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UMASS-NEWMASS 2025-2026

K

kahunak

Member
College hockey is kicking off and I am excited. UMASS is #15 in the USCHO poll and #6 in the Hockey East.

My guess is that this year will be like last year-start slow but gel as the year goes on. Lots of new faces, loss of lots of goals, and some pillars to build upon. The one thing that is clear is that Carvel is stocking up on big bodies. Some heavy hockey in the future?

GO UMASS!
 
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Fun game to watch. It looks like we have a goalie.😳

I would expect to see the freshman goaltender Sunday since it's early in the season. I just hope he doesn't have to face 70 shots. You guys look like you could make some noise again this year.
 
70 shots on net????...and only 5 goals (one EN). Either NM has one absolutely fantastic goalie or UMASS is the gang that couldn't shoot straight! Actually, an encouraging start for the Minutemen. 70 shots on goal is usually more than they would get in a three-game series. Freshmen contributed. See what happens this afternoon but a good start with lots of new players.
 
NMUFAN said:
Fun game to watch. It looks like we have a goalie.😳
UM does not have a Freshman goalie. A junior with 6 games experience over 2 years and a sophomore with No experience. Next years commits include 2 goalie who have already been drafted.
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NMUFAN said:
I would expect to see the freshman goaltender Sunday since it's early in the season. I just hope he doesn't have to face 70 shots. You guys look like you could make some noise again this year.
Click to expand...
UM
 
Great start to the year with two good wins over NM. Looks like the freshmen will contribute. The HE schedule will be daunting. The next 7 games will be interesting and I think it will become a bit clearer whether UMASS can be a contender. I am looking forward to the Cornell series- they always play UMASS tough!
 
Another early season win. I like that Carvel scheduled relatively easy games to start the season so all the new faces can start to gel. Nestrasil with the hat trick is a great sign- hope he can keep it going. Looks like he will be a one year player though if he can score like that in the HE. All good things so far.
 
I caught the first game. It's hard to say much based on that miniscule sample size but a couple of things stood out.

First of all, Vaclav Nestrasil is the best forward I've ever seen in a Minuteman uniform. He's big, fast, skilled. Plays hard both ends. He's going to be a stud. And he has great chemistry with his former USHL teammate Jack Galanek.

The other standout was Landon Nycz. He just turned 18, there is some noise that he could be another 1st round pick next spring.

Jack Musa looks good. Good chemistry with the Michigan State transfer Mikey DeAngelo.

Last, Hrabal gives up an awful lot of soft goals. He cleaned it up a bit the second half of last season. But it's been a bit of a problem since he got here.

That's all I have. Looking forward to the Cornell series in a couple of weeks. Getting ahead of myself, I know.

Out.
 
Northeastern and Bentley this weekend. Always concerned about Bentley since they seem to upset teams all the time. Both games are in Amherst, so I have a good vibe about this weekend. Lets see if the freshmen can keep contributing.
 
The boys are a mess at the moment. Not too surprising, Carvel teams tend to take a couple of months to get it together. I missed both games this weekend but it looks like he's still messing around with the both the forward lines and d pairings. What was supposed to be a strength, the defense, is turning out to be a sloppy problem. And while Hrabel makes highlight reel saves, he's still giving up softies. He has had trouble picking up wristers from the circle, even when he's not getting screened.

Nestrasil sounds like he's continuing to impress. Potential HEA ROY candidate there.

I'm not sure they are ready for even a lower-tier NCHC team right now, but Omaha here they come.

The Greenfield Recorder paywall is up this year, and the Collegian has better student writers this year, so the recaps are from the Collegian:

dailycollegian.com

UMass hockey drops Hockey East opener to Northeastern

The No. 11 Massachusetts hockey team fell to the Northeastern Huskies 4-2 on Friday night in front of a sold-out Mullins Center crowd. The Minutemen (3-1, 0-1 Hockey East) struggled to find any sort of offensive rhythm in their conference opener after giving up double-digit shot totals to the...
dailycollegian.com
dailycollegian.com

Turnovers loom large in UMass hockey’s loss to Northeastern

Turnovers proved costly for the Massachusetts hockey team in its loss to Northeastern. Three of the four goals scored by the Huskies ( 2-1, 1-0 Hockey East) came directly from UMass (3-1, 0-1 HEA) turnovers, and sloppy stickhandling throughout the game made it difficult for the Minutemen to...
dailycollegian.com

dailycollegian.com

UMass hockey scrapes by with 5-4 win over Bentley

The No. 11 Massachusetts hockey team closed out the weekend with an overtime win against Bentley, after a disorganized 60 minutes of regulation play that left much to be desired from a Minutemen (4-1, 0-1 Hockey East) team that had strong opening performances to their season. “There’s no bad...
dailycollegian.com
dailycollegian.com

Depth scoring lifts UMass hockey over Bentley

The No. 11 Massachusetts hockey team needed every ounce of offense it could muster to defeat Bentley 5-4 on Saturday. Aside from Václav Nestrašil’s goal in the first period, every tally for UMass (4-1, 0-1 Hockey East) came from either a bottom-six forward or a defenseman. With ten minutes left...
dailycollegian.com
 
Not the weekend I was hoping for. Loss to Northeastern and OT for Bentley leaves me concerned. Goaltending is not what I expected at all. Third year in net and I thought Hrabel would be a shutout machine-not happening. Looks like a repeat of last year where it takes Carvel a while to figure things out. Not too optimistic with the Omaha games coming up. Freshmen are contributing.
 
Waste of a sellout last Friday.

Ah well. Omaha has only played 2 games so far, and have restocked their roster as much or more than the Minutemen. So it would be nice to see them come out flying again again. Haven’t seen that since week one.

Everyone except Cam Dunn has made it onto a game day lineup sheet. Dunn is an interesting case, he entered the portal last spring, stayed in it quite a while before returning. Carvel didn’t have to take him back. The next 4 weekends are going to be brutal, I don’t expect him to appear anytime soon.

A split here would be okay, but let’s think sweep. I don’t know if they are up to it yet.
 
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