The Massachusetts hockey team took the ice at the Mullins Center for the first time in 2024 on Friday night and treated its fans to an exciting but ultimately disappointing 3-3 tie against the University of Connecticut. For the third straight game after the holiday break, 60 minutes of hockey wasn’t enough for the Minutemen (11-5-3, 4-3-2 Hockey East) as they took another game to extra time, eventually conceding in the shootout.

UConn’s (8-9-1, 4-6 HEA)  Jake Flynn tallied the shootout winner in the fourth round with a smooth backhander over goaltender Cole Brady’s outstretched blocker. Michael Cameron was UMass’ final hope of staying alive, but the sophomore ripped his shot off the right post, sending Husky netminder Ethan Haider into celebration as he met with his team at center ice, one HEAz point richer than their competitors.

“Tonight’s game felt very similar to our last two games, another game in overtime, but another game that I thought we were slightly the better team,” head coach Greg Carvel said.

After 40 minutes of back-and-forth hockey to start the game, UMass found itself down by a goal after two periods. As they have done all season however, the Minutemen fought back in the third period and didn’t let the Huskies ice the game away.

Just under eight minutes into the final frame, UMass tied the game at two when Linden Alger dumped the puck into the offensive zone. The puck took a funny hop off the end boards and found its way onto Cole O’Hara’s stick in the corner. O’Hara quickly recognized his linemate Kenny Connors breaking through a defender in front of the net and flung the puck towards him. Connors made no mistake and jammed the puck past UConn netminder Ethan Haider, and just like that, the slate was cleaned.

“Two guys that we needed to be better are starting to be better,” Carvel said. “Cole (O’Hara) had the puck around the net a lot tonight. I would’ve liked to see him shoot the puck in overtime instead of trying to make that play because he can shoot and score.”

“Kenny’s always been an important player for us, but he’s starting to put the puck in the net for us and that’s important. If we can get that line being offensive consistently it’s going to help us a lot.”

Momentum was swinging in UMass’ direction and peaked when Aydar Suniev sniped one home on the power play with less than seven minutes to play in regulation, giving UMass the lead back.

Here's Suniev's eighth of the year from @RyanUfko and @Jackmusa19 that put us in front 👇#NewMass X #Flagship 🚩 pic.twitter.com/AxNbAQp0xj

— UMass Hockey (@UMassHockey) January 6, 2024

“He scored a goal, could’ve scored a couple,” Carvel said. “He’s one of our more talented players so he’s out there a lot in overtime and on the power play and he’s a difference maker. His game’s coming where I’m trusting him more, that I can put him out there in 3-on-3 and he’s more likely going to win the game for us than lose it.”

Just when things looked well for the Minutemen, the Huskies decided that they weren’t going to let UMass ride off into the sunset to open up their home 2024 slate of games.

Taylor Makar took a penalty for high-sticking in the final three minutes of the third period, giving UConn a golden opportunity to strike back.

Hudson Schandor put the finishing touches on a  tic-tac-toe goal from his teammates Samu Salminen and Jake Richard. The three formed a triangle by the net and caught the UMass penalty unit off guard with three quick passes and a one-time finish to send a silence over the Mullins Center crowd.

“That’s the one thing this team needs; they need to learn how to win,” Carvel said. “We take a penalty; I think an unnecessary penalty to give them a power play. We didn’t do a very good job on the kill obviously.”

This matchup signifies the beginning of what will be 16 straight Hockey East matchups to finish the season for the Minutemen.

“Every game is going to be tight, competitive,” Carvel said of the schedule moving forward. “You’re either going to have to learn how to hold a one goal lead or fight back from a goal down like we did.”

The next test for UMass is a home and home series with Merrimack with puck drop on Friday, Jan.12 at 7 p.m. at the Mullins Center.

“I like the way our team competes, I like the way we played hard for the most part, a lot of positives,” Carvel said.