The Massachusetts club hockey team is off to a strong start this season, winning five of its first eight games.

After losing their first game to William Patterson University, the Minutemen (5-3) went on to win four straight games, including wins over Boston College and Boston University on the road.

Ranked 15th in the Northeast Region, UMass wants to continue to keep these winning ways going. UMass coach Scott MacKay believes his team is more than capable of bringing back a Northeast Collegiate Hockey Association championship.

“We have won some good games so far, and have a very strong team this season with a great amount of potential,” MacKay said. “I’m looking forward to the rest of the season, and hopefully receiving another NCHA conference championship and a trip to the Regions.”

The offensive effort for the Minutemen has been led by junior captain Mark Joyce, who has tallied seven goals and three assists so far. Also contributing to the success is junior Kevin Joyce and freshman Miguel Rojas, who each have seven points total.

MacKay said his younger players will need to meet the expectations they set for themselves before the season started if the team wants to continue to win their games.

“They looked outstanding in tryouts, and set very high expectations for themselves this season,” MacKay said. “We hope this expectation level is met, and look forward to seeing them progress as hockey players.”

Some of the players mentioned by MacKay were starting goaltender Luke Lepine, defenseman Brian Collins and forwards Peter Kelly and Ryan Daigle, as well as Rojas.

While MacKay praised the play of these four freshmen, he said his young squad could also be exposed against better teams.

“The younger kids don’t have the big game experience they need to gain because every team at this level, especially the teams in the Hockey East, have the potential to be just as strong as us on any given day,” MacKay said.

He did, however, note the fact that his team has formed great chemistry very quickly, which could be very important as the season progresses.

There has been no shortage of offense for UMass, scoring a goal in every game so far.

The Minutemen have scored five goals twice this season, as well as a six-goal outburst in a 6-3 win over Providence last Friday night. Lepine has been doing a great job on the defensive end of the ice, giving up an average of 2.25 goals a game in goal.

Weekend preview

This upcoming weekend for the Minutemen consists of two games, with one being on Friday night and one on Saturday.

This Friday Connecticut visits the Mullins Center to take on UMass at 9 p.m. in a rivalry game.

Saturday’s game, on the other hand, has a bit more meaning to it.

The game is against Northeastern and will be played at the MassMutual Center in Springfield in the annual “Benefit for the Shriners Hospital” game. UMass has adopted the Springfield Shriners Hospital for Children as its charity partner and money from tickets purchased for this event will be donated to the hospital.

“While we can’t give them a pile of money, we can give them free advertising and exposure,” MacKay said in regards to the hospital.

Jason Kates can be reached at [email protected].