CHESTNUT HILL – Hey fellas have you heard the news? The No. 16 UMass hockey team played the role of heartbreaker in its 3-2 win against No. 1 Boston College, Friday night at Conte Forum.

The Minutemen scored 1 minute, 14 seconds into the game on Jack Musa’s sixth goal in five games and never trailed, sending the Eagles to their first two-game losing streak this season.

“Big win for us tonight, but I think it’s just the next step for our group,” UMass head coach Greg Carvel said. “That’s six out of our seven, we’ve won six of our last seven. We’ve beaten good teams on the road all year and I think this was a real good confidence builder again for our group. We’re feeling it and I think the difference for us down the stretch is going to be Michael Hrabal. He was tonight, he was outstanding.”

Friday’s victory also marked the first time UMass beat the top-ranked team in the country since 2022 when they swept Denver in the first two games of the season at the Mullins Center.

Hrabal was the Minutemen’s best player against the offensively loaded BC squad, as the sophomore goalie recorded 37 saves, including a partial breakaway stop on the Eagles’ Gabe Perreault late in the third period.

“He made some great saves,” UMass freshman defenseman Larry Keenan said. “Definitely built confidence and momentum in our direction whenever he made a good save like that.”

If not for Hrabal, junior Cole O’Hara would’ve been the Minutemen’s player of the game. O’Hara had two points to increase his season total to 41, with a huge last-second goal during the second period highlighting the winger’s performance.

“I don’t know how many games we are here, 24, 25 games, and I don’t know how many games he doesn’t have a point this year,” Carvel said about O’Hara. “He had two more points tonight and he’s probably top three in the country. He’s having a hell of a year, he doesn’t get a lot of recognition, but he should, he’s consistent. He’s blocking shots at the end of the game too. A lot of kids leading the country in scoring aren’t often eating pucks to help your team win.”

Musa, O’Hara, Lucas Mercuri and Kenny Connors all extended their point streaks to seven games in the process, while Connors netted one with the Eagles net empty to set the UMass program record for consecutive games with a goal (six).

Musa’s opening tally came about on an individual effort right in front of BC goalie Jacob Fowler (26 saves). Musa got his own rebound then roofed the puck with a backhander to give the Minutemen crucial momentum early in the contest.

“That’s huge,” O’Hara said. “Nice pass by [Mercuri] to feed him in the slot and Jack buried but it helped us get some momentum there.”

After a faceoff violation penalty by Mercuri sent UMass to the penalty kill, the Eagles evened the score on a backdoor strike from Perreault at 11:28 of the first to make it 1-1.

The second period saw the Minutemen squander four man-advantage opportunities, however O’Hara’s buzzer-beater with 1.1 seconds left gave UMass the lead again at 2-1. BC failed to convert on a golden chance against Hrabal, then the Minutemen came right up the ice and scored on a laser from O’Hara from atop the right faceoff dot on a goal that stunned the Eagles crowd.

“I heard the bench screaming, which was nice, so I knew I could take a [second] and shoot it and put it where I want it so that was good,” O’Hara said.

In the third period, UMass’ penalty kill – which finished the night 5-for-6 – came up clutch as the Eagles got an extended 5-on-3, but could not break through.

“To kill a 5-on-3, we were in here last year and ahead by a goal and they put us down 5-on-3… the kids did an excellent job taking care of business,” Carvel said.

Connors eventually floated a lengthy backhander into the empty BC net at 18:24, then 1:10 later, Amherst’s Ryan Leonard scored for the Eagles to bring it to the 3-2 final.

Friday’s result furthered a pattern of key road wins for the Minutemen this season. UMass has beaten Providence, Boston University, UConn and now BC – all teams above them in the standings – on their home ice.

“I think we like when people are betting against us, when we’re supposedly the underdogs,” Keenan said. “From our point of view, we’re here to play and consider ourselves a great team and we play like it on the road.”

Saturday’s rematch is set for 7 p.m. at Mullins Center.