FARGO, N.D. - The No. 13/11 Massachusetts Minutemen took a 1-0 lead late into the second period, but a pair of power-play goals lifted No. 3 Western Michigan past the Minutemen 2-1 in the NCAA Fargo Regional Championship at Scheels Arena on Saturday. UMass ends the season with a record of 21-14-5.
UMass opened the scoring midway through the first when freshman Daniel Jencko collected an outlet pass from graduate student Linden Alger in the neutral zone and sprung sophomore Dans Locmelis on a partial break. Locmelis skated in on Hampton Slukynsky and stickhandled around the netminder for his eighth goal of the season at the 8:50 mark.
After a minor to Aydar Suniev was escalated to a major penalty, the Broncos converted just 22 seconds into the power play. Liam Valente connected on a one-timer from the top of the right faceoff circle, set up by Samuel Sjolund and Owen Michaels 18:35 into the second period. Western Michigan then began the third period with 3:14 remaining on the major power play and converted once more at 2:47 into the frame. Tim Washe tipped home a Brian Kramer shot at the top of the crease with Joona Vaisanen earning the secondary helper.
The Broncos finished with a 30-29 shot advantage and went 2-for-4 on the power play, while UMass was 0-for-3.
Sophomore netminder Michael Hrabal logged 28 saves for the Minutemen and Slukynsky stopped 28 for Western Michigan.
