AMHERST — Season-opening sweep? Check.
The No. 15 UMass hockey team beat Northern Michigan, 4-1, on Sunday afternoon to take the weekend series against the Wildcats at the Mullins Center by a combined score of 9-4.
Sunday’s follow up featured two more points from junior Jack Musa (after the top-line winger posted three in Saturday’s victory), and a 32-save, shutdown performance from junior netminder Michael Hrabal as UMass earned its’ first 2-0-0 start since 2018-19.
“I expected a much more even game tonight and that’s what we got,” Minutemen head coach Greg Carvel said. “But it’s hard to get sweeps. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing and I give our guys credit. It’s hard to keep that momentum going and pull off a sweep. Northern Michigan played us tough this weekend, but very proud of our guys.”
Sophomore Daniel Jencko scored the game’s opening strike on UMass’ first power play of the afternoon. The Slovakian made quick work of a Minutemen faceoff win, unleashing a rocket toward NMU goalie William Gramme for the tally at five minutes, 43 seconds of the first period.
Jencko is UMass’ second-most prolific returner, in terms of goals scored, behind Musa, and showcased why with Sunday’s quick-release goal.
“Yesterday we were struggling on the power play so we just need to get pucks to the net,” Jencko said. “I tried it today and it worked.”
The Minutemen went 0-for-4 on the man-advantage on Saturday.
“He’s got a great skill level and he’s a smart player and he needs to be a really reliable player for us,” Carvel said of Jencko. “He needs to give us offense and be a good defensive player. We’ll get him there but there’s some room for growth.”
UMass’ second goal came nearly two periods later as freshman Landon Nycz found the back of the net for his first career goal. Nycz took space down the left half-wall and sent an unassuming shot on goal that somehow beat Gramme clean and in at 19:24 of the middle period.
Nycz’s goal served as a belated birthday present as the Detroit native turned 18 years old on Saturday.
“It’s been a whirlwind, but it’s been really fun,” Nycz said. “Everyone here has been super accepting and [has] helped me out a lot.”
The expected 2026 NHL draft pick has fit in nicely on the Minutemen’s second D-pair, beside Red Wings draftee Larry Keenan. Nycz added it’s been “very easy” playing with the sophomore blueliner.
“He does a lot of things heavy,” Carvel said. “You saw a couple times this weekend, a lot of guys go through him and that’s our job to help him with that part of our game, to be a better defender. But he’s got natural ability that is pretty special.”
The Wildcats cut the UMass advantage down to one goal with less than three minutes to go in the game. NMU’s Caiden Gault broke Hrabal’s shutout bid with the 2-1 goal at 17:19.
Needing to preserve its lead, Carvel threw Musa out on the ice in a Wildcat extra-attacker situation and the Orange Park, Florida native delivered the knock-out blow with the 3-1 empty-netter from the neutral zone.
Musa finished the first weekend of games with five points for the Minutemen.
“We need him to have a huge impact,” Carvel said. “That was my discussions with him. He’s been an excellent player for us, but now he needs to be the go-to player. He needs to have points every night.”
Freshman Lukas Klecka scored another UMass empty-net-goal to bring the final to 4-1.
Despite taking two ‘Ls’, Gramme was the best player of the series as the Wildcats goalie concluded with 107 saves.
With two games now in the books, the Minutemen will turn their attention to Stonehill (0-2-0) for its first road game of the campaign on Friday, Oct. 10.
“I think the first game is always pretty hard for your legs, to get your legs moving,” Jencko said. “Yesterday there was also a lot of fans here, so the atmosphere was different. Today our bench really helped the team going and I think that was the difference.”
Puck drop for the contest against the Skyhawks, which will be played at the Boston Bruins’ practice rink, Warrior Ice Arena, is set for 7 p.m.
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