In a league as tough as this, losses aren’t only probable, they’re almost inevitable.
The Massachusetts hockey team (3-3-0 overall, 2-1-0 Hockey East) had a tremendously strong pair of outings, but nonetheless split its conference weekend, dominating Northeastern Saturday night 4-2, after falling on the road to Providence on Friday by a 3-2 tally. Junior Tim Turner put up four points on the weekend, posting a goal and three assists.
“I thought we had used a lot of energy last night and last night’s game was a difficult game for us because I thought we competed like crazy but obviously weren’t as organized as we needed to be,” said UMass Head Coach Don Cahoon following the team’s victory over Northeastern. “Tonight we competed and the end result was that we took care of business.”
Saturday’s contest was the Minutemen’s second victory this season in as many home contests. Greg Mauldin notched the contest’s game-winner, boosting the Maroon and White into a tie for second place in the conference early on in the season.
“It was a big, big goal,” Cahoon said. “I thought bringing the puck to the net was a big factor there. They were pressuring the net and he freed himself and was able to tap one home.”
The play started as freshman Craig MacDonald brought the puck toward the net from the right-hand boards. After putting an NHL-caliber move on Northeastern defenseman Brian Sullivan, MacDonald stuffed a shot at goaltender Mike Gilhooly, and Mauldin was there to put home the rebound at the 19:06 mark to give UMass a 3-2 lead.
“Any goal in the last minute of play in a period is huge,” Mauldin said. “Craig took the puck to the net hard and I was able to be on the doorstep and put it home.”
Turner would ice an empty net goal in the final minute for the Maroon and White, but the final result seemed to be in tact less than five minutes into the final stanza. Husky winger Leon Hayward slipped behind the defense and broke in alone on senior goaltender Mike Johnson, who promptly turned aside Hayward’s shot, essentially ending Northeastern’s chance of victory.
“When he came down I knew that was basically the game,” Johnson said. “If I made the save, we won – if I didn’t, then hopefully we win in regulation or overtime.”
The scoring opened up just over a minute into the game, when Mauldin sent Turner streaking to the net for a one-timer that went just wide of Gilhooly. But Turner followed his errant tip into the corner and brought it back out, sliding a pass to MacDonald in front of the net, who wristed a shot high to the glove side to give the Minutemen a 1-0 lead.
Northeastern (2-4-2, 1-2-1 HE) went on to score two goals in the first, one by senior defenseman Jim Fahey and the other by junior Mike Ryan, to head into the locker room leading 2-1 after one period. But UMass was far from finished, as the Minutemen were primed for a comeback.
“I think what we’re trying to do with these kids is tell them to keep playing,” Cahoon said. “There’s going to be all kinds of shifts in momentum and shifts in scores and I think you try to put it out of their heads. We’re trying to keep them from being too affected by those shifts.”
The Maroon and White equalized the game at the 4:11 mark of the second. With Ryan in the box for an interference minor, the UMass power play stormed into action. Senior Martin Miljko slid a pass across to senior captain Toni S
