PROVIDENCE, R.I. - No. 16 University of Massachusetts hockey scored twice in the first five minutes of the contest and never trailed en route to a 3-1 win over No. 13/14 Providence in the Hockey East Quarterfinals at Schneider Arena on Saturday afternoon. With the win the Minutemen improve to 20-12-3, while the Friars fall to 18-13-4. It marks the seventh 20-win season in program history and the fifth under head coach Greg Carvel.
"I thought we did a tremendous job preparing this week as a staff, as a team," said Carvel. "We had a game plan and it was followed really well and our kids competed really hard. I was really happy with 60 solid minutes up and down the lineup, special teams, 5-on-5, we deserved this win, no doubt."
Junior Ryan Lautenbach put UMass on the board just 67 seconds into the contest, skating to the front of the Providence net and batting home a feed from classmates Lucas Mercuri and Taylor Makar below the goal line.
Then at the 4:16 mark, junior Ryan Ufko collected a faceoff win from sophomore Kenny Connors and drove in his 10th tally of the season from the blueline.
Following a scoreless second and with the third period winding down, Connors made it a 3-0 margin, cleaning up a loose puck in the Providence slot with Lautenbach and Mercuri collecting the assists at 14:22.
The Friars spoiled the shutout bid 28 seconds later, with Hudson Malinoski scoring a 6-on-4 power-play goal from Richard Guillaume and Tanner Adams.
Providence finished the contests with a 28-25 edge in shots on goal and were 1-for-3 on the power play, while UMass was 0-for-5.
Michael Hrabal logged 27 saves for the Minutemen and Philip Svedeback turned aside 22 in net for the Friars.
UMass will faceoff against the tournament's top seed, Boston College, in the first Hockey East semifinal at 4:00pm on Friday, March 22 at TD Garden in Boston.
