LOWELL, Mass. (Nov. 21, 2008) - Kory Falite (Billerica, Mass.) scored two goals as UMass Lowell defeated Providence, 6-1, in Hockey East action Friday night at the Tsongas Arena.
The River Hawks have won three straight and improve to 6-4-0 overall and 4-2-0 against the league. The Friars have dropped four straight and fall to 2-8-1 overall and 0-7-1 in Hockey East play.
Falite led all scorers with two goals and was one of five players with multiple points for the River Hawks. Mike Potacco (Kinnelon, N.J.) and Maury Edwards (Rocky Rapids, Alta.) each had a goal and an assist. Jeremy Dehner (Madison, Wis.) and Nick Schaus (Buffalo, N.Y.) each had two assists.
The River Hawks scored early - two goals in the first two minutes - and late - three more goals in the third period. Potacco got UML on the board with his fourth goal of the season just 53 seconds in the game. Dehner and Schaus had the assists.
Falite made it a 2-0 game just 68 seconds later - at 2:01 - with his first of the night and seventh of the season. Barry Goers (Ivyland, Pa.) had the assist.
Nick Monroe (Groton, Mass.) extended the River Hawk lead with his first goal of the season and first career power play goal at 17:35 of the second period. The goal, assisted by Schaus and Michael Budd (Burlington, Ont.), extended Monroe's point streak to three games.
Scott Campbell (Navan, Ont.), Falite and Edwards added to the UMass Lowell lead in with goals in the third period. Edwards also had an assist in the third.
Campbell opened the third period scoring with four-on-four goal at 5:39. Potacco and Edwards had the assists.
Falite followed less than a minute later - at 6:24 - with his second of the night and eighth of the year. Freshman center Matt Ferreira (Brampton, Ont.) picked up the assist.
Matt Taormina (Wash. Township, Mich.) put the Friars on the scoreboard at 7:03 of the third, ending Nevin Hamilton's (Ashland, Mass.) shutout bid.
Edwards capped the scoring with a five-on-three power play goal at 15:55. David Vallorani (Hamilton, Ont.) and Dehner assisted on the man-advantage strike.
The River Hawks were 2-for-3 on the power play. UML has scored a power play goal in seven straight games and eight of its 10 games this season. The Friars were 0-for-4 on the man-advantage.
"Our special teams were huge," said UMass Lowell head coach Blaise MacDonald. "Killing off all of their power plays and converting on our power play opportunities was big."
Hamilton stopped 30 shots to earn his third win of the season. Hamilton has started four consecutive games. Hamilton's shutout streak reached 112 minutes and 57 seconds before the Taormina goal.
Justin Gates (Cranston, R.I.) started the game for Providence and allowed two goals on two shots. He was pulled after the second goal and took the loss.
Chris Mannix (Hubbardston, Mass.) relieved Mannix. He stopped 21 shots in 54:50 of playing time.
"We were very fortunate to get off to a fast start, scoring early," said UMass Lowell head coach Blaise MacDonald. "Providence came at us very hard and did a great job down the walls of disrupting our rhythm. Uncharacteristically we had to kill of three penalties in the first period. That challenged our ability to get our momentum back. We did that in the second period. We had a lot of guys play well."
The River Hawks return to the ice Saturday night when they host sixth-ranked Northeastern. The Friars are next in action Saturday when they visit No. 13 New Hampshire.