University of Massachusets Athletics
Thursday, February 22
Hartford, Conn.
7:05 P.M.
University of Massachusetts
14-17-2, 8-13-2HEA
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2
UConn
15-17-2, 11-12-1HEA
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Massachusetts
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UConn
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Photo by: THOM KENDALL FOR UMASS ATHLETICS
Hockey Battles Past UConn, 3-2
February 22, 2018 | Hockey
The win marked the Minutemen's 14th of the season, the most for the program since 2009-10.
HARTFORD, Conn. – After UConn managed to tie the score with 80 seconds to go in regulation, freshman Cale Makar responded with the game winner 12 seconds later as the University of Massachusetts hockey team battled to a 3-2 victory at UConn Thursday night. The win marks UMass' 14th of the season, the most for the program since the 2009-10 campaign, and moves the squad to 14-17-2 on the year, 8-13-2 in Hockey East play. The Huskies end the regular season with a 15-17-2 record (11-12-1 HEA) following the loss.
"That's a big win for my team in a lot of ways," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "It's only our second road victory in the league this year, playing a very good UConn team that's played extremely well lately. We came in here with a pre-scout knowing that this was going to be very much a playoff-style game. It was going to be low scoring and it wasn't going to be pretty. For the most part, all the goals in the game were pretty ugly goals and we just ended up getting one more bounce than they did. That's huge for our team to be able to come back after they scored their goal with the goalie out. For us to find a way to come back and score like that, it's huge for our group."
After several early chances for the Minutemen, UConn took a 1-0 lead 12:06 into the first period. Spencer Naas tucked a shot inside the left post on the rush off a feed from Brian Rigali and David Drake.
UMass then tied things up at 1-1 at the 14:48 mark. Freshman George Mika's shot from the right faceoff circle trickled past Tanner Creel with sophomores Niko Hildenbrand and Jake McLaughlin collecting assists on the play.
The Minutemen took a 2-1 lead 16:19 into the frame. After Mika won a faceoff back to Hildenbrand, he set up the go-ahead tally by freshman Austin Albrecht.
With less than two minutes to go in regulation, the Huskies pulled Creel for an extra skater and managed to tie the score at 2-2 seconds later. Jessie Schwartz lifted a rebound from Naas and Karl El-Mir over goaltender Matt Murray at the 18:40 mark.
UMass was quick to respond, though. Just 12 seconds later, Makar collected a pass from Albrecht and fired a shot through traffic that found the back of the UConn net and gave the Minutemen back the lead, 3-2 with his fourth tally of the season.
Murray totaled 24 saves in the contest for UMass and Creel had 19 stops for the Huskies. Hildenbrand (2a), Mika (1g, 1a) and Albrecht (1g, 1a) all had multi-point nights, the first career multi-point games for Mika and Albrecht and Hildenbrand's fifth.
The Minutemen will be back in action on Saturday night, February 24, hosting No. 7 Providence in the 2017-18 regular season finale, Senior Night, at 7 p.m. in the Mullins Center.
"That's a big win for my team in a lot of ways," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "It's only our second road victory in the league this year, playing a very good UConn team that's played extremely well lately. We came in here with a pre-scout knowing that this was going to be very much a playoff-style game. It was going to be low scoring and it wasn't going to be pretty. For the most part, all the goals in the game were pretty ugly goals and we just ended up getting one more bounce than they did. That's huge for our team to be able to come back after they scored their goal with the goalie out. For us to find a way to come back and score like that, it's huge for our group."
After several early chances for the Minutemen, UConn took a 1-0 lead 12:06 into the first period. Spencer Naas tucked a shot inside the left post on the rush off a feed from Brian Rigali and David Drake.
UMass then tied things up at 1-1 at the 14:48 mark. Freshman George Mika's shot from the right faceoff circle trickled past Tanner Creel with sophomores Niko Hildenbrand and Jake McLaughlin collecting assists on the play.
The Minutemen took a 2-1 lead 16:19 into the frame. After Mika won a faceoff back to Hildenbrand, he set up the go-ahead tally by freshman Austin Albrecht.
With less than two minutes to go in regulation, the Huskies pulled Creel for an extra skater and managed to tie the score at 2-2 seconds later. Jessie Schwartz lifted a rebound from Naas and Karl El-Mir over goaltender Matt Murray at the 18:40 mark.
UMass was quick to respond, though. Just 12 seconds later, Makar collected a pass from Albrecht and fired a shot through traffic that found the back of the UConn net and gave the Minutemen back the lead, 3-2 with his fourth tally of the season.
Murray totaled 24 saves in the contest for UMass and Creel had 19 stops for the Huskies. Hildenbrand (2a), Mika (1g, 1a) and Albrecht (1g, 1a) all had multi-point nights, the first career multi-point games for Mika and Albrecht and Hildenbrand's fifth.
The Minutemen will be back in action on Saturday night, February 24, hosting No. 7 Providence in the 2017-18 regular season finale, Senior Night, at 7 p.m. in the Mullins Center.
Team Stats
UMASS
UCONN
Shots
22
26
PPG
0
0
SHG
0
0
Penalties
1
1
Penalty Mins
2
2
Faceoffs Won
29
29
Game Leaders
+/-
+3
Goals
1
Sh
3
A
1
+/-
+2
Goals
1
Sh
3
A
1
+/-
+3
Goals
0
Sh
1
A
2
+/-
+1
Goals
1
Sh
3
A
0
Players Mentioned
F
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