SPRINGFIELD — The Massachusetts hockey team scraped out a 4-3 win against American International College Saturday afternoon.
“Our game was up and down,” head coach Greg Carvel said. “There were times where we did great things … But we made a lot of mistakes too, allowed them back into the game.”
After a smooth first period, the Minutemen’s (4-3-1, 0-1-1 Hockey East) momentum shook up with seven penalties called, including one major penalty on both teams.
Answering AIC’s (1-5-1, 1-1 Atlantic Hockey Association) power play goal at the start of the second period, Dans Locmelis gave UMass its fourth goal of the game.
Kenny Connors and Aydar Suniev lined up in front of the blue line. Passing between each other, Connors lined himself in front of the blue line across from the goal and took a straight shot towards AIC goaltender Chase Clark. On the way in, Locmelis got the final tap on the puck as it made its way to the back of the net. This was Locmelis’ first goal of the season excluding his shoot-out goal against UConn on Oct. 25.
However, UMass was unable to capitalize on a seven-minute power play after defenseman David Posma collided with Michael Cameron in the middle of the ice and was charged with two minutes for charging and five minutes for direct contact to the head.
Larry Keenan entered the box soon after, forcing the Minutemen to go on a four-on-four and lose time on the man advantage.
“That seven-minute penalty got turned into a four-on-four, we lost some flow [and] didn’t create a lot I think on that extended power play unfortunately,” Carvel said.
Continuing to go back-and-forth with the Yellow Jackets, assistant captain Ryan Lautenbach took a five-minute major penalty for boarding.
Making sure AIC could not properly organize on the extended power play, especially after giving up a power play goal to start the second period, the Minutemen stayed on top of the Yellow Jackets and followed the puck well to keep goaltender Michael Hrabal out of trouble.
“The penalty kill was really good, except for [when] we let that guy sneak in behind us,” Carvel said. “It was a weird game. Second period there wasn’t much five-on-five time, which takes your bench out of the game.”
Jack Musa opened the scoring for the Minutemen over halfway into the first period, setting up consistency on offense after struggling to organize in the first 10 minutes.
Musa made his way to the front of the net as Cole O’Hara and Dans Locmelis found each other off the face-off. Tapping it to Musa, he caught Clark off guard and put the puck past him. Minutes later, the sophomore skated up from the blue line to create space between him and AIC’s defense. Going in unassisted, he swiped the puck past Clark and doubled UMass’ lead.
Lautenbach kept momentum up for the Minutemen heading into the first intermission.
After Francesco Dell’Elce broke the puck away from AIC, making his way down the ice, he turned to the senior who was waiting on Clark’s right. Collecting the pass from Dell’Elce, Lautenbach hit the back of the net and led the Minutemen into the locker room, 3-0.
The four goals gave UMass some breathing room as the second period shook up the game, paving the way for the Yellow Jackets to build energy and come out into the third period, antsy to push the game into overtime.
Up the middle in front of Hrabal, Timofei Khokhlachev slid down and flung the puck into the back of the net. Seven minutes later, Evan Stella put AIC one goal off away from UMass with another shot up the middle.
“Defensemen turning pucks over, throwing pucks in the middle of the ice,” Carvel said. “We had a breakdown in defensive coverage I think on [AIC’s] third goal.”
Small defensive errors have been a theme in UMass’ start to the season. At the beginning of the first period, the Minutemen struggled to keep the puck out of its zone, relying on Hrabal to make key saves and returning forwards to give them the lead.
Swarming around Hrabal, the puck continued to bounce off his pads and back into AIC’s sticks. In dangerous territory, the puck glided past the crease behind Hrabal without falling into the net and keeping the Yellow Jackets scoreless.
During Joey Musa’s hooking penalty at the end of the first period, Brett Rylance missed a rebound opportunity with a clear opening on Hrabal’s left from blocking a shot on the other side of the net. Falling with the inability to control his stick, Rylance could not tap the puck in quickly to make the most of the man advantage before UMass recollected the puck and sent it away.
Hrabal ended the afternoon with 44 saves supported by the UMass returners who stepped up in front of the net to block shots and cover up freshman errors.
The Minutemen take the road Nov. 8 and 9 to face off against the University of Vermont. Friday’s puck drop against the Catamounts is set for 7 p.m. and can be watched on ESPN+.
Sydney Ciano can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter/X @SydneyCiano.
