BOSTON — The Massachusetts hockey team recorded its second straight shutout with a 5-0 win over Northeastern on Friday night.
The first three goals for the Minutemen (10-8-2, 3-5-2 Hockey East) were all early goals to start each period. Daniel Jenčko opened up scoring for UMass early to give the Minutemen a momentum boost to start the game. On a Lucas Mercuri pass in front of the net, the sophomore caught the puck and added a shot on goaltender Cameron Whitehead’s left blocker side, but the netminder let out the rebound. Jencko quickly caught the rebound and tapped it past Whitehead for a 1-0 UMass lead just over five minutes into the game.
To start the second period, the Minutemen quickly added another goal on the board, this time 46 seconds into the frame. As Dans Locmelis and Jack Musa skated down the ice, they found Cole O’Hara skating behind them. The junior from the slot on a Musa pass sent a wrist shot past Whitehead to score another early goal.
With less than three minutes taken off the board in the third period, Lucas Mercuri tucked the puck in net to give UMass an insurance goal.
“It feels good, it gives you confidence in each period and it keeps the momentum,” head coach Greg Carvel said. “We did a good job keeping the crowd out of the game tonight.”
Just over a minute after Jencko’s goal in the first period, the Minutemen were put on a power play after Cam O’Neill was tripped by James Fisher. After a shaky start to the man advantage, UMass found its footing with three shots on net from O’Hara, Mercuri and Kenny Connors.
UMass didn’t get another extra man advantage until there was over two minutes left in the second period. During the power play, in the offensive zone, Aydar Suniev was tripped up by a Husky (6-10-3, 1-7-3 HEA) but after review, the refs concluded it wasn’t a penalty. The second period power play was their last one of the game.
Throughout the second period, Northeastern looked to find its footing after a tough period defensively and offensively. The Huskies put 17 shots on goaltender Michael Hrabal, finding ways through the UMass defense. A majority of the Huskies shots were far and weak shots, allowing Hrabal to make easy saves.
Hrabal ended his night with a shutout, totaling 41 saves through 60 minutes. His performance comes off his bronze medal winning performance in World Juniors just a week prior to Friday.
“World Juniors was fun, maybe gave me a little bit of confidence but it’s great to be back with the guys,” Hrabal said. “Great game, [the team] helped me so much, so good to be back.”
Despite a shaky second period from the Minutemen, they showed flashes of offense. Around the 15-minute mark, the first line had the best looks at net in the period. Ryan Lautenbach was putting shots on net all night and made one of his best shots of the night, almost tripping up the Northeastern goaltender near the crease. After Lautenbach, Mercuri attempted a shot on net.
With a zero on the board, the Huskies pulled their goaltender with three minutes left in the game. Less than a minute later, Suniev shot the puck from the neutral zone for a 4-0 lead. Then, just 11 seconds later, Locmelis caught the puck from the left side of net and spun around to pass to Musa. The sophomore easily tapped the puck in to cement a five-goal win for UMass.
“Very happy with the execution of the game plan [on Friday],” Carvel said. “The compete level was high all the way through the lineup. Love the way we played.”
The Minutemen will return home to Mullins Center for the second game of the series on Saturday, Jan. 11. Puck drop is set for 6:00 p.m. and can be streamed on NESN.
“We beat BU, Providence and we want to play like that every time, so we need to close out games,” Mercuri said. “We lost in the third period against BU, same thing against Cornell. We know that we can beat teams.”
Kayla Gregoire can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Kaygregoire.
