The Massachusetts men’s club hockey team fell to the Sacred Heart Pioneers in a physical 4-3 loss on Friday night. UMass (5-5) began on the front foot from the outset but faltered which gave up its lead.
A 15-minute stretch in the second period saw the Minutemen be outshot 14-4 and lose their two-goal lead gained in the first period.
With around 15 minutes remaining in the third period, Robert Moliterno had the puck behind the net and scored a Michigan goal as he lifted the puck up and wrapped it around the post to give the Pioneers (10-3) the lead. A fourth goal in the third period was the nail in the coffin and a late goal by UMass was not enough to complete the comeback.
“Yeah, it’s a tough loss,” said head coach Sean Prendergast. “Sacred Heart is a good team, but I didn’t think we put our best forward in my game tonight and [that is] something we’re going to continue to work on.”
It was a physical game that saw a total of 18 penalties. The Minutemen went to the box on three occasions, while the Pioneers earned themselves five penalties. A full line brawl saw 10 players get 10-minute major penalties and all were sent to the box.
“We just need to clean up our game in all areas,” said Prendergast. “Less penalties, just clean it up a little bit.”
Without the penalties, UMass played hard and aggressively with defenders stepping up and playing the body multiple times during the game. Those aggressive maneuvers led the Minutemen to many chances to get a multitude of shots on net, outshooting their opponent 45-39
“I think the physicality is one of our strengths,” said Prendergast. “We definitely can use that to our advantage against certain teams tonight, I thought it was a pretty even game.”
The main bright spot on UMass’ side of the ice was goaltender Ryan Dailida who made 35 saves in the contest. Despite allowing four goals, Dailida made plenty of important saves, including one in the opening minutes of the game where he reached up while sprawled out on the ice to rob an almost certain goal.
“Dailida has been a stud for us all year. We honestly couldn’t ask for better goaltending,” said Prendergast. “It’s saved us when we haven’t come out and have our best effort to know someone’s back there protecting your goal as he does. It’s very crucial for us.”
The Minutemen scored two of their goals off of rebounds from shots taken from the point. About halfway through the first period Dylan LaMonica had the puck on the left slot and drove a hard snap shot toward the bottom right of the goal. That shot was saved but the puck deflected right onto the stick of captain Ryan Concannon who netted his third goal of the season.
In the final minutes of the game, a similar goal was scored. On the power play a shot from the point snuck out to leading goal scorer Zach Sideropoulos who wasn’t going to miss the open net and scored.
The other UMass goal was scored 16 minutes into the first period Elias Holunga dropped the puck off for defenseman Austin Kelly who broke down the wing before centering it to Matt Carrara who scored just his second career goal.
This was the first game of a triple header at the Mini Mullins Center of a four-team showdown that includes UMass, Sacred Heart, Florida Gulf Coast, and New Hampshire. The Minutemen will play FGCU on Saturday, Nov. 9 before ending the weekend with New Hampshire on Sunday, Nov. 10.
“They’re both really good opponents, very strong teams. I would love to come out of this weekend, 2-1,” said Prendergast. “As far as rankings go you need to. I expect the boys to be fine the next two games.”
Both Saturday’s and Sunday’s games will be at 6 p.m. at the Mini Mullins Center.
Myles Donato can be contacted at [email protected].
