The UMass hockey team only has one game on the docket this week as it’ll welcome Army to the Mullins Center for a Black Friday matinee.

The Minutemen (6-6-2) are coming off an up-and-down weekend – first with a win against Harvard before a loss to Vermont – but will have a chance to respond with a matchup against a Black Knights team also searching for consistency.

Army has a winning percentage just below .500 with a 5-7-0 record and has not won or lost more than two straight games at any point yet this season. Mac Gadowsky leads the Black Knights with nine points while freshman goalie JJ Cataldo has won the job in net with a 1.73 goals-against average and a .942 save percentage in seven games played.

Black Knights head coach Brian Riley will retire at the end of this season, marking the end of the Riley coaching tree at West Point. Brian took over for his brother Rob, who coached from 1986-2004. Rob was preceded by Jack Riley, their father, who’s first year behind the bench occurred during the 1950-51 season.

“Everybody has great respect for the Riley family and the fact that the sons carried on the father’s legacy and did a great job with it,” UMass head coach Greg Carvel said.

The Minutemen combined for 80 shots in their two games over the weekend, which pushed their season total to 442, good for ninth-most in the country. That shot-first mentality will likely benefit UMass in a game like Friday’s that traditionally doesn’t have the same energy in the building because of the Thanksgiving break.

“If we were 14-2, I’d be worried, but we’re 6-6 so we better be desperate,” Carvel said. “We’ll prepare for [Army] like we prepare for everybody else and respect them. We need to win games so I would expect that whether anyone is in the building or not, that this group will come out and play appropriately.”

Junior forward Kenny Connors has yet to find the back of the net for the Minutemen this season, despite getting predominantly top-line minutes and getting looks on UMass’ five-forward, top power play unit. The Glen Mills, Pa. product has dished out 12 assists — second-most among Minutemen skaters — in 14 games played, including assists in three consecutive contests.

Carvel feels the 6-foot-1, 190-pound winger has still found a way to impact the game in a positive manner for the Minutemen, even if the goals haven’t been there so far.

“I’ve been happy with him,” Carvel said. “Off the ice he’s been a great leader. I think his game, when he’s playing to his strengths is very effective. To me, he’s got to get around the net more to score more. I think he’s getting more urgent to shoot the puck, the beginning of the year I don’t think he was.

“When you’re playing in the middle of the blue line, it’s a lot harder to score up there than it is from the flanks or around the net,” Carvel said. “He’s sacrificed some goal-scoring to make our power play better. It’s a little shocking that he hasn’t scored, but I’m very happy with his play. I think there’s still new levels, higher levels that he can get to. I just think about the game [against Vermont] on Sunday, watching the game over, he was very effective using his size and ability.”

Connors concluded his sophomore campaign with seven goals.

UMass might be getting some reinforcements up front as Carvel is hopeful injured forwards Daniel Jencko and Michael Cameron are able to return to the lineup against Army. Cam O’Neill will be out until ‘post-Christmas’ with a broken hand, per Carvel.

Puck drop for Friday’s game is set for 4 p.m.