#14 Providence Outlasts #5 Massachusetts Hockey 7-4

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – No. 5 University of Massachusetts hockey pulled within one of No. 14 Providence but could not overcome a four-goal deficit in a 7-4 loss at Schneider Arena on Friday night. The setback leaves the Minutemen at 5-2-1 overall and 1-2-0 in Hockey East, while the Friars improve to 5-2-1, 3-0-1 in league action.

"It was a really slow start and poor special teams," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "For spurts there we looked like we were going to pull ourselves back into the game and then take another penalty and bad turnovers. It was an unexpected high scoring game, but it was probably that way because we didn't come out ready to play and opened the game up. The game was pretty wide open tonight."

Providence opened the scoring at the 6:05 mark of the first period as Chase Yoder stole the puck in the UMass end and skated in alone on Cole Brady, lifting his shot over the netminder's left shoulder for the shorthanded tally.

The Friars then made it 2-0 when Riley Duran put back a rebound, squeezing it past Brady at the post on the power play from Cody Monds and Jaroslav Chmelar at 11:50.

Providence added another before the intermission with Brett Berard sending a shot through traffic into the top left corner of the net from Max Crozier and Parker Ford off an offensive zone faceoff win for the Friars, 13:01 into the first.

Berard pocketed his second of the night from Ford just 57 seconds into the second period before freshman Tyson Dyck put UMass on the board at 2:11. The freshman redirected a Ryan Ufko shot home from the slot with classmate Kenny Connors picking up the secondary helper.

Duran responded for the Friars with his second power-play goal of the night from Guillaume Richard and Taige Harding at 9:58 to make it a 5-1 margin.

The Minutemen then netted the next two to pull within 5-3 through 40 minutes of action. Noah Elis popped in a puck at the edge of the crease amidst a scramble in front from Dyck and Cole O'Hara for his first collegiate goal 12:48 into the frame. Connors then capped the scoring for the period, driving to the net and tucking his shot around the pad of Philip Svedeback with graduate student Matt Koopman and senior Jerry Harding earning the assists at 15:46.

One minute and 13 seconds into the third period, senior Cal Kiefiuk made it a one-goal game at 5-4, finishing off a feed from classmates Reed Lebster and Josh Nodler on an odd-man rush.

However, Parker Ford game the Friars back some breathing room, crashing the net to slide the puck under Luke Pavicich at 7:11. Duran then completed his hat trick with an empty net goal at 19:50.

Providence edged UMass in shots on goal, 35-30 and went 2-for-6 on the power play, while the Minutemen were 0-for-2.

Pavicich made 19 saves for Massachusets and Brady had nine, while Svedeback totaled 26 stops for PC.

Connors and Dyck both finished the evening with multiple points, contributing a goal and an assist apiece.

The Minutemen and Friars will be back in action tomorrow, November 5, at the Mullins Center for a 7 p.m. start.

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Team Stats

Kenny Connors

Tyson Dyck

Cal Kiefiuk

Noah Ellis

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University of Massachusets Athletics