UMass hockey: Minutemen’s power play perfection leads to 2-1 win over Cornell

AMHERST — On Halloween night, the No. 13 UMass hockey team’s power play was scary good in its 2-1 win over No. 20 Cornell at the Mullins Center on Friday.

The Minutemen netted both goals versus the Big Red while on the man-advantage, one during the first period and the other late in the third, to finish the ranked-clash a perfect 2-for-2 on the power play, propelling the hosts to their sixth win of the season.

“We’ve got some new plays, new sets and it’s just getting pucks to the net,” UMass junior forward Jack Musa said. “Our retrievals have been really good, so the goals are coming.”

Heading into Friday’s game, the Minutemen’s power play was converting at 26.9% (7-for-26) and had just one game with multiple power-play tucks (2-for-4 at Stonehill on Oct. 10).

Against Cornell, two freshmen phenoms in Vaclav Nestrasil and Lukas Klecka helped UMass bump its special-teams statistics up with its man-advantage strikes.

Klecka’s came one minute, 43 seconds into the game, while Nestrasil nabbed the game-winner with less than two minutes to go in regulation.

Nestrasil, a Chicago Blackhawks first-round draft pick, redirected a Daniel Jencko shot from the right circle around Big Red goalie Remington Keopple (14 saves) from what has become his wheelhouse on the ice: in front of the opposing goalie.

“I think it’s a huge part of my game,” Nestrasil said. “I got to stick there and be around that part. That’s where most of my game shines. As long as it’s working, I’m going to be there and keep producing.”

The 6-foot-6, 186-pounder snagged the UMass lead in goals with Friday’s tally as well as the Czechia native now has seven goals in eight games to start his college career.

“Most goals aren’t scored too far from the net,” Minutemen head coach Greg Carvel said. “He can score [from] outside too, but he’s around the net, does a great job.”

UMass’ penalty-kill was equally as effective, shutting down all three of Cornell’s power-play opportunities, while surrendering just three shots in the process.

“We did a really good job on retrievals, we did a good job on denying entries,” Carvel said on the team’s PK prowess. “It felt like we did a really good job denying them getting the puck to the net.”

The Minutemen’s opening goal followed a George Fegaras roughing penalty 13 seconds after opening puck drop. Klecka backhanded the puck into the net, moments after Keopple’s rebound from a Larry Keenan point shot trickled to precisely where UMass’ eventual goalscorer was stationed, for a 1-0 Minutemen advantage.

The Big Red tied the score later in the stanza on Gio DiGiulian’s first career marker. Cornell’s freshman won a puck battle against Keenan at UMass’ back post and slid the puck past the goal line for the equalizer at 13:40.

A majority of the final 40 minutes were uneventful, until the Minutemen went back on the man-advantage with 1:51 showing on the clock in the third, setting up Nestrasil’s first ever game-winning goal 12 seconds later.

“Just a quick, nice play, that’s something we drew, a play to [Jencko], and it worked out,” Nestrasil said. “Luckily I was net front. It was a lucky tip and we got that goal and everybody was happy.”

UMass junior netminder Michael Hrabal collected 27 saves and improved to 6-2-0 on the season.

The Minutemen and Big Red (0-1-0) will duke it out once more Saturday night at 6 p.m.

Musa named to Spengler Cup squad

Earlier in the week, Musa was selected to represent the United States Collegiate Selects hockey team at the 2025 Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland in December.

The U.S. Selects team will feature 25 collegiate athletes and UMass’ star forward was one of the first 12 players added to the roster.

“I’m super grateful, it’s an awesome opportunity and it’s going to be fun,” Musa said.

This is the first year college athletes from the U.S. were allowed to participate in the yearly tournament that’ll run from Dec. 26-31. The squad will face off against Team Canada in its first game of the competition.

“I think that’s great for him and it’s great for our program,” Carvel said. “They’ve only chosen half of that team and it’s primarily Big 10 players and there’s one player from UConn, now he’s the second player from our league. It’s a strong statement for him and it’s a strong statement for our program. I’m sure he’ll have success there and every time he scores, they’ll talk about UMass, so it’s good for everybody.”

Joey Muldowney of the Huskies was picked earlier this month. Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky will serve as the U.S. Selects coach.