The Massachusetts club hockey team played a hard-fought game, holding onto the lead late to sneak out a 5-4 win over Holy Cross on Monday night.

It was an aggressive, high scoring game for both teams as both forechecks were on full display, creating many opportunities. The Minutemen (5-1) had five different players find the back of the net, with four of them being their first goal of the season.

UMass came out slow after coming off a loss to Keene State through the first minutes of the first period and struggled to get the puck out of the defensive zone. UMass quickly turned things around and opened the scoring with a pass from captain Scott Shorrock, into a one timer on a 2 on 1 from sophomore forward Thomas Milne. The lamp lighter was Milne’s first of the season.

The Minutemen wouldn’t stop their resurgence there. Continuing the domination of the middle of the period, 30 seconds later off a turnover forced by the forecheck and the aggressive pinching at the blue line, senior forward Sean Prendergast beat the goaltender with a hard wrist shot from the slot.

UMass had a breakout of the defensive zone which led to an open breakaway for junior forward Jacob Marini, who although missed the opportunity initially, stuck with the play to make up for it seconds later. His slapshot from the right slot netted his first of the season and started off the game with three unanswered goals.

The Minutemen dominated most of the period with both teams strong on the forecheck, but Holy Cross snuck in two goals at the end of the period. A cluster in front of the net and a UMass miscommunication made the score 3-2 Massachusetts heading into the second.

It was a quick start to the second period as the Minutemen got overaggressive on the forecheck and allowed Holy Cross to tie the game early in the second with a goal from the left corner within the first minute of play.

A bounce back was necessary for UMass, and it came one minute later as senior captain Daniel O’Leary threw a puck out front that ricocheted off a defender and into the net for a lone goal to take back the lead.

The first penalty of the game came seven minutes into the period as Holy Cross was called for charging. The mentality of the players had changed, and the physicality of both teams began to increase.

It was a patient powerplay for Massachusetts that only mustered up two shots throughout. Just as the two minutes expired, sophomore forward Colby Magliozzi beat the goaltender and got the first goal of his career, courtesy of some crisp passing from the Minutemen on the rush.

“I gotta shout out the teammates for just helping me get the monkey off the back,” Magliozzi said. “Great feeling; I couldn’t have done it without them, I’m just excited to get the first one.”

The physical game continued with UMass being called for a tripping minor penalty. The penalty kill unit was thriving but was put to a greater test when another penalty was called on Massachusetts putting them in a tough 5-on-3.

The Minutemen had dominated the period though, and that continued, as junior goalie Trey Peterson and the penalty kill help strong and made it out of the period with a two-goal lead.

Scrappiness ensued at the start of the third period, as the two teams got into a scrum two minutes into the period. The shots were getting less frequent as the chippy nature of the game increased.

Both teams killed off separate penalties and the defense continued to control the game for much of the period. The teams were rustling after the whistle, and it was prevalent that this game was not over.

With a little over two minutes left in the game Holy Cross’s goaltender was pulled and the Crusaders had scored shortly after and shrunk the lead to one goal with under two minutes left in regulation.

The Crusaders goalie would be pulled again, and Holy Cross would continue to pressure UMass with a multitude of shots late in the game, but Massachusetts goalie Trey Peterson would keep all pucks out until the buzzer sounded for a UMass win 5-4.

It was an important win for the Minutemen to get back on track after a loss on Friday. They will look to stay in the win column on Friday, Oct. 21st at 7:30 p.m. when they take on Liberty on the road.

Mike Maynard can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @mike_maynard_.