CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - No. 16 Massachusetts hockey used an early first period lead to help the squad skate to a 3-2 win over No. 1 Boston College Friday night at Conte Forum. The win moves UMass to 16-11-2 (7-8-2 HE), while the Eagles fall to 21-6-1 (13-4-1 HE) on the season.
"Big win for us tonight," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel, "But I think it's just the next step for our group. We've won six of our last seven and have beaten good teams on the road all year. This is just a really good confidence builder again for our group, we're feeling it. I think the difference for us down the stretch is going to be Michael Hrabal, and he was tonight. He played outstanding. I challenged him before the game. I said, 'keep them to two or less, and we'll score three', and that's how it played out."
UMass opened the scoring when junior Cole O'Hara won the puck along the half wall and sent it down to senior Lucas Mercuri below the goal line. Mercuri fed sophomore Jack Musa out in front and Musa backhanded in his own rebound at 1:14 for a 1-0 advantage.
Boston College leveled the score at one apiece on its second power play opportunity of the night. Michael Hrabal was there to make a 10-bell save on Teddy Stiga's initial shot, but the puck kicked out to Gabe Perreault at the right post for him to finish into an open net 11:28 into the opening period.
With the clock winding down in the second, UMass made one final rush up the ice with Musa sending the puck ahead to O'Hara who went bar down as time expired with 0.9 seconds on the clock to give the Minutemen a 2-1 lead.
UMass added an important insurance goal at the 18:24 mark in the third. Kenny Connors lofted a backhand through center ice and into the empty net to make it a two-goal cushion. It also extended Connors' scoring streak to seven straight games, setting a new program record.
Ryan Leonard then capped the scoring with an extra attacker goal for the Eagles at 19:34 from Perreault and James Hagens.
Boston College out-shot the Minutemen, 39-29 on the night and were 1-for-5 on the power play, while UMass was 0-for-5.
Connors, Mercuri, Musa and O'Hara all extended their point-scoring streaks to seven and have a combined 25 goals and 22 assists for 47 points in that span.
Hrabal finished the contest with 37 saves in net for the Minutemen and BC netminder Jacob Fowler turned aside 26 shots.
The teams will be back in action tomorrow night, February 15, at the Mullins Center at 7 p.m.
