AMHERST – Jack Harvey scored the lone goal as the No. 19 Boston University hockey team shut out the University of Massachusetts, 1-0, Friday night at the Mullins Center.
The Terriers (10-8-1 overall) won for the fourth time in five games and moved to 7-5-0 in Hockey East.
“Just an overall really good effort coming out of the break,” BU coach Jay Pandolfo said. “You have to be comfortable playing in those games. As this season progresses here, it gets tighter and tighter. You have to be comfortable playing in one goal games.”
The Minutemen returned to the Mullins Center for the first time since late November and lost for the fourth time in five games in front of 4,036. UMass, which was ranked earlier in the season, dropped below .500 for the first time at 9-10-0 overall (2-7-0 Hockey East).
“It was kind of the game I was hoping for, a low scoring game,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said. “I challenged our group this week to be really good defensively. The whole team played defensive minded to keep a talented BU team to under two goals.”
Mikhail Yegorov made 18 saves for his first shutout of the season for BU. Sophomore defenseman Sascha Boumedienne anchored the BU defense.
The 18-year-old just helped Sweden capture gold, 4-2 over Czechia at the 2026 World Junior Championships in Minnesota on Monday.
“When you win something like that, you learn what it takes to win,” Pandolfo said. “I thought he did an excellent job for Sweden. … He was good tonight, just gives you a boost of confidence. He can certainly help our team moving forward here.”
UMass goalie Michael Hrabal stopped 29 shots in the loss. Hrabal missed six games in November with an injury, then allowed a combined eight goals in losses to Army and Northeastern before the break.
Against BU, the junior netminder stopped several shots in traffic, as well as a breakaway against Cole Eiserman.
“I felt very good,” Hrabal said. “It was great to be home (in Czechia) after three years, spending Christmas with my family. I’m very thankful for that. It’s do or die right now for us. We need to focus on every game. We need points; we need wins.”
UMass couldn’t get much at the net against the BU defense. The Minutemen got one shot past Yegorov, but defenseman Owen Mehlenbacher’s slapper rang the post early in the third.
“We need some goals,” said UMass freshman forward Vaclav Nestrasil, who won silver with Czechia at the World Championships. “For tomorrow we need some luck and if luck is on our side and we execute it’s going to be a better game for us.”
The Minutemen struggled in the faceoff circle, winning only 14 of 41 faceoffs (34 percent). The Minutemen lost center Mikey DeAngelo (sickness) in the first period, which left Jack Galanek, Jack Musa and Justin Kerr to take a majority of the faceoffs.
“We lose DeAngelo, Kerr is just returning from shoulder injury and he’s not his normal self, and BU’s talented players are usually pretty good on faceoffs,” Carvel said.
Boston University struck with 12 minutes, 11 seconds left in the second period. The pack made its way across the zone to defenseman Aiden Celebrini. The junior’s quick wrister was stopped by Hrabal, but the rebound came right to Harvey in front for the open-net goal, his sixth of the season.
“Just a rebound goal,” Hrabal said. “Need to work on that.”
The Terriers had their only power play in the second when Minuteman Bo Cosman was called for slashing fighting in the front of the BU net with 9:06 left.
A Sacha Boisvert shot on net was stopped by Hrabal, but the goalie let the rebound trickle to the weak side. This time the Minutemen cleared it out.
Moments after the penalty was killed, UMass wing Matthew Wilde raced from center ice past a BU defenseman to chase down a loose puck in the offensive zone. He fed Musa crashing in, but the junior couldn’t get a shot on net. The puck came out to defenseman Cam O’Neill for a shot but Yegorov stopped his shot.
UMass closed a scoreless first period with its only power play in the final minutes. The Minutemen moved the puck well, but couldn’t get a quality shot on Yegorov.
The best chance was when Galanek, draped by a defenseman in front of the net, tipped a centering pass from Daniel Jencko over Yegorov.
The Terriers held a 13-2 edge on faceoffs in the first period. Galanek won UMass’ first faceoff with 8:48 left and it resulted in an Owen Murray shot from the slot that was stopped by Yegorov.
Hrabal made four saves in the first period. Defenseman Cole Hutson sent a slap shot through traffic five minutes into the game that Hrabal stood up to stop. With about 8 minutes left, he stopped Eiserman’s breakaway.
UMass visits BU at 6 p.m. Saturday.
