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

UMass stays undefeated

The Massachusetts men’s club hockey team remains undefeated this season after defeating New Haven and Vermont this weekend.

The Minutemen (9-0-0) defense proved to be a key factor in this weekend’s matches, allowing just two goals in their 7-2 rout over the Chargers (1-3-0) this past Friday.

While last week’s match against Millersville featured defensive players scoring goals, the match against New Haven saw a lone defender goal scored by first year player Craig Charest.

The six other scores came from the offensive effort. Forward Danny Arnao racked up two goals in the game, while captain Alec Goolsby lead in assists with three, which raised his assist tally to 11 for the season.

“As we started to reset through the game, we worked on things,” UMass coach Robert Talloni said. “We were hustling, hustling, and we were the stronger team. We didn’t out-do them; they put everything they had into the game.”

Freshman Joe Iadarola played goalkeeper for the second time this season and stopped 30 of the 32 shots taken during the 60 minutes he was in the game.

“The players really responded to him. They really supported him,” Talloni said.

He explained that the Chargers will join the Northeastern Collegiate Hockey Association (NECHA) next season.

“We’d really like to keep them on the game schedule. We hope to see them next season,” he said.

This past Sunday, the Minutemen came home to the Mullins Center with a mission to defeat the conference rival Catamounts (2-5-0). The Minutemen did not let up, allowing no goals en route to a 4-0 shutout.

“We played a lot of games; they played a lot of games. Sometimes you find your groove; sometimes you lose your groove,” Talloni said. “So, we just wanted to see which was true [in this game].”

Goolsby returned to his scoring ways, netting the final goal of the game. He also tallied an assist along with forward Craig Cardone who passed out three pucks that would find their way to net.

Assistant captains Reed Powers and Julian Maleski both scored goals in the match, marking the third time this season that the captain and both assistant captains scored in the same game.

“They got the goals, but the whole line should get an assist,” Talloni said.

On Friday, UMass will host Long Island-C.W. Post at the Mullins Center. This is the first meeting between the Minutemen and the Pioneers (3-5-1), so Talloni is looking to use some new strategy.

“I wanted them to come to us for the first time. I’ve known their coach, I’ve played them in the past,” he said. “I thought it’d be a good mix for us because they’re a very physical team. I think it‘ll make us stronger for the season.”

Long Island was last shut out by Marist by a score of 8-0. With the Minutemen having just shut out Vermont, the match between the two teams has an interesting connection.

“We shut a team out, and then they got shutout. So now we catch them here, so we’ll see what kind of team they are,” Talloni said.

Following the match against C.W. Post, the Minutemen will travel to the Big Apple to face New York (1-4-0). The Violets have allowed 45 goals all season, which is six less than the Minutemen have scored. The offense of the Minutemen may not have trouble finding the back of the net, unless New York rebuilds its game plan.

“We’re going to try to run them into the ground. Open up the ice and we’re going to let them worry about us,” Talloni said.

Herb Scribner can be reached at [email protected].

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