The Massachusetts hockey team allowed three first period goals and, despite a late surge, never battled back, dropping its Saturday game against Quinnipiac, 4-2.
Steven Guzzo and Michael Marcou each netted goals for the Minutemen in the contest and Joel Hanley ended the game with two assists.
The first period of play started quickly, though not for UMass.
Minutemen goaltender Jeff Teglia had a busy night in net as he made 17 saves, but allowed four goals in just two periods. Steve Mastalerz replaced Teglia between the pipes in the third period. He went on to make six saves.
The Bobcats received a goal just one minute into the game when Clay Harvey finished an easy rebound to put QU ahead early, 1-0. Less than five minutes later, John Dunbar finished another rebound off a teammate’s shot to widen the Bobcat lead to two goals.
Wrapping up the first third of the game, Zack Currie converted on a Bobcat power play opportunity halfway through the period to give Quinnipiac a sizeable advantage going into the intermission. With a 16-to-5 shot advantage in the first period alone, the Bobcats dominated the Minutemen in all facets of play.
The second period saw the Bobcats add their fourth goal of the night when Connor Jones scored just over the 10-minute mark to give QU a 4-0 lead.
The Minutemen finally found their stride in the third period, but the effort came too late. Guzzo finally netted UMass’ first goal of the game two minutes into the third period, receiving a pass from Hanley and redirecting it into the corner of the net to cut the squad’s deficit to three goals. The goal was Guzzo’s fifth of the season.
Marcou followed later on in the period with his third goal of the season. He took a pass from Hanley and T.J. Syner on a five-on-three power play to make the score, 4-2, scoring on a slap-shot from the top of the faceoff circle. The assist was Syner’s 12th of the season, which leads the team, and also marks his 18th point of the year, also highest of all Minutemen.
UMass was outshot, 27-to-21, and also was outplayed on the power play all game long. The Minutemen went 1-for-6 on special teams for the night, compared to Quinnipiac, which went 1-for-3.
Hanley and Troy Power were the only two Minutemen to finish with a positive plus-minus rating on the night while six other players were minus-1, and two players were minus-2. At this point in the season, Guzzo leads all UMass players in that category, racking up a plus-seven rating in the 13 games he has played in since returning from a torn ACL a season ago.
Goaltender Eric Harzell made 19 saves in net for the Bobcats, who move to 8-6-2 overall. The Minutemen dropped to 4-7-3 following the loss and ended a miserable road trip where it dropped three consecutive games to the likes of UMass Lowell, Vermont and the Bobcats.
The Minutemen will take on Harvard on Friday at home as the squad looks to continue its unbeaten streak at home.
Michael Wood can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @MDC_Wood.
