A night after a heartbreaking 4-3 overtime loss to Northeastern on the road, the Massachusetts hockey team dropped another close one Saturday night at the Mullins Center, this time to No. 4 Merrimack, 4-3.
With just two seconds remaining in the game, Jeff Velleca scored the second of his two goals of the night when he squeezed home a high shot along the right side of the net, manned by UMass’ freshman Steve Mastalerz.
With the last-second loss, the Minutemen fall to 9-12-5 overall, 5-10-4 in the Hockey East. The Warriors advanced to 15-6-5 overall and 11-5-3 in the conference.
The Maroon and White had its hands full in a very physical contest against Merrimack, the score going back and forth for much of the opening period.
“We can’t beat ourselves,” said UMass coach Don Cahoon of the team’s inability to finish games. “We made adjustments halfway through the first period, and it helped us get into a position to compete.”
The Warriors got things going early when Ryan Flanigan found the back of the net just a little more than three minutes into the game. Off a one-timer from near the blue line, the senior’s shot just snuck past Mastalerz’s glove, giving Merrimack an early 1-0 advantage.
UMass would quickly respond. Just 55 seconds later, sophomore Troy Power, in traffic, fought through the crowd to fight for a loose puck down at the net, muscling it by Warriors netminder Joe Cannata to tie the game at 1-1.
The back-and-forth affair would continue in the first period. Just 20 seconds after Power’s goal, Merrimack grabbed its second lead in the game.
Inside the left circle, Josh Myers nailed home a wrist shot, giving the Warriors a 2-1 lead.
The scoring spree in the opening frame would end with one more goal by UMass, when sophomore Conor Sheary pushed the game even at 2-2 with his ninth goal of the season. With three minutes, 47 seconds remaining, Sheary slipped past the defense and positioned down at the net, sending home a rebounded shot from senior T.J. Syner, who received his 18th assist of the season on the play.
The game would remain scoreless until just under five minutes into the second period, when Velleca rifled home his first of two on the night to give Merrimack another lead at 3-2.
The game would go back and forth for much of the rest of the contest, until the Minutemen found the goal they needed in the final frame. On a power-play opportunity just a minute into the third period, UMass’ Joel Hanley netted his third goal of the season when he received a pass from Syner inside the offensive zone, putting the puck in to tie the game, 3-3.
After a hard-fought battle for the puck until the very end, Velleca found the game-winner to help Merrimack leave with the first win of three contests played this season between both teams.
“He’s got to learn how to play that situation,” said Cahoon of Mastalerz’s inability to block the goal in the final moments. Mastalerz saved 23 shots as he drops to 3-3 on the season.
The Maroon and White go back to work Friday when it travels to Boston to take on Boston University, followed by a Saturday evening matchup at home against Providence.
Minutemen fall to Huskies in OT
Troubles of getting a victory away from home continued Friday night for the Minutemen.
Just 22 seconds into overtime, Northeastern’s Vinny Saponari scored the game-winning goal to seal the win for the Huskies, 4-3.
The winner in the extra session gives NU its third consecutive season series over UMass, which has now lost six of the last nine against the Huskies since the 2009-2010 season.
With the loss, the Minutemen fall to 0-9-2 when playing in true road games this year. Last season, UMass was 2-15-2 away from the Mullins Center, a troubling stat for any team in a tough conference.
“It was a hard-fought game that could have gone either way,” said Cahoon following the loss. “We played our butts off in the second and third periods to give ourselves a chance to win the game … it’s really a tough way to lose a game.
NU got the scoring going early.
Robbie Vrolyk – who scored two goals in the game – and Adam Reid both helped the Huskies jump out to an early 2-0 first-period lead with goals spanning just four minutes from each other.
UMass would respond with a pair of goals to tie the game at 2-2 before the opening frame would come to an end. Sophomore Michael Pereira and junior Darren Rowe notched their 11th and first goals of the season, respectively.
Even when the Maroon and White took a 3-2 lead just two minutes into the second frame when Pereira netted his second goal of the contest, NU would not go away.
At the 5:37 mark in the middle period, Vrolyk wristed home his second goal of the game to tie it up at 3-3.
With 62 total shots and nine total power-play chances between both clubs, there were plenty of offensive opportunities for each team to claim victory.
Unfortunately, Saponari’s overtime netter sent NU to its 11th win of the season, while leaving UMass with a sour taste in its mouth.
Freshman Kevin Boyle received his first start since Jan. 5, stopping 27 shots, 10 coming in the first period.
Senior Chris Rawlings grabbed the start for NU, as he saved 28 shots.
Scott Cournoyer can be reached at [email protected] or followed on Twitter @MDC_Cournoyer.
