AMHERST – Cole O'Hara's four points powered the No. 20 UMass hockey team to a 5-3 win over Harvard on Friday night at the Mullins Center.

O'Hara had two goals and two assists – the junior forward's first career four-point night – in the Minutemen's first win on home ice this season.

“He's a talented player, he's become a very physically strong player and he's playing with a ton of confidence and that allows your skill to really shine,” UMass head coach Greg Carvel said.

The Nashville Predators draft pick registered half of his points during the third period, a frame that saw the Minutemen put four past Crimson goalie Aku Koskenvuo.

“I think the biggest thing was we hadn't won a home game in a bit, I think that kind of motivated us a lot to have a good push in the third,” O'Hara said.

The Richmond Hill, Ontario native upped his point total to 20 following Friday's victory.

“Pretty high,” O'Hara said on his confidence level. “Just got to stick to it, just trying to keep building during the week at practices, that's the biggest thing."

Dans Locmelis (goal, assist), Aydar Suniev (goal, assist), Lucas Mercuri (two assists), and Linden Alger (two assists) all recorded multi-point nights for the Minutemen.

UMass (6-5-2) began the bout with all the momentum and translated it into 16 shots on the Crimson net throughout the first 20 minutes. Somehow, the Minutemen failed to find twine, keeping Harvard afloat.

Suniev secured the first goal of the night, sweeping in a rebound after O'Hara's initial shot from the slot was stopped, at 2:59 of the second period. The left-shot winger picked up his team-leading ninth goal of the season to put UMass on top, 1-0.

The Crimson (2-3-1) took advantage of a couple of lucky bounces to quickly go ahead, 2-1 later on. A Harvard dump-in took a wacky bounce off the glass and went right to the Minutemen's apron of the goal, before Marek Hejduk fired it into the net, tying the game, 1-1.

Twenty-three seconds later, Mick Thompson's shot from the slot hit off a UMass defenseman and past Michael Hrabal (37 saves), putting the Minutemen behind after a flawless first frame.

“I just asked them to get back to playing the right way,” Carvel said. “The focus tonight was to come out and have a strong start. We hadn't won a home game. We had a hell of a start, we should've been 4-0 after the first period. There's a little bit of human nature involved. They come in and I just asked them to stay true to the way we're playing and first shift, we start cheating the game.”

The second stanza was the complete reversal in shots as Harvard had 22 to UMass' 8.

The Minutemen went back to their good habits in the third, led by O'Hara's equalizer at 1:56. UMass' 6-foot, 183-pound winger went to the front of the net and was all alone to redirect a Kennedy O'Connor point shot into the net.

Less than five minutes later on the power play, O'Hara deked around a Crimson defender at the attacking blue line, then ripped a shot on goal, which Koskenvuo kicked right out to Locmelis. The Bruins draft pick one-timed it into the open cage, putting UMass back in the lead at 3-2.

“I just feel like we're shooting a lot of pucks and the rebounds are coming our way,” Locmelis said. “[We're] getting in front of the goalie.”

Jack Musa replicated O'Hara's first strike, tipping in an Alger shot from distance, which turned into the eventual game winner at 4-2.

O'Hara added an insurance marker with a beautiful top-corner shot, 43 seconds after Musa's goal, for UMass' fifth and final tally.

The Crimson scored with under a minute remaining, on a goal from Joe Miller, but the Minutemen had enough of a cushion to finish out the contest victorious.

“I don't think I've ever coached a game where we dominated the first period so badly and got dominated in the second period,” Carvel said. “The issue to me was we played that well and didn't have a goal to show for it. I think our guys took our foot off the gas and started cheating the game.

“Cole O'Hara, another outstanding effort by him,” Carvel said. “I thought Michael Hrabal was outstanding in net. I thought our defense showed a little young, immature decisions at times. I thought we worked our way away from that but they are young, they're going to have some off-nights. It's good to see us score five goals again, that was our issue.”

UMass will host now Vermont on Sunday, with puck drop set for 3 p.m. at the Mullins Center