DURHAM, N.H. — When the going gets tough, the 2025-26 UMass hockey team gets going.
The Minutemen clinched second place in Hockey East after their 4-2 win against New Hampshire at the Whittemore Center on Saturday night.
Three months ago, UMass hockey was in last place in Hockey East and so far out of position for an NCAA at-large bid that scientists would struggle to see it with the Hubble Telescope.
Fast forward to their regular-season finale, Saturday’s triumph jumped the Minutemen up to the regular-season runners-up spot in the conference standings, plus 14th in the NPI, a much more comfortable spot for an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament.
“This team, to climb up the ladder from Jan. 15 and [Saturday] we finished the game in second place, is an unbelievable statement for this group of kids,” UMass head coach Greg Carvel said. “That climb up the ladder was much like the game tonight: not pretty. We don’t blow teams out. We find ways to win. We’re an extremely good defensive team with a great goaltender.”
Larry Keenan, Daniel Jencko, Matthew Wilde and Jack Galanek scored for the Minutemen against the Wildcats, while Michael Hrabal totaled 26 saves as UMass closed out the campaign at 21-12-1.
“It really shows that we battle through adversity,” Keenan said on the Minutemen’s ascension. “Starting at Christmastime, last place, you never would’ve thought being in second was a possibility.”
Keenan’s seventh goal of the season was another beauty as the Detroit Red Wings draft pick went end-to-end after blocking a shot, before beating UNH goalie Kyle Chauvette on UMass’ first shot of the game, which also occurred during a short-handed situation, at 5:14 of the first.
The Minutemen’s opening goal counted as their fourth short-handed strike of the season.
“Blocking shots, first and foremost, and then taking advantage of an odd-man rush,” Keenan said on UMass’ recent scoring surge while down a man.
Less than five minutes later, the Wildcats received a fortuitous bounce and evened the score at 1-1 on the equalizer from Marty Lavins. Hrabal didn’t field a dump-in behind his net cleanly and UNH quickly capitalized.
However, Jencko made sure to send the Minutemen into the first intermission out front with a power-play one-timer at 19:04. The Slovakian sophomore made no mistake on his sixth marker of the season, which gave UMass a 2-1 edge.
“It’s great to see [Jencko] heating up,” Carvel said. “We could see it coming. I’ve been waiting for a while. We’ve been waiting for it and he’s starting to feel it.”
Jencko has now scored twice in the Minutemen’s last four games.
Both teams traded man-advantage opportunities during the second period, but the next puck didn’t cross the goal line until less than five minutes into the third.
Kristaps Skrastins tied the game 2-2 with a bullet from the top of the left circle that may have changed direction in front of Hrabal, immediately after a UNH faceoff win at 4:52.
Despite the Wildcats goal, UMass didn’t waver and continued to value the puck in its defensive zone and make smart plays through the neutral zone, which ultimately led to Wilde’s first goal since arriving in Amherst.
The former RIT product banked in a shot off Chauvette from behind the goal line on a bit of a broken play that made it 3-2 at 14:42.
“I went in and tried to throw it to Mikey [DeAngelo] and then I saw the goalie was off his post so I tried to bank it in and it went in,” Wilde said.
Wilde was a prolific scorer across his two seasons with the Tigers (37 career goals), but hadn’t found the same success with the Minutemen. Wilde can officially remove the monkey off his back following Saturday’s eventual game-winner.
“It feels good to contribute,” Wilde said. “It’s been a long year, but I’ve learned a lot and I’m definitely happy to contribute at this point in the year.”
Some controversy surrounded UMass’ third goal as a Wildcat appeared to take a hit-from-behind earlier in the play, but after a major review, the Minutemen’s goal stood, much to the displeasure of the Whittemore Center crowd.
Galanek poured salt into the wound with an empty-netter at 19:10 of the final frame that spanned the length of the rink, bringing it to a 4-2 final.
“I’m extremely proud of this group,” Carvel said. “We’re doing things the right way.”
It appears UMass will play the winner of Northeastern and UNH in the quarterfinal round at Mullins Center on Saturday, March 14.