PROVIDENCE, R.I. - No. 9 University of Massachusetts hockey scored twice in the second and twice in the third to close out the first half of its schedule with a 4-0 shutout at Brown on Tuesday night. The Minutemen end the semester at 12-4-1, while the Bears fall to 3-10-0.
"The score was 4-0, but I thought it was a closer game than that," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "We got big saves from Fille (Lindberg) when we needed them, but I thought we did a good job with possession in the o-zone and finally Oliver Chau scores two big goals on good rush energy up the ice. It was a great way to finish the semester. We're getting healthy, we've learned our lessons and I feel like this team is starting to grow into what they should be."
Midway through the second period, junior John Leonard played a puck up the wall that sent classmates Philip Lagunov and Chau up the ice on a 2-on-1 break. Lagunov dished over to Chau who deposited the puck into the top left corner of the Brown net, giving UMass a 1-0 lead at the 7:49 mark.
Chau struck again in the closing seconds of the frame, backhanding in a shot through traffic at 19:33 with junior Mitchell Chaffee earning the assist.
UMass added two more in the third. Leonard knocked in a rebound at the net front from freshman Zac Jones and senior Jack Suter picking up the assists 13:50 into the period.
Freshman Reed Lebster capped the scoring 58 seconds later, skating in alone on goaltender Gavin Nieto after sophomore Ty Farmer managed to poke the puck free in the neutral zone.
UMass finished with a 37-27 shot advantage and went 0-for-2 on the power play, while Brown was 0-for-1.
Sophomore Filip Lindberg made 27 saves to earn his second shutout of the season and sixth of his career. Nieto turned aside 33 for the Bears.
After posting his third career multi-goal game tonight, Chau how has six points (3g, 3a) in his last four games, for a four-game point streak, and nine points (4g, 5a) in his last nine contests. Leonard finished the night with a goal and an assist, his fifth multi-point game of the season, and pushed his goal scoring streak to four straight.
