In its first non-conference game in nearly a month, the No. 18 Massachusetts hockey team fell to Army West Point 5-4 on Saturday. The Minutemen (8-8, 2-5 Hockey East) dropped to .500 after racing out to a 3-0 start. With one series remaining before the new year, they are still searching for cohesion up and down the lineup.
UMass tied the game at 3-3 and 4-4 but could not find the next goal on either occasion. Just over a minute after the Black Knights (4-8-3, 1-8-2 Atlantic Hockey) took a 3-2 lead, Nick VanTassell scored the Minutemen’s third goal of the day off a gritty net-front drive on the rush.
Lucas Ölvestad charged up the left wing deep into Army’s zone with about 14 minutes left in the second period. The senior defenseman’s centering pass deflected off Jack Musa, who was streaking through the slot, and fluttered towards the back post. VanTassell used his 6-foot-5 frame to guide the puck into the back of the net for his second goal of the season.
Václav Nestrašil scored UMass’ fourth goal, and his second of the game, 23 seconds after the Black Knights’ Barron Woodring scored to make it 4-3 in favor of Army with two minutes remaining in the second period. Musa and Jack Galanek assisted on a crisp passing sequence on the power play.
The Minutemen went 2-for-3 on the power play, with Nestrašil also scoring the other goal to put UMass up 2-0 in the first period off an assist by Daniel Jenčko from the point. The Minutemen are now converting 26.8% of their opportunities on the man advantage so far this season, good for seventh in the nation.
“[The power play] got two goals,” head coach Greg Carvel said. “It’s just playing hockey. Nothing that we drew up. The second goal was just good hockey players playing hockey, making plays.”
Owen Murray scored his first of the season to give UMass a 1-0 advantage with 13 minutes left in the first period. The senior defenseman received a short pass from Nestrašil after a faceoff win by Galanek, picked his spot, and ripped a wrister past Jacob Biron in net.
Murray’s goal came after significant changes to the Minutemen’s defensive pairings for this matchup against the Black Knights. Murray and Ölvestad were split up after being together all of this season and the second half of last season, with Murray now paired alongside Francesco Dell’Elce and Ölvestad with Coleson Hanrahan. Landon Nycz and Larry Keenan formed the third pair.
“[I was looking for] combinations that work,” Carvel said. “[When] you’re not winning, you try new things. For the [defensive] pairs, just trying to see if different pairs look better.”
Army took its 5-4 lead with three-and-a-half seconds left in the second period, capping off a four-goal period for the Black Knights. Brent Keefer received a pass from Pierce Patterson at the offensive blue line, then glided in on a 2-on-1. The junior whipped a wrister past Michael Hrabal’s blocker for his second of the season.
The goal knocked Hrabal out of the game, and the junior ended his return to action with nine saves on 14 shots.
Odd-man rushes and breakaways were an issue for UMass, with most of the Black Knights’ sparse chances coming in high-danger situations.
“We’ve got some young defensemen that I thought needed to stay above the puck and gave them some odd-man rushes that didn’t help [Hrabal],” Carvel said. “Unfortunately, the chances that [Army] got—they didn’t have a ton in the game, but they were high-end chances.”
The Minutemen play their final series of 2024 against Northeastern at Matthews Arena in Boston on Dec. 6 and 7. Puck drop on Saturday is at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Sunday, and both matchups can be streamed on ESPN+.
https://dailycollegian.com/2025/11/umass-hockey-falls-to-army-west-point-5-4/
