AMHERST, Mass. - Two first period goals proved to be all No. 14 Massachusetts hockey needed to secure a Hockey East Tournament Opening round win over Vermont as UMass defeated the Catamounts (11-21-3), 2-1 on Wednesday night at the Mullins Center. With the victory, the Minutemen have posted their sixth 20-win season in the past seven years and move on to the Hockey East Quarterfinals with a record of 20-12-5.
"It was very much a playoff-style game," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "We were a little slow off the start. They were much more urgent at the beginning the game, but we had a nice stretch there, about 10 minutes in the first period, and found a way to score two goals. It felt like an unusual game, just because there wasn't a lot of offense either way. We usually create a little more excitement around the net, and we didn't tonight, so it felt off, but we didn't give up a lot. After two periods, I think they only had four or five scoring chances, and I'm not sure what they had in the third, but you win and move on. This time of year, it's going to be a one-goal game, and we came out on top."
UMass opened the scoring 12:16 into the first period when senior Lucas Mercuri redirected junior Cole O'Hara's from the blueline after he collected the puck from sophomore Jack Musa. O'Hara's assist marked his 50th point of the season, making him just the second player in the program's Division I history to reach the milestone.
The Minutemen expanded their lead to 2-0 at 13:30. Senior Ryan Lautenbach picked off a pass in the defensive zone, skated it up the ice and drove to the net for the finish over goaltender Keenan Rancier.
Vermont took one of the goals back almost immediately, however. Colin Kessler buried a wrister from the slot off a feed from Jax Wismer and Max Strand at 14:39, cutting the UMass lead to 2-1.
That would prove to be all the scoring in the contest as the second and third period featured minimal chances and no special teams situations.
The Catamounts ended the night with a 25-21 edge in shots and UMass was 0-for-1 on the only power play of the night.
Minutemen netminder Michael Hrabal turned aside 24 shots on the evening and Rancier finished with 19 saves for UVM.
UMass will next travel to No. 9/7 Boston University for the Hockey East Quarterfinals this Saturday, March 15, at 4:30 p.m. The matchup will be carried on NESN+.
