The Massachusetts hockey team beat Army West Point 3-1 on Friday evening at the Mullins Center. The victory marks the 31st matchup between the Minutemen (7-6-2, 1-4-2 Hockey East) and the Black Knights (5-9-0, 5-6-0 Atlantic Hockey America), with a program record of 18-13 in favor of Army.
The UMass offense outshot the Black Knights 42-25, only allowing four shots on goal in the second period.
“[UMass’] offense just kind of controlled the puck, so we didn’t get many opportunities,” Army head coach Brian Riley said. “I think our lack of offense was more about their offensive skill [in the second period].”
During the Minutemen powerplay, Army captain Michael Sacco picked up a loose puck around center ice and started breaking towards the goal for a one-on-one against UMass goaltender Michael Hrabal. Kenny Connors raced to catch up to Sacco and tapped the puck away to prevent any scoring opportunities.
“I really liked our game tonight,” head coach Greg Carvel said. “The kids played a solid 60 minutes. We talked about playing a game with integrity and this group is doing a real good job playing the game the right way.”
Francesco Dell’Elce netted the first goal for UMass with just under two minutes left in the first period. Army failed to clear the puck, and Jack Musa passed the puck from behind the goal. Dans Locmelis tapped the puck back to Dell’Elce, who sniped a shot past Black Knights goaltender Evan Szary’s glove into the back of the net to give the Minutemen the lead.
“I was just skating into open space and [Musa] made a nice pass in the slot so I just tried to get on that quick and it went in,” Dell’Elce said.
The Minutemen got two too many players on the ice penalties in the first 13 minutes of the game. The first penalty came 46 seconds in, but UMass successfully kept the puck out of its zone, preventing Army from setting up any real formation. The Black Knights tried to push the puck past Hrabal’s left side, but he positioned his leg to stop any scoring attempts.
Locmelis was called for a goaltender interference penalty at 9:43 in the third period. Army forward Barron Woodring broke Hrabal’s shutout on that power play goal at 10:18. Nils Forselius passed to Woodring, who was standing right in front of the crease, and Woodring sent the puck between both his and Hrabal’s legs into the net. The goaltender finished the night with 24 saves in net.
Jack Musa led the Minutemen with eight shots on goal and two assists. Musa sent the puck up the boards to Suniev, who passed to Cole O’Hara for a power play goal. O’Hara almost had another scoring opportunity on a fast break, but Pierce Patterson got called for a tripping penalty, giving UMass another power play.
“I just love the way he plays, I love his compete, love his skill set,” Carvel said on Musa. “He’s hard to play against and I won’t be surprised if he starts filling the net and getting a lot of points here at the second half [of the season].”
Freshman Daniel Jençko netted the third goal for the Minutemen with six seconds left with a man up advantage. Both Army and UMass killed two penalties out of four and three respectively.
The Minutemen have a home-and-home series next against Boston University. Puck drop for the first game of the series is set for 6 p.m. on Dec. 7 at Boston University.
“The last couple of games we haven’t really been scoring, so we need to produce more on the offensive side, so shooting more pucks will help us do that, and we had three tonight which is good,” Musa said.
Devin Lippman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @devinlippman.
