LAKE PLACID, NY – The Massachusetts hockey team will walk out of Lake Placid winless after it fell to the Clarkson Golden Knights 5-4 in overtime of the consolation game of the Adirondack Winter Invitational. The Minutemen (11-5-2, 4-3-1 Hockey East) out skated the Golden Knights (9-6-1, 4-1-1 ECAC) for much of the game, but turnovers and untimely penalties proved to be too much for UMass to overcome on Saturday evening.
With just under three minutes remaining in the overtime period, Ryan Ufko entered the offensive zone and saw Michael Cameron trailing him across the ice. Ufko left the pass a little behind Cameron, causing him to lose the puck in his skates and scramble to try to collect it. Ryan Taylor of Clarkson took advantage of the loose puck and turned up the ice on a 2-on-1 break.
Taylor entered the offensive zone and took a shot at the top left corner of Cole Brady’s net. Brady made the initial stop, but Taylor was right there to collect his own rebound and tap in the game winner.
“I thought we were the better team, I thought we played better, but we made some big mistakes, a lot of odd man rushes, penalties at bad times,” head coach Greg Carvel said. “Just a bit frustrating.”
After drawing the first period 1-1 the Minutemen picked up the next two goals of the contest to take a 3-1 lead in the second period.
Kenny Connors and Cole O’Hara scored their fourth and second goals of the season respectively in the first 10 minutes of the second frame.
Connors thought he scored at the start of his shift when he came into the offensive zone 1-on-1 with a Clarkson defender and ripped a wrister at the net. The puck seemingly zipped past the net as it wrapped around the boards, but several UMass players threw their hands up, trying to convince the referees that the puck went through a hole in the net.
The play continued however, as the Minutemen recollected and re-entered the offensive zone. Taylor Makar crossed the blue line with speed and dropped the puck to a trailing Connors who sniped the puck past Clarkson goaltender Austin Roden, unmistakably tickling the twine.
Connors first shot wasn’t reviewed, but a rewind showed that the puck did go through a hole in the net.
UMass was in control of the game until later in the second period when Cole O’Hara took a penalty for interference, sending the Golden Knights to the power play. Clarkson quickly scored on the man advantage and swung the momentum entirely back in its favor. A late second period goal tied the game at three heading into the third.
As the clock ran out in the second period, Jack Judson of the Golden Knights took a boarding penalty after the whistle, giving UMass a power play to start the third period.
What should have been an advantageous start to the third period for the Minutemen turned into a nightmare beginning to the frame.
Less than a minute into the power play, a UMass giveaway at the point led to a breakaway for the Golden Knights, who made no mistake and buried the puck to give them a 4-3 lead early in the frame.
“Lack of detail, especially in the [defensive] zone, that’s the biggest thing we have to sharpen up on,” Cole O’Hara said. “Offensive zone we’re fine, but we’ve got to be better in the [defensive] zone.”
The Minutemen sent the game to overtime when Linden Alger potted his second goal of the season on a point shot that was screened well by UMass forwards, but Clarkson emerged victorious in extra time.
UMass will head back to Amherst to take on UConn on Friday, Jan. 5 for its first game of 2024. Puck drop at the Mullins Center is slated for 7 p.m.
“Two games that we could have won, that’s on me as a coach to get more out of this team,” Carvel said.
Matt Skillings can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at matt_skillings.
