It wasn’t the trip to Lake Placid the Massachusetts hockey team was hoping for. 

Competing in the Adirondack Winter Invitational last week, the Minutemen went 0-1-1, falling to Cornell in a shootout (the game was officially scored as a tie) before suffering an OT loss to Clarkson where the Golden Knights overcame an early 3-1 deficit. 

UMass will hope to return to the win column on Friday, when it hosts UConn in a Hockey East matchup at 7 p.m. at the Mullins Center. 

“I think we have the potential to be a real good team,” Minutemen coach Greg Carvel said this week. “We’re not playing to our full potential right now. I thought we played well enough to win both games last weekend but we didn’t win either. There’s that room where we need to squeeze a little more out of our team and the players need to squeeze a little more out of each other. It’s ultimately my job to get more out of them and it’s there. We’ll find out soon enough.” 

It’ll be a welcome return to Amherst for UMass (11-5-2), which has played its best hockey on its home ice. The Minutemen are 7-2-1 at home this season, their last loss in Amherst coming on Nov. 11. 

The trip to Lake Placid also closed out UMass’ non-conference slate this season, as the remainder of the Minutemen’s schedule is comprised of Hockey East opponents. 

“It’s big boy hockey the rest of the way,” Carvel said. 

The Huskies (8-9-1) enters the game having won three of their last four games. Following the holiday break, where it went four weeks without playing a game, UConn returned to beat Harvard, 4-2, on New Year’s Eve. 

The Huskies have struggled on the power play this year, which has played a role in their sub-.500 record. UConn has gone on the man-up situation 60 times but has converted just eight goals out of it, which ranks 53rd out of 60 in the country. 

Conversely, the Huskies’ penalty kill has been lights out. UConn has gone down a man 74 times but has allowed just 10 goals in those situations, which ranks eighth nationally. 

“I’ve heard from a number of people to not look at their record,” Carvel said of the Huskies. “They’re better than their record. [UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh] has them going pretty well. Especially in their building, it’s a tough place to play. They can be offensively explosive but we have played some low scoring games with them the last couple years. I’m at a point now where it doesn’t matter which Hockey East team you play. You better be ready to go.” 

UMass will once again be without starting goalie Michael Hrabel, who is still in Sweden competing for the 2024 World Junior Championship with Czechia. Hrabel stopped 26 shots in Czechia’s 5-2 loss to Sweden in the semis on Thursday. The Czechs will play Finland in the Bronze Medal Game on Friday. 

Dans Locmelis, who scored twice for Latvia in a loss to the U.S. earlier this week, is another player Carvel said the Minutemen have missed during his time at World Juniors. After just playing on Tuesday, there’s no guarantee Locmelis will be suiting up for UMass on Friday. 

“I haven't seen a lot of them,” Carvel said. “It’s great for those two kids. I’m not surprised. They’re awesome kids and we’re very fortunate to have them. It’s great experience for them. We miss them. I think we probably find a way to win those games this weekend if we have those two and Samuli Niinisaari in our lineup. I’m excited to have those three guys back. When we do, we’ll be alright.” 

The game will be the lone of the weekend for the Minutemen, which will be off for another week before hosting Merrimack next Friday.