At six minutes, 21 seconds of the third period in the Massachusetts hockey team’s 3-1 win over Northeastern on Saturday night, redshirt senior defenseman Patrick Dineen hooked Northeastern’s Tyler McNeely as he skated in alone on UMass goaltender Paul Dainton.
Referees whistled Dineen for the hook, and awarded McNeely with a penalty shot with his team trailing, 3-0. This was the first time Dainton had seen a penalty shot in his young career at UMass. McNeely’s shot sailed wide of the goal, preserving UMass’s three-goal lead.
“It was pretty nervewracking, but I just kept it simple,” Dainton said. “I just came out and cut off the angle. [McNeely] shot and missed the net. So hopefully there wasn’t too much to shoot at.”
McNeely’s penalty shot was the first against UMass since Nov. 21, 2003, when Maine’s Colin Shields’ attempt was stopped by then-UMass goaltender Gabe Winer. The last time an opponent has scored on a penalty shot was on Jan. 17, 2003 when New Hampshire’s Preston Callender beat UMass goaltender Michael Waidlich.
NU added a power-play goal at 11:40 of the period and turned up the offensive pressure from then on. The Minutemen succeeded in creating some transition opportunities; the best came with 1:33 left in regulation when junior Cory Quirk broke in on Brad Thiessen. An NU defenseman hauled Quirk down, and, once again, referees awarded a penalty shot – this time to the Minutemen. Thiessen eventually stopped Quirk’s attempt.
“I thought the plays were pretty similar,” UMass coach Don Cahoon said.
“They were definitely penalties, but if [referee Tim Benedetto] didn’t call the first [penalty shot], I don’t think he would have called the second.”
Before Quirk, sophomore Will Ortiz was the last UMass player to take a penalty shot. His attempt was stopped by Saint Lawrence goaltender Kain Tisi in a 3-1 UMass win in this season’s second game. The last UMass player to score on a penalty shot was Jeff Turner on Feb. 6, 2000, against UMass Lowell.
Assistant referee or linesman?
In the first period, NU’s Randy Guzior sent a UMass player into the boards. Benedetto did not see it and it looked as though it would go uncalled. But an assistant referee, formerly known as a linesman, eventually put his arm up for the delayed penalty call and sent Guzior to the penalty box.
It is rare to see an assistant referee call a penalty, but both Cahoon and NU coach Greg Cronin agreed with the call.
“I thought it was a good call. [Benedetto] called two or three hitting from behinds, not flagrants, but took people off the ice for the boarding call,” Cahoon said. “I thought it was there. And I don’t know if Timmy was blocked out and couldn’t see it, but the linesman that saw it was in front of my bench and he saw it.”
The hit came with UMass leading, 1-0, and the Minutemen scored their second goal on the power play they received from the hit. Alex Berry scored his second goal of the night off a feed from junior Chris Davis behind the NU goal to Thiessen’s right.
How the experts see it
For the second consecutive week, the Minutemen are outside of the USCHO/CSTC Division I Men’s poll. Earlier in the season, Cahoon commented that while his team doesn’t focus too heavily on the weekly polls, the 10 at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament are based heavily on how pollsters and the selection committee view different teams.
The Minutemen are the fourth team outside of the Top 20 behind Minnesota, Harvard and Michigan Tech. UMass’s three remaining opponents – Maine, Boston University and Merrimack – are unranked, so UMass has to win a majority of its remaining games and get some help from its Hockey East rivals to sneak back into the polls before the regular season ends on March 8.
UMass is 23rd in the PairWise rankings, and with serious competition from teams in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and the Central Collegiate Hockey Association for those precious at-large berths, the Minutemen do not look likely to receive a bid should they lose in the Hockey East Tournament.
As it currently stands, UMass would take on UNH in the first round of the conference tournament and is seven points from the fourth spot which would assure the Minutemen home ice in the first round. Berry spoke to the importance of home ice after Saturday’s win over Northeastern.
“I don’t know if it’s [Northeastern] specifically,” he said when asked about UMass’s success at home. “It’s all teams. Home ice is a huge advantage. You saw last year with the playoffs. It’s just good to play in front of your hometown fans. They bring a lot of energy to the game. When they’re coming out and supporting us, we really want to get a win for them.”
Both UML and BU have games against other teams in the middle of the pack the rest of the way, so if UMass can put together five or six wins in its remaining eight games, home ice isn’t out of the question at all
