AMHERST, Mass. - No. #16/14 Massachusetts hockey built a 3-0 first period lead to help the squad roll to a 5-1 win over No. 5/4 Maine at the Mullins Center on Friday night. With the win, the Minutemen improve to 19-12-2 overall, 10-9-4 in Hockey East, while the Black Bears fall to 21-7-5 overall and 13-5-5 in league action.
"Another, another big win for us tonight against one of the top teams in the country," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "You know, we've been really good on the road. We've needed to be really good at home. Tonight, we were. It was a pretty solid, chippy game, fast game. I thought we created a ton of offense. The penalty kill was great. The power play, we only had one or two, so we didn't have a lot, but power play was good. Goalie's good. Team's good."
UMass opened the scoring just 2:52 into the contest with junior Cole O'Hara redirecting freshman Francesco Dell'Elce's shot from the left point past goaltender Albin Boija for his 21st goal of the season. It also extended O'Hara's point streak to 13 straight.
The Minutemen doubled their lead at the 7:09 mark with Kenny Connors firing a shot through traffic on the power play off a feed from sophomore Aydar Suniev and senior Lucas Mercuri down low.
In the final minute of the first period, sophomore Jack Musa pushed the advantage to 3-0, putting back a rebound at the top of the crease after junior Lucas Olvestad's shot from the blueline was turned aside.
Graduate student Joey Musa netted his first goal as a Minuteman 2:26 into the second, backhanding the puck past Boija at the near post with junior Owen Murray and sophomore Bo Cosman earning the assists.
Maine spoiled the shutout bid 4:19 into the third when Charlie Russell collected an outlet pass from Nolan Renwick and fired a shot from the win on the rush.
O'Hara then capped the scoring with his second of the night at 11:34, a highlight reel shorthanded goal that started with him blocking a shot in the defensive zone.
The Black Bears ended the night with a 39-32 advantage in shots on goal and went 0-for-4 on the power play, while the Minutemen were 1-for-3.
UMass goaltender Michael Hrabal stopped 38 saves on the evening while his counterpart, Boija, made 27 saves.
The teams will be back in action tomorrow night, March 8, closing out the regular season at 7:30 p.m. in the Mullins Center.
