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 »
photo courtesy of Don Treeger
The highly anticipated battle for second place in Hockey East between the UMass Minutemen and the Boston College Eagles was anything but a battle. The Minutemen played poorly and the Eagles took advantage taking a 7-1 win and demoralizing the sold out crown at the Mullins Center Friday night. 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 »
The Minutemen came into to the Mullins Center Friday night after losing for the first time this season to the Providence College Friars. The Friars played a solid road game, in which they played well defensively, and got great goaltending. Despite getting 29 shots in the third period, the Minutemen were not able to mount a comeback and lost 2-1. Continue reading »
The UMass Minutemen are off to a 2-0 start this season with wins over both Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Boston University at home. The team’s season opener against Rensselaer was a special teams battle more than anything, with the Minutemen capitalizing on four of their ten power plays on the night. Despite being out shot 16-6, and being down 1-0 after the first frame, UMass was able to use special teams to get back into the game and eventually roll to an easy 5-2 victory. Defenseman Matt Irwin led the attack for the minutemen with two goals on the night. The Brentwood Bay, British Columbia native notched one goal on a 5-on-3 powerplay and the other on a 4-on-3 man advantage. Both goals were one-timers from the point that beat the RPI goalie high glove side. James Marcou also had an outstanding night with four assists, which tied a personal career high.
The number two ranked Boston University Terriers rolled into Mullins Center at UMass on Friday October 16 for their season opener. The Minutemen jumped out to a 2-0 lead in front of a near capacity crowd in Amherst with goals from Rocco Carzo and Matt Irwin. The Terriers managed to battle back to tie the game at two by the end of the second period with two goals by Alex Chiasson. The third goal for Umass came after multiple quality scoring chances, which on a pass during a 2 on 1 in which the BU defender included about four shots that hit the post. But the persistence paid off as Will Ortiz got the game winner accidentally deflected the pass into his own net while trying to fend off the intended target Danny Hobbs. Between the pipes the netminders, Paul Dainton and last years Hockey East rookie of the year Kieran Millan, put on a clinic. In the end, it was Dainton who prevailed stopping 39 of the 41 shots he faced on the night and was the best player on the ice for either team. The Minutemen’s next game comes on October 23 as they host Maine.
