The Minutemen of UMass dropped their fifth consecutive game Saturday night at home against Merrimack, losing the season series in the process. UMass came into the Mullins Center after getting beat 4-1 at Merrimack the night before and came out flying. The dominated the first period, out shooting their opponents 13-5 in the first frame, but despite controlling the play, they headed into the first intermission at a scoreless tie. Continue reading »
UMass entered the weekend two-game series with the Vermont Catamounts with a 9-6 record in Hockey East play and were fresh off two big wins against UMass-Lowell.
The first game started off fast, when James Marcou used a defenseman as a screen and snapped a wrist shot past Catamount goalie Rob Madore on the first shift of the game. The pace fast, and the action was back and forth until late in the opening frame when Jay Anctil of Vermont hopped on a bouncing puck in the UMass slot and beat Paul Dainton on the glove side. In the second, Casey Wellman rushed end to end, and like linemate Marcou, used a Catamount defenseman as a screed, wiring a shot though both the defender and goalie’s legs to give the home team Minutemen a 2-1 lead. UMass controlled the majority of play for the rest of the game, and would have gotten a larger lead if not for the play of Vermont goalie Rob Madore who made great scramble saves multiple times. With a minute remaining, Vermont pulled Madore, but had mis-communicated as the puck came to their end as doing so. James Marcou passed on a shot at the empty net and passed to Casey Wellman who buried it for his second of the game as UMass went on to take game one 3-1. Continue reading »
UMass hosted Merrimack on Saturday to round up their schedule before Christmas break. The Minutemen had struggled as of late, losing three in a row. In an effort to get something going, coach Cahoon moved Martin Nolet down to the second defense paring to play with Darren Rowe, and bumped Matt Irwin up to the top pairing with Justin Braun. Michael Lecomte also came back into the line up after missing much of the early season. Continue reading »
