I’m also working on a breakdown of the incoming recruiting class—yesterday I watched Massé’s Memorial Cup game and have been clipping film from Europe too—so that will be coming out in stages over the next few weeks! Make sure to subscribe to get those delivered to your inbox.

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Anyways, here’s the good stuff: Evan Moorhouse has been hired as UMass Hockey’s new goalie coach. It’s been under wraps for a little while. Now that Brown Hockey Blog tweeted last week that he would not be remaining on staff and Mark Divver—the godfather of anything and everything hockey in Providence and beyond—came out with his destination, I think I can officially hit send on this article.

First, a note on Steve Mastalerz, UMass’ previous goalie coach and director of player development. He has accepted a job with a Western Conference NHL team that will be announced in due course; this was not a surprise to the staff and was hinted at by Greg Carvel in one of his earlier newsletters. Steve was crucial to the development of Michael Hrabal and a very friendly face, and he will be missed as he heads to his next stop.

Before we get into Evan Moorhouse and what he brings to the table, I have to come clean: I am very pro-Moorhouse. I have had the privilege—and I truly mean privilege—of calling games alongside his father, Donnie Moorhouse, over the last half a decade. Donnie is a broadcast partner and also a friend, and even if you might not know it from how I drive him up a wall sometimes, we love working together.

Because of that, I’ve been following the career of Evan (and his siblings) simply through osmosis. Donnie has called games for more than two decades at UMass, and Evan used to come to games at the Mullins Center as a kid while his father was broadcasting. Donnie played and coached at AIC in the 80s, and now his son gets to coach 25 miles from where he grew up. This is a cool moment, and I’m very happy for the entire Moorhouse family.

Evan Moorhouse grew up in Westfield, where he played both baseball and hockey. He went to Westfield State, where he was a dual-sport athlete, playing four seasons of baseball and one season of hockey for the Owls. The story of how that season came about is a cool one; I’ll let Donnie—or Evan—tell it at some point.

He coached a year for the Owls before he spent a year at AIC as the director of hockey ops under Eric Lang (with current UVM HC Steve Wiedler on staff too). After two years as the director of ops for UVM’s women’s team, he took the same position at Brown for both the men’s and women’s teams, before moving to solely the men’s side in 2023. He was also added as the goalie coach—in addition to his ops role—in 2023, before another promotion saw him named an assistant coach this last year. It’s no secret that Brown has had its battles, but one area that has been a source of strength was in net. Moorhouse played a big part in the development of Mathieu Caron and Lawton Zacher, both of whom spent two years with him.

He was the video coach and director of ops for the USCIS team at the Spengler Cup, where he crossed paths with Jack Musa, Larry Keenan, and Josh Penn. Moorhouse has also spent time running camps in Europe—Czechia and Sweden, amongst other nations—and assisted with Habs dev camp a few years back. I’m sure I’m missing part of his CV, and that Donnie will call me out of the blue to let me know where I’ve blanked. He is familiar with UMass’ incoming goalies through his work on the recruiting trail.

Moorhouse joins Marcou as the two additions to the coaching staff, with one more support staff role still to be filled.

-Nathan

Owen Murray and I are sitting on the couch in his living room. Hockey paraphernalia adorns the walls. Old locker nameplates from years past are hung with jerseys from juniors, giveaway items, and banners from mid-season tournaments. We’re watching the Flyers/Penguins series as Owen Mehlenbacher—per Owen, the best cook in the house—is grilling chicken in the kitchen. It feels like a normal night: the national championship is weeks ago, and the rush of the transfer portal has subsided.

After watching the penalty boxes fill with 12 different players, we finally get down to business. We’re here to talk about one of the most enjoyable parts of the offseason so far: Owen Murray, the insider.

How did this start? What happened when it took off—and when things went wrong? Who helped him along the way?

And above all, what does this show about the bonds that form when you love the game?

Note: this conversation has been edited for legibility, and—not shocking, when you consider the yapping capabilities of the two people involved—brevity.

Nathan Strauss: Your first piece of breaking news was when you announced Jack Musa would be staying for his senior year. Take me through the process of dropping that bombshell.

Owen Murray: I think everybody knew Musa was probably going to sign at the end of the year, and the plan all along was to let him go through that NHL recruiting process, see which teams wanted to sign him, and have him make that decision. But as things progressed, his mind changed. He realized the positives of staying and the fact is, he has a ton of unfinished business.

For me, it went from thinking hey, maybe I’ll break an NHL signing to wait a second…this might blow the roof off the Mullins Center for next year. And next thing you know, he was fully set in, and we were off the wild roots, and his agent gave us the green light, and the rest was history. I felt like it broke the internet, or at least the UMass hockey internet.

When you posted the Musa news, your account had just over 150 followers, and you gained almost a hundred from that post alone. Now you’re north of 1,000. You’re also a journalism major, which is pretty unique amongst athletes. Was that the first taste of feeling like “oh, maybe I could break some news and do this?”

I mean, I didn’t even mean to take it that way either. I had started tweeting more near the end of the year, trying to get fans and students in the building, which seemed to really pay off for us. So I was like, “Well, you know what, it doesn’t hurt to stay active.” After the season ended, we’re sitting around here, nothing to do, and I’m bored, not much for classes. So I thought to myself, let’s see how this goes…then bang, the Musa post takes off, and gets tons of traction. And I knew the boys were going to have the transfer portal coming up and whatever else comes after that, so I figured I’d keep at it.

So the portal opens up, and you break your first transfer: Nick VanTassell to UNH. How did that conversation go?

I mean, it really just started with Tass saying he had a place to transfer to. I asked him, like, let me break this one, and he said Sure, why not. And I was just going to do it for fun, maybe with just the UMass guys as they they found new schools. That’s kind of all I thought it would ever be. And next thing you know, the NVT Post has 60,000 views on Twitter, and people are retweeting it all over and liking. I’m like…this is kind of fun! And then after that, I had a couple buddies across college hockey that I also knew were in the portal, and I started reaching out to them to see if they’d let me break their news, too.

I think that put you on the map, but the same day you also had probably my favorite tweet of the whole saga: when you shut down rumors that Owen Mehlenbacher was Minnesota State bound.

Yeah, the Tass tweet got me exposed to a lot of the burner accounts that wanted to be in the know. I see somebody talking about Minnesota State and Melly, and it’s funny: I was actually sitting in the sauna at the rink, and I’m scrolling while my phone is just starting to blow up. And I’m like, Owen’s never mentioned that to me. We live in the same house…so I gave him a call. I was sitting in the sauna, and was like, Hey, did you start talking to Minnesota State since I since I’ve been gone from the house? And he was like, No, I haven’t talked to them once. So it’s time to debunk this account. Figured I’d make a little humor out of it, the fact that he was sitting on this couch, and then the account went full parody mode from it after that.

So that was the day where it all started. I had a moment where I think people saw my personality out there, and it spiraled.

The first couple of days, you were building this network, right? You’re texting guys on every team. But then you get this traction, and people started coming to you and giving you those scoops. Who was the first to come to you to break news? Did that make it more official in your own mind?

I’m trying to think who the first one was. The first wave of guys, you’re right, I was kind of reaching out to certain people, and finding scoops, and this and that. Then next thing you know, there was a few kids or coaches even that had reached out to me about my stuff—whether it was scoops or just loving what I was doing and having fun in replies—but that’s where it got fun, because obviously there was people that kind of enjoyed the content.

I’m trying to think who told me what first. Honestly, there’s a couple of kids at Arizona State because I have a buddy down there. I broke his news and then next thing you know, his buddy is reaching out to me, telling me three different guys that are going to ASU or leaving ASU. And I was like, Oh, crap. Now guys are going to me.

Since then, like I said, I’ve had a couple coaches DMing me with news, a bunch of media accounts, outlets, and whatever else, and they’re asking for scoops and offering some in exchange. It’s really fun getting to know the market of people who are out there doing the same stuff and wanting to cover college hockey, because all along, you kind of just don’t know who they are, and then you get talking to them and they’re all really nice people.

Present company excluded, eh? But in all seriousness, you and I have talked a lot about how there’s just not a ton of full time college hockey media. There’s and Brad Elliot Schlossman, there’s USCHO and CHN, but they can be more big picture. How did you as a player feel like the media landscape was for college hockey in general?

That’s the thing, too. College hockey is obviously starting to become something, and it’s slowly getting there, but it’s probably a little thin compared to other college sports and whatever else. Like, the transfer stuff engages so many fans and players, and now there’s so many smaller media and team accounts, and it’s revealing all these people who follow their college hockey teams that are hungry for information.

Right now, people have to wait around all day for a ticker to change on not even social media, but online. So why not bring it to them in real time? Because at the end of the day, obviously everybody’s gonna find out. And there are a bunch of people who are doing a ton of work on their own time to help grow the game of college hockey while also working a full time job. God, five years from now, maybe we’ll be talking about this again, and all those people will be full time into college hockey, which is what hockey probably needs.

I think that’s kind of the cool part about the business and where it needs to go to is just to continue to build that trust with staffs and agents to make them understand that no one is trying to step on any toes or ruin anybody’s commitments or transfers or anything like that, especially if it’s a big moment to them. I think it’s just more or less to keep people and fans engaged, because recruiting can be such a grey area in hockey where guys will commit multiple years out. It’s fun to track, you know, when you know someone’s committed for two years from now but you can see them play in juniors in advance.

Players all know each other and are well connected to each other, and that’s how information is spread. I think one of the important things I’ve learned so far is that you better hear it from the right person. Just to respect the privacy for what people want out there and don’t want out there.

What happens when you get it wrong? How have you navigated the different forces—agents, coaches, the guys themselves—all operating at the same time?

A lot of this goes back to the first two days of the portal. I mean, in my perspective, I was just still having fun with this, enjoying the notifications, and kids from other schools started reaching out to me. I kind of got digging into it more, and me and [Owen Mehlenbacher] are sitting here, and kind of coming to terms with the information we have. We both know kids from all over and we start hearing conflicting information about people going or not going somewhere, and I kind of just want to tweet it all, right?

But then I learned that you have to remember the professional side of it, which I hadn’t considered at all. I would have never thought about reaching out to an agent to verify information because I’m just a college hockey player in my eyes. So I send out a tweet, it seems pretty correct…then I get a text from an agent who’s a little mad, and it’s brutal.

If it makes you feel any better, I think everyone has been there at some point. I’ve been wrong before and also confidently wrong before. Like, I famously called your mom by the wrong name on air this year (a thousand apologies, Alison), which is the kind of mistake that can happen, but when you put something online and you realize you could have spoiled a moment, it stings, you know?

Yeah. This really is a professional business, where me saying something might actually get traction back to the situation and and what that agent’s trying to do, or visor, or what that player is trying to get out of their situations. And they’re coming saying, hey, not too mad by any means, but you better be careful, because you don’t want to screw us up. And when you look at the big picture, you have to respect their wishes, because you don’t know how far your word will go. And I learned that the hard way.

I think it makes even more sense now with the CHL kids, who might have playing time jeopardized or guys who might be drafted and their advisors have a few teams they’re angling for. There’s a lot behind the scenes that probably doesn’t need to be out there.

And I feel like for you, too, you want to keep the closeness you have with the people you have played against or with and known for a while.

Funny story there. I broke the commitment of Jack Willson, who won the USHL Defenseman of the Year award, but was actually through [UMass alum] Cal Kiefiuk. He’s the AC now at Youngstown, and texted me saying Hey, you’re a hit in our locker room between our players and our coaches. This kid came to me and saying he’s committing to ASU. If you want to do this, he wants you to do it. I’m like, Okay, if he wants me to tweet it, I’ll do it. So sure enough, he lets me do it, but that’s the fun side of it. If anybody ever wanted to come to me, I would gladly do it. But if that kids want their moment the same time, I’m more than willing to get out of the way and respect their wishes.

In talking with you and even just being around the sport so much, I’m constantly amazed at how strong and wide the social ties are. Guys you play against are the guys you’ve played with and against for half a dozen years, and then half a dozen years from now you could be coaching and recruiting against them too. It really feels like a family. Do you think this is unique to hockey?

I actually think it’s only hockey. I’m sure college basketball and football has their connections too, but it’s not even close. In the hockey world, you’re really only ever two steps away from any player. Every level, every age, every team, system, you name it. Everybody knows everybody or at least knows a guy who knows a guy.

I went down to watch [Cole O’Hara’s] debut in Nashville, and I get around a table at a bar before the game. I’m talking to one kid who plays D3 at Tufts and he knows buddies from the MJHL that I know. The other kid was a former goalie with two of my best friends from the MJHL and Matthew Wilde. He’s former teammates with them from junior.

Like, I’ve never met these two guys, and they’re two of Cole’s best friends, and they’ve also played with four to five guys I grew up playing against or with. It’s a random weekday night and we’re all in Nashville to watch our friend debut in the National and we’re able to play this giant game of human geography. It’s just so cool.

Well, then we get to the other players who started breaking news, too: Tyler Young at NoDak and then Sean Donaldson at Cornell. If you think about your network, every guy you add or get in contact with, you also are adding all of their connections, too. At this point, do you think there’s a single team that you couldn’t find some overlap with?

Like, goodness, I’m really trying to think. I was gonna say maybe a couple of the independents? But then my little brother has a former teammate at Lindenwood, and I know a kid or two up in Alaska, and I know a kid up in Lake Superior State that I played junior hockey with. Like, anywhere I go, I truly think there’s not many schools where I couldn’t get in contact with a guy, and if I can’t get in contact with him, I might have a contact with their coaching staff.

I think if you play for enough and stick around the game and really love the game, you’ll just always know enough people.

That’s one of the cool things about getting older, too. At least, I think it is. You know, guys are getting married, and having pro careers and starting coaching. Everyone is branching off. You’re at this juncture with graduation and figuring out what’s next. Do you view this—the reporting—as being, at its core, a way to stay involved with the sport you love?

I guess I’ve never thought of it as that way of staying in touch with people, but it really is a fun way now. I’ve caught up with a lot of people I never thought I would have an excuse to. Like, I’ve had so many buddies that if I ever cross paths with them, we would always catch up and have a beer together or whatever, but I hadn’t reached out to them, and they hadn’t reached out to me in years. Like, we used to be really close when we were teammates, and then you move onto that next step of life or hockey. But now I have that reason to reach out to them to ask if they’ve heard things I have, or they’ll come to me with things too.

It’s really funny, right? This does keep people coming to me, or let me be able to come to them about anything, whether it’s their own career, what they’re doing, who they know. It’s keeping me connected to older friends. It was awesome when [Tyler and Sean] started getting in on the scoops, too, because it lets people see our personalities more. Now we text a good amount.

When you think about your voice, and how you try to situate yourself, who have you been modeling yourself after? If you had to place yourself on the hockey media spectrum—let’s say it’s Home By 3 on one end and then the most serious person on the other—where do you want to fit?

I’ll give credit to Johnny Lazarus here. He’s been on me since we’ve gotten to know each other about being open to this side of the hockey business because of my personality, and it’s kind of fits my [journalism] degree too. And I’ve always been focused on playing, and I think for our locker room it’s been best if we stay locked in.

Once I got this traction, I remember him telling me all the time that this is a path that I might be good at. And now I know it’s an avenue, and that’s important, but in saying that, I also know that I have an extreme attraction for coaching and still playing. It’s more or less making sure I get myself something that will keep me in the hockey world. But to be honest, I’ll go any direction with hockey.

I think I have the personality to do it, where I could keep it professional but also kind of keep it fun. I don’t think I would really want to go into the full degenerate side of the hockey world—not because I don’t respect when guys do that, because I think those stories are important to the personalities of hockey players—but also so I could be directly connected to a different side of hockey, which is the game on the ice.

I still think you’d make a hell of a broadcaster, too, whenever you’re ready to hang up the skates. While you figure out your next step, do you have an ultimate goal?

Whether it’s the development of a hockey player or guys having career success, I want to be right there for that. I think I have a lot of value on that side—coaching—in terms of what I believe in and helping kids get to the next level. And obviously, I want to keep playing, too. But at the same time, it’s nice knowing there’s avenues available to myself. And now I know I have this in my corner, too.

I happened to be on the MetroNorth for a few hours on Friday, and rather than put the finishing touches on any of the more in-depth articles I had languishing in the drafts I figured it would be a better use of my time to just mess around a bit. With that in mind, I asked people for questions and told them to make them as weird as they want.

Let me set the scene: I parked at West Haven (pro tip for occasional NYC weekenders, their parking is free on weekends, rather than the 18$/night in New Haven). The Savannah Bananas are playing in the Bronx today while the (only slightly more serious organization) Mets play in Queens, which means the train is full of baseball fans of various ages. A bunch of high schoolers had boarded my cabin in Stamford, too, presumably headed to the city. They’re hitting the 6-7 with the much younger Bananas fans who are here with their families. It is a deeply unserious environment. Here are some questions and some answers.

What is your favorite restaurant in Amherst? - Diego (@ DiegoFellows)

Protocol. Hands-down. If I could go to Protocol for two meals a week, I would. It’s nice but not fancy, the vibes are always immaculate. Small seasonal menus, farm-to-table, really creative apps (I once had butter chicken beignets there that I still think about), at least one cheap beer option at all times (Gansett or High Life), fun cocktails, accommodating of big parties, and the best burger in Amherst. If they did NIL deals, I’d be banging down their doors.

I’m also a Shelburne Falls Coffee loyalist—#Sponsored—for breakfast and pregame caffeine. Other favorites of mine in the Amherst area are Stables, El Comalito, Johnny’s Tavern, and The Taste Thai. Having been in Amherst for the better part of a decade at this point, there aren’t many places I haven’t tried, and just about all of them have been pretty dang good.

And obviously, I love the Hangar. I consider it more of a bar than restaurant, but their wings are elite (even if I only eat boneless…), the Honey Pilsner goes down easy, and you can’t go there without seeing buddies from the Pond Club, or players’ families, or even our coworkers after games.

Which players stand out to you that showed the most growth/development/improvement between when they got to UMass and when they left and why?” - Sara (@ saracha_ng)

In the words of Future, it’s Hard To Choose One, but I’ll do my best.

The model of growth to me is Lucas Mercuri, one of my all-time favorite Minutemen. He came to UMass on the back of a prep season where he led Salisbury in scoring and alongside now-NHLer Jacob Quillan was simply too big and strong for the competition. That got him drafted in the 6th round by Carolina in 2020, before he spent a lone season with a middle-of-the-pack Des Moines (USHL) team, finishing third in scoring there. I spoke with Andrew Will, his coach at Salisbury, right before his freshman year, and he raved about his skillset and physicality.

Mercuri came to campus for the 2021-22 season in the same freshman class as Ryan Ufko and Scott Morrow, amongst others, and played every game but one—an unfortunate injury kept him out of the NCAA Tournament game against Minnesota. Remember this for later.

For much of his freshman and sophomore years, I felt his game was caught in two mindsets; there were times when he would rely on more of his skill than his size, and there were a handful of lapses in discipline—after the whistle penalties and the like—that didn’t help, particularly in his sophomore year. There would be games where he’d dominate at the dot and in the crease, and then others where he’d be kept to the periphery. He put up 6-9-15 his first year, but just 3-11-14 his sophomore year (albeit on a team that had struggles across the board). His peripheral numbers also shrunk during the sophomore season, with less efficiency on the forecheck and his lowest hits per game total of his career.

His junior year, though, it was night and day. He put on a lot of muscle that summer and came back as one of UMass’ most valuable forwards and one of the best defensive centres in the NCAA, ranking in the top 10% in north-south passing, puck possession, and loose puck recoveries. Equally importantly, he became a demon in the slot: 48% of his shots were from the slot in his junior year, up from 36% his sophomore year and 20% his freshman year. This led to a 9-goal season (matching his total from his first two years combined) with 16 assists, culminating in a warrior-like game against Denver where he played 27 minutes.

He came back for his senior year wearing the A and became arguably the most menacing UMass player on the ice since Bobby Trivigno. Amongst players to play 20 games, he led the NCAA in shots from the slot (73%!) and finished in the top 10% for blocked shots, slot passes, shot deflections, and faceoff wins/20. He had the second-toughest average matchups behind Cole O’Hara; 11 of the 13 forwards to play over 20 minutes with him all season had better metrics with him than without.

He was also a tremendous leader—often the first to the scrum after the whistle—and someone who one parent told me this year was “the model of what it means to be Minuteman.” He missed one game his entire career and finished as the leader in games played in the Greg Carvel era, ending on something close to a 110-game Iron Man streak. For a guy who plays as physical as him, that’s quite the feat. This year—his first year in the AHL, where he became quite the fighter in addition to his 30-point rookie campaign—he still followed UMass closely, even sending clips to current players.

Long story short, he trusted the process. He embraced the physical game and the plan that the staff had for him, getting a lot harder to play against in the process. He dominated inside ice, was a strong voice in the locker room, and was the exact type of player that every team needs and every opponent hates to play against. Great person, great family, great player, and the model of what happens when you embrace the standard.

I could do the same thing here for guys like Owen Murray, Linden Alger, Colin Felix, and more—but I’ll save that for a future article.

Which incoming freshman or transfer are you most excited for? - David (@ dellocove)

The obvious answer here is Maxim Massé, who was just named the QMJHL MVP this last week. He put up 51-51-102 in the regular season and has 3-12-15 in just 8 playoff games so far, as his Chicoutimi team swept the Mooseheads and Remparts by a combined score of 39-6. There are some caveats to those numbers: he’s an ‘06 playing for a very good team in a league with, shall we say, occasionally funky scoring totals. At the same time, he’s put up almost 40 points more than anyone else on his team and has worn a letter for 3 straight years. Aydar Suniev put up 113 points in 65 games in the BCHL on a similarly stacked Penticton team; using the equivalency numbers from , this translates to around a .75 ppg season next year for Massé (compared to the .60 ppg for Suniev). He will be an excellent compliment to the vision and passing of Václav Nestrašil and, once he adjusts to the speed of the NCAA (like any traditional first-year player has to), should be a multi-year impact player.

Melvin Novotny is another player who I think will be instantly impactful. Despite a mid-season injury, he put up 57 points in 48 regular season USHL games. He was a point-per-game player in the J20 Nationell as a 17- and 18-year old, and has benefitted a lot from his lone season in North America. I could see him having a middle-six role this year with top-line upside.

Tobias Trejbal might be three inches shorter than Hrabal, but he may well end up selected in a similar slot in this coming draft. He was just named the USHL goalie of the year, and I have talked to scouts who have him as the best goalie in this class; the consensus is he’s a top-five draft eligible goalie between NA and International prospects. I watched him take over the USA Hockey All-American Game this winter, and he carried a #1 load for Youngstown—42 games played—ahead of an older WMU commit Owen Lepak. Big shoes to fill, obviously, and with Jackson Irving having experience and very solid numbers, there could well be a battle for the job. It’ll depend on UMass’ new goalie coach—which alongside the assistant coach hire should be announced in the next few weeks—but Trejbal is exciting.

The long and the short of it is that every recruit is exciting. On paper, this is the most composite talent that Greg Carvel will have brought to campus in a single recruiting class, but I’m excited about every player coming, drafted or not.

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If you could bring ANY player to UMass next year, like poach a player from another program, who would it be? - Evin O’Sullivan (@ evin_sully)

In general, I like recruits who come as freshmen and stay 3+ years. I just think it works better. I also think this will be a very complete team, but I recognize that this is just a hypothetical and that I should just answer it.

I always enjoy watching Colin Kessler for UVM. He’s a tremendous skater, has really solid four-way mobility, and has been the Catamounts’ best player (by a country mile) each of the last two seasons. I’m also quite happy that he is staying for a third year there—he would have been sought-after in the portal—because like when Ryan Conmy was at UNH, I think the league is better when each team has at least one star. I actually liked Blake Steenerson’s game a lot this year too; he’s big, a powerful skater, and I’m curious what he can do in year three.

Other guys who stood out to me this last year—and this is by no means a full list—Amine Hajibi (who is quite Mercuri-esque, and I believe they train together in the summers), Frank Djurasevic (who I loved at Merrimack, thought stalled a little this year at Maine, and then signed an AHL deal with Toronto), Nick Roukounakis (who I thought was, surprisingly, one of BU’s most important pieces this year), and Marty Lavins (a very solid shutdown winger with a great stick).

Who are your favorite and least favorite opponents to face and why? - Sara (@ saracha_ng)

Well, I’m not facing them…but I get your point. My favorite opponent is the next one.

- NPS

A brief background on me: I’m a play-by-play broadcaster by trade. I went to UMass for both undergrad and grad school, and started broadcasting games back in 2019 for student radio before joining the TV and commercial radio broadcasts my senior year. I spend a lot of time thinking and talking about UMass Hockey. For around seven months every year, my weekends are dictated by the schedule; there have only been two games over the last two seasons that I haven’t worked. Next season, I’ll broadcast my 200th game for the team.

I create content through formal channels—The NewMass Minute, the UMass Sports Insider, etc—and try to use the (abnormally high) amount of UMass Hockey facts and history in my head to engage with fans, help tell the stories of players, and overall just drive engagement with both UMass Hockey and college hockey at large. I also have a full-remote day job in the sports world, which gives me the flexibility to do things like drive to Orono, Maine in January or spend the week between Christmas and New Years in Milwaukee/Tempe/Lake Placid, etc.

What to Expect

Full disclosure: I’ve never built a Substack before. There’s a lot that I will figure out, from emailing and sharing articles to the format of the site and more; that will be a work in progress.

The plan right now is to do a mixture of recaps, features, player profiles, advanced data insights, Q&As, and more. I also view this as being a repository for some broadcast elements; as part of my radio broadcasts, I have the privilege of interviewing Greg Carvel before and after each game, so I could link those out here, in addition to adding broadcast highlights or similar.

I already re-watch every UMass game within 24 hours of completion to see what I missed live, which makes writing recaps—either game-by-game or series-by-series—a good exercise anyways. The same is true for previews; I typically spend at least five hours on opposing teams’ rosters and film, so this is additive to my current broadcast routines.

My hope is to work on my Python this summer to create a digital hub for UMass Hockey, too. I want to digitize the record-book, build live links out to every UMass player past and present to make it easy to follow their careers, and create a database in the style of the outstanding . It might take some time, but it’s a longer-term project that could be very fun.

I’m also hoping to do some fun things: random deep dives, conversations with alums, shooting the breeze with players, things of that nature. There will absolutely be some broadcasting stories and rankings (of road trips, road barns, food, fun interview moments, etc.). I love peeling back the curtain to this niche job-slash-passion-slash-lifestyle. Maybe—and I mean maybe—I’ll even share the top five times I’ve been chirped by Carv for asking some of the worst questions to ever grace an interview. Really, if someone wants me to write about something, I will do it. Just DM me or email me, etc.

What Not To Expect

First, I won’t be breaking any major news here—recruiting, signings, or otherwise. I’ll leave that to the pros; plus, Owen Murray would probably beat me to the scoops anyways. The real reason for this is that it’s just not my place to do so. My number one goal is to help the program, and breaking news for clicks doesn’t accomplish that goal. For example, I might write about the 2026-27 schedule, but only once it’s been released.

(Of course, I say this and yet also just tweeted about the last piece of next year’s roster, so maybe I’m still figuring out what that line is. I’m not here to step on any toes, though, and again the goal here is to help.)

I haven’t decided yet if there will end up being a paywalled portion, either. I don’t think there’s anything that I could create that I’d want to charge for, rather than have read by anyone interested. I’m fortunate to have a day job in addition to broadcasting across all sports at UMass. At the same time, it would be nice to have a little extra money for my pregame Red Bulls or to offset some of the losses incurred during the season, so maybe there could be a “pay-as-you-like” section or similar...if anyone has ideas on this, please let me know.

Just like broadcasting for the team, this isn’t about money: it’s about sharing the highs and lows and stories that emerge as a product of caring about something deeply. The currency that I value the most is a parent telling me they appreciate the broadcasts and coverage or when I get to build real relationships or, perhaps most chiefly, the amount of joy I get when I’m on air.

Why I’m Starting This: UMass Hockey has led to some of the strongest, most valuable relationships in my life.

I am blessed to call games with people I consider legitimate friends. I’ve been fortunate to get to know seven seasons’ worth of players, their families, coaches, recruits, and program alumni. This school (and program specifically) has an incredibly devoted, loyal, and blissfully intense fanbase that makes up the greater UMass Hockey family. Whether it’s Cam and Evin from High Character, the myriad Twitter group chats where every game and recruit get (over)analyzed, TD and the Pond Club, the bevy of program alums who still keep up with their former teammates…it’s a highly engaged group. I think the appetite for content in whatever form for this team is quite high, and I’m hoping this will be a compliment to the work that Ryan Ames, High Character, and the students at the Collegian and WMUA produce.

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I’ll get more personal about how UMass Hockey has helped form part of my identity, too, but I’ll save that one for later.

The long and the short of it is that this program is incredibly close to my heart. It informs everything from where I live—I’m choosing to stay in Amherst despite graduating with my masters in large part because of the ability to be close to Mullins for the season—to what I do in my free time, like teaching myself how to use Python to digitize the UMass Hockey record book or even (as a future article will explain) use SportLogiq to watch 150 Justin Kerr faceoffs. And while I’m certainly not a capital-J Journalist—I was a PoliSci and Art History major—I do enjoy writing as a creative outlet. It’ll help with broadcast prep, yada yada, but really I envision this as being a place to channel more of the energy and time that I (and we, collectively) spend engaging with the team.

What Next

I’ve got some articles in the oven currently, including a stats-driven look at the 2025-26 season, a conversation with Owen Murray on his newfound insider role, and a summary of how the dozens of UMass Hockey alums in the pro ranks fared this year. I have a few less flushed-out ones on the back burner.

Of course, it’s just about summer: there’s not a whole lot to break down imminently. I’ll be playing in the Pond Club’s golf outing—if you see a lefty slicing his woods, it’s probably me—and collecting my master’s degree in mid-May. I’m still looking for my next house or apartment in Amherst. But the first wave of content will be coming soon. If you have ideas, or questions, or things you want me to get into, just let me know. I’ll do it.

I’m excited to spin this up. There may be a learning curve, but I’ll tackle that as it comes. Feel free to subscribe and share, and talk soon. -NS