PROVIDENCE, R.I. – In a chippy Saturday night battle, the Massachusetts hockey team came out on top, 5-1, to split its series with Providence College. This is the Minutemen’s (5-5-2, 1-3-2 Hockey East) first HEA win of the season.
Head coach Greg Carvel has been looking to re-spark offense, and with only 19 healthy players, UMass’ second battle against Providence (7-2-2, 5-1-2 HEA) saw some changes to the lineup and some positive progress in the offensive zone.
“Outstanding, outstanding effort, a full 60 minutes. I thought everything came together [on Saturday from] goaltending from Michael [Hrabal], our backend was great, and our forwards, I thought they created a lot of offense,” Carvel said. “Shorthanded, you’re down five or six bodies … The guys came out with a crescendo.”
After a strong opening period, the Minutemen hit an offensive lull up until the last two minutes of the second period and were forced to exhaust themselves in their own offensive zone. The Friars held UMass to five shots on goal while putting up 19 of their own on Hrabal, though unsuccessfully putting one in the back of the net.
Junior transfer Lucas Ölvestad capitalized on one of UMass’ five shots with a lucky tap on goaltender Zachary Borgiel’s left side from Aydar Suniev and Cole O’Hara before the end of the second.
From the right circle, Ölvestad struck the puck, hitting the net’s post. A lucky bounce off the post put the puck behind Borgiel who sealed his own fate as his back leg tapped the puck past the goal line and put UMass up 3-1.
At the conclusion of the second period, top-liner Trevor Connelly was charged with a cross-checking game misconduct. This took away the Friars’ one-minute man-advantage to open the third period, allowing UMass to breathe heading into the locker room. Though unable to capitalize on the remaining four-minute power play, the Minutemen’s spark continued to burst.
This flame, though, erupted from the start of the night in the first period. Roughly four minutes into the first period, graduate captain Linden Alger opened scoring for the Minutemen. Off the faceoff from the right circle, junior forward Kenny Connors won the battle and Alger found himself with the puck at the edge of the circle. With a second to spare, he felt the puck to set up a straight shot down the middle and behind Borgiel.
Not long after on UMass’ first power play of the night on Graham Gamache’s faceoff violation penalty, Suniev got back into his offense-dominant groove from earlier in the season.
Seconds into the power play from the faceoff, Connors and O’Hara passed the puck over to Suniev planted just above the left circle. The forward collected it and sent a quick shot towards Borgiel. As the puck tapped the right post and swung around the net, the Minutemen found themselves up 2-0 before the halfway mark of the first period.
Both Suniev and O’Hara finished the night with three points each. The sophomore scored his second goal in the third period from the junior forward and Dans Locmelis. Locmelis also scored his second goal of the season to complete a five-goal night for the Minutemen.
“[O’Hara and I] had chemistry [on Saturday],” Suniev said. “Our power play was kind of buzzing.”
Providence, however, was determined to put itself on the board and tallied the third goal of the first period from Connor Kelley before being halted by the Minutemen for the rest of the night.
Forward John Mustard wrapped around the back of Hrabal’s net before quickly passing to Kelley in the left circle. The Friars’ assistant captain fired a wrist shot on Hrabal’s right side that sounded the first Providence goal and cut UMass’ lead in half. Forward Hudson Malinoski tallied the second assist on the goal.
Hrabal ended his night with 34 saves on 35 shots in a messy, physical game with 13 total penalties from both sides of the puck.
“We talked about it before,” O’Hara said of playing chippy games. “These are the kinds of games [when] we come together. You’re down bodies, you got to give a little more.”
UMass heads back to the Mullins Center for Friday, Nov. 22’s matchup against Harvard University. Puck drop against the Crimson Tide is set for 7 p.m. and the game can be watched live on ESPN+.
“[I] couldn’t be prouder of this group and I’m hoping this will be a spring forward for us,” Carvel said.
Sydney Ciano can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter/X @SydneyCiano.
