LOWELL, Mass. (Oct. 24, 2008) - Kory Falite (Billerica, Mass.) scored two goals and added an assist, T.J. Massie (Lexington, Mass.) stopped 27 shots and UMass Lowell defeated Quinnipiac, 4-1, in college hockey action Thursday night at the Tsongas Arena.
The River Hawks improve to 3-2-0 with the win. The victory was head coach Blaise MacDonald's 200th career coaching victory. The win also marked the first career start and win for Massie, a freshman out of Cushing Academy.
The loss drops Quinnipiac to 1-2-0 on the season.
The two-goal, one assist performance tied Falite's career bests for points (3) and goals (2) in a game. Scott Campbell (Navan, Ont.) and Ben Holmstrom (Colorado Springs, Colo.) also scored for the River Hawks. Paul Worthington (Langhorne, Pa.) tied a career-high with two assists.
Spencer Heichman (Yorba Linda, Calif.) scored the lone goal for the Bobcats, a shorthanded goal past the midway point of the third period.
Falite and Holmstrom each factored in to the first two goals of the contest for UML. Falite scored the first goal of the contest with a power play goal at the 8:35 mark of the first. Holmstrom and Maury Edwards (Rocky Rapids, Alta.) had the assists.
Holmstrom made it a 2-0 game at 11:58 of the first period with his first tally of the season. Falite and Worthington picked up the helpers.
Sophomore center Scott Campbell, who won 14 of 17 face offs, added the River Hawks' third goal of the first period at 13:57. The goal was Campbell's second of the season and assisted by Nick Schaus (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Mark Roebothan (St. John's, Nfld.)
Falite picked up his third point of the night with his second power play goal of the night. The goal was a 4-on-3 and came 2:04 into the second period. Worthington and Jeremy Dehner (Madison, Wis.) assisted on the goal.
Heichman ended Massie's shutout bid with a shorthanded goal, his second of the season, at 12:53 of the third period. Mike Atkinson (Sparta, N.J.) had the assist.
Bud Fisher (Peterborough, Ont.) started the game and took the loss for Quinnipiac. He made six saves, but allowed three goals in 13:57 of action. Freshman Nick Pisellini (Itasca, Ill.) made 23 saves in relief for the Bobcats.
UML out-shot the Quinnipiac 33 to 28 for the game, including a 10-7 edge in the third period. The Bobcats had 48 minutes in penalties, 32 in the last five minutes of play. The River Hawks totaled a season-high 32 penalty minutes, including 16 in the last five minutes.
The River Hawks were 2-for-9 on the power play, scoring on their first two man-advantage markers of the night. UML also tallied two power play goals in a 3-0 win at Michigan State (10/16). Quinnipiac was 0-for-6 on the power play. The River Hawks have killed 13 straight opponent power plays.
"It was a real challenge for our guys to hold their discipline," said MacDonald referring to the amount of penalties called late in the game. "We want to play an honest game, and I know we did.
"Killing off the power plays early in the game, especially the five-on-three was key. Massie, for his first start, stepped up big when we needed him. We took advantage and scored on our power plays. It's just disappointing to play such an ugly game."
UMass Lowell is next in action Friday and Saturday night when they host Boston University and Vermont respectively. The Bobcats next play Saturday when they host Connecticut.