Heading into Thanksgiving break, the Massachusetts men’s club hockey team earned two wins against Keene State and Maine for its second three-game winning streak on the season.
The Minutemen defeated the Owls, 3-1, on Friday at home in the Mullins Center behind the stellar goaltending of Joe Iadarola. The net-minder stopped 28 of the 29 shots put on goal.
Senior UMass forward Ryan Leary had an outstanding game, netting two goals for his fourth and fifth goals of the season and now has a total of 11 total points on the season.
UMass coach Mike Atkinson felt that his team knew the style of play they needed to play to win coming off the victory at Vermont.
“Going into the Keene State game, we just wanted to play our game,” Atkinson said. “We were definitely coming off a big road win at UVM, we needed to continue our success at home.”
On Saturday, the Minutemen earned their ninth victory of the season with a 10-4 thrashing of the Black Bears. The 10 goals for UMass came from six different players.
Senior Danny Arnao outshined all other players offensively, scoring five points in the game. Arnao recorded three assists and netted two goals, including one while the team was short-handed.
“[Saturday] night we were low in numbers due to some injuries but we found a way to get a win against a great Maine team,” Atkinson said. “The offense was great and they got the job done.”
Even with such a strong offensive performance by UMass on Saturday night, Atkinson said that the recent strong defensive play was more impressive.
“What I have been even more excited about is the direction that our defense is going,” Atkinson said. “Our defense has been going above and beyond to work on its strengths and weaknesses to get better.”
Atkinson pins the momentum for the past two wins from the 6-5 road win against Vermont.
“We knew that we were good but that win showed the team that when we play our style of hockey, we can do great things,” Atkinson said. “With that win on the road we learned that we can win big games.”
Using these three wins as a springboard for the rest of the season, the Minutemen have high hopes for the second half of the schedule.
“The team has bought in to our style of hockey and hopefully we can keep that going into the second half of the season,” Atkinson said.
The winning combo for UMass has been more than just offense, as Atkinson pointed out. The defense has started to step up and the goaltending has been a strong point for the Minutemen.
“Our goaltending situation has been improving and [Iadarola] has done a great job,” Atkinson said. “If he continues to play well I am very confident with our chances the rest of the way.”
UMass has one more game before winter break and will travel to Swanzey, N.H. on Dec. 4 to play Keene State.
Robert Hanlon can be reached at [email protected].
