AMHERST, Mass. - No. 18 University of Massachusetts hockey picked up its first Hockey East win of the season on Friday night at the Mullins Center, defeating Northeastern, 2-1 in overtime. The Minutemen improve to 5-2-1 on the season (1-1-1 HE) after coming out on top in a defensive battle that went scoreless through the first 47 minutes and 26 seconds, while the Huskies fall to 2-3-0 (0-3-0 HE).
"It's funny how the games work," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "Sometimes you think you play well and deserve to win, sometimes you don't play so well and find a way to win. That was the case tonight. We didn't come out with much jump. Northeastern was the much better team in the first period. I thought in the second period we started to get our legs and then we take the two penalties, the five-minute kind of set us back. Michael Hrabal was outstanding. I feel badly for him that we gave up a 2-on-0 with two minutes left in the game, but he was the difference. It's good to leave the building with a 'W'."
With scoring chances at a premium and the teams deadlocked at 0-0, Northeastern ended the second period with a five-minute power play that carried into the third when Ryan Lautenbach was sent off for a hit from behind.
After UMass successfully completed the kill, senior captain Aaron Bohlinger put the Minutemen on the board 7:26 into the third. Without a stick, junior Lucas Mercuri dribbled the puck with his feet below the goal line and kicked it over to graduate student Liam Gorman. Gorman found Bohlinger creeping in at the right faceoff dot for the one-timer.
Then with under two minutes remaining in the third, Pito Walton's stretch pass out of the corner of the Northeastern defensive zone sprung Alex Cambell and Cam Lund on a 2-on-0 that saw Campbell dish the puck off to Lund for the equalizer at the 18:16 mark.
In the extra frame once UMass gained sustained possession in the Huskies' zone and changed out their forwards for fresh legs, junior Scott Morrow sent a pass to freshman Jack Musa, who found Kenny Connors in the slot. Connors glided towards the net and rocketed the winning tally past Cameron Whitehead 1:45 into overtime for his second goal of the season.
Northeastern finished the night with a 27-21 shot advantage and both teams were 0-for-2 on the power play. UMass won 27 of 52 (51.9%) of the faceoffs in the contest, aided by a 7-for-8 (87.5%) effort from Lucas Vanroboys and a 7-for-10 (70%) clip from Dans Locmelis.
Minutemen netminder Michael Hrabal made 26 saves on the evening and Whitehead totaled 19 stops for the Huskies.
UMass will be back in action next Friday, November 10, when the squad will open a two-game set against Vermont at the Mullins Center at 7 p.m. in a contest that will air on NESN.
