AMHERST – A Jack Musa goal in the second period gave the UMass men’s ice hockey team the lead and helped the Minutemen to a 3-2 win over the University of New Hampshire at the Mullins Center on Friday night.
Musa’s goal broke a 1-1 tie late in the second period. While the goal was certainly nice, the setup by Cole O’Hara sent the fans into a frenzy even before the puck found the net. O’Hara turned on the jets to slice his way through UNH’s defense before feeding to Musa, who buried the goal for the Minutemen.
“(O’Hara) had a really good rush,” Musa said. “He made a sick pass. I caught it and went to my backhand.”
On Saturday, the No. 14 Minutemen (17-9-3,10-7-2 Hockey East) finish the home-and-home series with the No. 16/17 Wildcats (16-12-1, 9-9-1) inside the Whittemore Center at 7 p.m.
“Yeah, tomorrow is huge,” Musa said. “Making sure we are getting our bodies right. We’re going in tomorrow; we need a win. It starts with being focused.”
Tomorrow’s game is vital in the pairwise rankings, which decide the participants in the upcoming Division I men’s hockey tournament.
“After the game, talking to the team, they instantly started talking about what it’s going to take to win on the road and how important that game is tomorrow,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said.
The Minutemen got two goals from defenseman Samuli Niinisaari. After an embellishment penalty sent UNH’s Ryan Conmy to the box, Ryan Lautenbach found Niinisaari for a one-timer to give UMass a 1-0 lead midway through the first period.
“I just saw that the weak side was kind of open there,” Niinisaari said. “I kind of just closed my eyes … shoot it towards the net and hope it goes in.”
The victory comes after two losses to No. 1 Boston College last weekend.
“That’s a big win,” Carvel said. “I really liked our first period. Then we took five penalties in a row. Had a real effect on our group. Took away any momentum. But I really liked our third period. How we played to secure the victory.
The Wildcats went 0-for-5 on the power play, while Michael Hrabal made 30 saves for UMass.
“They (UNH) have a good power play,” Carvel said. “They gave us trouble. But our penalty kill, we adjusted it after Christmas. Since Christmas, we’ve been very strong.”
The Minutemen had two goals overturned after challenges from UNH.
“Yeah, it’s to the point now where basically every goal we score, I am expecting it to be called back,” Carvel said.
The first penalty of the night went against UNH’s Cy Leclerc at 6:45 of the first period for hooking. Aydar Suniev sniped a shot that looked like a possible goal, but upon review, the call stood as no goal on the ice.
UMass seemingly took a 2-0 lead when a wrist shot from the point found the net later in the period. But the goal was overturned due to a high stick. Musa went to the penalty box at 16:09 of the first period for roughing. UMass killed the penalty to maintain the 1-0 lead at the first intermission.
UNH went on the power play early in the second period. Lautenbach went to the box for interference. Hrabal made two saves to help kill the penalty. The road team tied the game, 1-1, moments later when JP Turner won a puck battle behind the net and fed Robert Cronin for the goal.
UMass had a second goal disallowed in the second period after a challenge by UNH revealed a high stick by the Minutemen. Musa’s goal came at 18:09 of the second period, sending the Minutemen into the second intermission with a 2-1 lead.
Niinisaari added an empty netter late in the third period to put UMass ahead, 3-1.
The Wildcats found the net with one second left when Marty Lavins scored with an assist by Luke Reid. UNH outshot the Minutemen 32-21.
Jakob Hellsten made 18 saves for the Wildcats.
