AMHERST, Mass. - Despite nearly doubling up Northeastern in shots, the UMass hockey team was unable to solve goaltender Chris Rawlings, falling to the Huskies, 1-0, on Friday evening at the Mullins Center. Following the setback, the Minutemen are now 4-6-2 overall, 3-6-1 in Hockey East, while Northeastern improves to 5-7-1 and 3-6-1 in conference action.
Senior Kevin Czepiel, junior Colin Shea and junior Troy Power each had four attempts on goal as UMass finished with a 31-17 advantage in shots. Junior netminder Kevin Boyle totaled 16 saves in the defeat, while Rawlings stopped 31 for the Huskies.
Northeastern scored the only goal of the night in the closing minutes of the second period as Adam Reid converted a short-handed opportunity 17:13 into the frame. Dustn Darou poked the puck away at the Huskies' own blue line and found Reid alone just outside the team's bench. Reid skated into the UMass zone and sent a shot past Boyle for his first tally of the season.
The Minutemen had several quality chances, but were unable to convert, including Power's close-range rip midway through the second period that hit the post. Late in the third, UMass had a five-minute power play as a result of a kneeing major that was called against Josh Manson and came up empty despite sustained offensive zone pressure that yielded four shots on goal.
For the night, the Minutemen went 0-for-4 on the power play, while Northeastern was 0-2. UMass won 30-of-53 faceoffs in the contest.
Both squads will return to action tomorrow night, Dec. 1, with the second game of the season series set for 7 p.m. at Matthews Arena in Boston, Mass.