Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

Massachusetts club hockey holds on for 5-4 victory over Montclair State

(Nicole Evangelista/Daily Collegian)
(Nicole Evangelista/Daily Collegian)

In their only contest of the weekend, the Massachusetts club hockey team beat Montclair State University 5-4 Saturday night at  Mullins Center Practice Rink. Seniors Mark Fidler and Alex Rojas led the way for UMass, each recording two-point nights. Rojas had a goal and assist while Fidler dished out two assists for the Minutemen (20-6-2-2).

With UMass holding a 4-3 advantage just over halfway through the third period, sophomore Terence Doonan took an excellent pass from Rojas and deposited it into the opposing goal to give the Minutemen a two-goal lead. It proved to be the game-winning goal, and it came at six minutes, 10 seconds of the final period.

After the game, coach Mike DeFazio evaluated an uneven night for UMass.

“We could’ve played much better,” he said. “There are some things we’ll have to be better at and will work on it practice, but a win’s a win, we’ll take it.”

The Minutemen got the scoring started three minutes, 25 seconds into the game after junior Shane Dowd put a rebound past the Red Hawks goaltender to give UMass an early 1-0 lead. Assists were credited to seniors Peter Kelly and Stephen Metayer.

Later in the period, just seconds after MSU killed off a bench minor penalty for too many men on the ice, Rojas potted his first and only goal of the evening. The initial shot from Fidler was stopped, but the puck continued to bounce around the crease until Rojas caught the rebound and stuffed it in the cage.

The fast start to the game continued for the Minutemen when junior Casey Litwack scored after a nice feed from freshman Anthony Lespasio at 10 minutes, 42 seconds into the first. Following a dump-and-change play from UMass, Lespasio raced after the puck behind the opposing net, stole the puck from a Red Hawk defender and found Litwack all alone in front. Litwack one-timed the pass into the net to give the Minutemen an early 3-0 lead.

The game looked all but over at this point as UMass was firing on all cylinders and outplaying MSU in every facet of the game.

Before UMass could celebrate, however, the Red Hawks responded just 33 seconds after Litwack’s goal, halting any momentum for the Minutemen. UMass got caught in its own zone after a weak clearing attempt was intercepted by a Red Hawk forward, who proceeded to fire a wrist shot past Minutemen goaltender Connor Walker to cut the deficit to 3-1.

MSU wasn’t done, as they opened the scoring in the second period following a terrific deflection goal at 12 minutes, 26 seconds into the period to make it a 3-2 game. UMass was on its toes at this point and the rest of the second period was a back-and-forth affair with both clubs getting quality scoring chances.

But with 50 seconds remaining in the period, senior Ryan Daigle scored a crucial goal to put the Minutemen back up by two, heading into the third. MSU got caught in its own end due to fierce fore-checking pressure from UMass, and Fidler got the puck in the corner and made a no-look pass to Daigle in the slot, who converted to give the Minutemen a 4-2 lead.

The third period had a similar start with the Red Hawks scoring a power play goal less than five minutes into the period to make it again a one-goal game. After Doonan scored to make it 5-3, MSU responded just two minutes later to keep the pressure on and cut the lead to 5-4. Walker was replaced by senior goalie Luke Lepine following this goal.

“I felt I needed to put Lepine in at that point,” DeFazio said regarding the switch. “Walker wasn’t seeing pucks well tonight and that happens, so it was nice having him [Lepine] there to come in and close out the game for us tonight.”

UMass held on for the victory even though the Red Hawks gave the Minutemen everything they could handle in the final minutes.

Next weekend, UMass closes out their regular season schedule with a home game Saturday night against UConn on Senior Night for the Minutemen. They’ll finish the weekend with a road matchup against Keene State on Sunday.

“Since it’ll be their last time out here, we want the guys to give it everything they got, so hopefully they do that and we come out with the win on Senior Night,” DeFazio said.

Ryan Ames can be reached at [email protected]

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