NEW BEDFORD, Mass. – Powered by a three-goal second period, the UMass Dartmouth men's hockey team defeated Worcester State University, 4-2 in MASCAC Quarterfinal action on Thursday evening at Hetland Arena.
The victory moves the third-seeded Corsairs to 16-10-0 on the season as they advance to the conference semifinals on Saturday. UMass Dartmouth will travel to second-seeded Fitchburg State for a 5pm semifinal tilt against the Falcons. It marks third appearance in the MASCAC Semifinals under the direction of eighth-year head coach
Erik Noack. The sixth-seeded Lancers conclude their season with an 8-18-0 overall mark.
Worcester State opened the game's scoring graduate left winger Brendan Ronan caught a nice pass across the slot from sophomore center Shane Prifrel, sending a quick shot in off a bounce past Corsairs goalie
Daniel Davidson at 8:40.
The Corsairs countered at 14:57 as rookie center
Collin Patterson banked home a shot on the right post off a beautiful feed from the left circle by graduate left winger
Michael Perrone.
UMass Dartmouth, which was outshot in the opening period by a 10-9 margin, carried the momentum into the second stanza as sophomore right winger
Kevin Johnston pulled the home team ahead at 4:$1. Captain and defender
Jake Maynard started the play from the right point, firing in a shot the was deflected in front by rookie center
Nolan Wutzke. The puck rebounded right to Johnston on the doorstep as he fired it in on the right side for the 2-1 advantage.
Maynard posted what proved to be the game-winner at 13:17 for the Corsairs as the home team took advantage of a power play. Wutzke set the play up as he fired a shot through the crease that fell to sophomore left wing
Tyler Stewart at the left post. Navigating past the end line, Stewart tipped a shot back to Maynard, who one-timed it in for the 3-1 lead.
The Corsairs expanded the lead to 4-1 at the 18:24 mark as some solid stick handling around the back of the cage saw Patterson fire a perfect cross-ice pass over to Perrone as he wristed it in for the three-goal advantage heading into the final period.
Worcester State nearly took advantage at the 4:40 mark of the third period as the Lancers were awarded a penalty shot, but senior defender Jason Lee's shot went wide over the head of Davidson. Minutes later, the visitors finally answered as senior right wing Brian Clougherty tipped in a shot off the stick of rookie defender Michael Schaaf for the 4-2 score at 6:43.
The Lancers pulled junior goalie Jakub Kubik with less than two minutes to play and despite the 6-on-5 advantage, the visitors were unable to solve the Corsairs defense as they blocked four shots over a one minute span to hold the margin.
Four different scorers found the back of the net for UMass Dartmouth, led by Maynard, Patterson and Perrone, who each had a goal and an assist. Wutzke finished with two assists on the night, going 10-18 from the faceoff circle, while Patterson owned an 11-24 margin in the circle. Senior defender
Zach Tarantino recorded five blocks, while senior assistant captain
Cade Hanley and graduate defender
Stephon Perreault each had four blocks. Davidson earned the win, stopping 31 shots for the Corsairs.
Worcester State was paced by Ronan and Clougherty. Prifrel, who had one assist, went 11-23 from the faceoff circle, while sophomore Anders Grongstad posted an 11-14 margin in the circle. Kubik shouldered the loss, recording 27 saves in net.
