lukas] Klecka, we got four of our top six forwards are freshmen…so I’ve been trying to manage those guys all year long. I give them a lot of credit. They play a ton of minutes and I got a lot of trust in those guys.”
Of the four freshmen named, Galanek has averaged the most ice time this season at 20:11.
Sophomore Mikey DeAngelo saw significant ice time to start the season as a member of the Minutemen’s top-six forward unit, but the former Michigan State Spartan has surpassed 16 minutes just once in the past six games.
Injury and illness have impacted DeAngelo’s ability to sustain momentum, but the Itasca, Ill. native isn’t letting the negatives outweigh the positives.
“I’ve been dealing with some health issues the second half of the season and that’s kind of affected my playing ability,” DeAngelo said. “Some nights I’m feeling solid, some nights not so much, so I’m just doing the best I can to help the team win games and take care of myself.”
The 5-foot-11, 179-pounder has already managed to double his freshman goal output (six) in six less games this season, but hasn’t found the back of the net yet in 2026. Granted, DeAngelo missed three games from late January until early February, however, No. 19’s last goal occurred Dec. 7 at Northeastern.
With an intense series against UConn coming up, contributions from DeAngelo and other Minutemen who haven’t potted goals of late (Daniel Jencko, Nick VanTassell) could be the difference in tilting the scales their way.
“At this point in the season, it’s playoff hockey,” DeAngelo said. “Every point matters, every shift, every period, every mistake is amplified at this point in the season, because everyone is so close and everyone is pushing to try to keep playing and extending their season as long as possible.”
UMass heads to Storrs, Conn. on Friday, before returning to Amherst on Saturday.
Brown hires Upton as next head coach
Tommy Upton, who has served has an assistant coach for UMass hockey since 2022, was named the next men’s hockey head coach at Brown University, earlier this week.
“I am very grateful and honored for the opportunity to be the next Head Men’s Hockey Coach at Brown University,” Upton said in a media release. “I would like to thank Grace Calhoun, Jake Silverman, and everyone on the search committee for their diligence throughout the process. I am excited to meet and connect with our current players, alumni, and recruits.”
Former Bears head coach Brendan Whittet, who had held the post since 2009, stepped down midway through this season due to family issues.
Upton will remain with the Minutemen until the conclusion of the 2025-26 season.