NEW BEDFORD, Mass. – Backed by a three-goal third period, the UMass Dartmouth men's hockey team defeated Division II Assumption University, 6-3 on Tuesday at Hetland Arena. The Corsairs improve to 4-5-0 overall, while the Greyhounds are now 6-3-1 on the season.
The Corsairs got things going early as junior right wing
Alex Walker collected a pass from sophomore defender
Brennen Pecararo and navigated through the slot for an off-angle shot past Assumption goalie Brayden Ingram at 4:24. The Greyhounds battled back as junior forward Jonathan Surrette was hit with a pass by classmate Nick Fall, banking it past the reach of UMD's
Samuel Boos at 17:00.
In the second period, UMass Dartmouth struck first as senior assistant captain and winger
Kevin Johnston buried a pass from rookie winger
Chris Cardillo on the power play at 1:18 for the 2-1 advantage. Senior captain and defender
Lane Ruffner earned the secondary assist on the play.
Junior center
Nolan Wutzke made it a 3-1 lead at 13:22 with a tape-to-tape effort as rookie winger
Brogan Shea sent a pass to Walker in the middle, straight to the blade of Wutzke who buried it on the right side.
The Greyhounds cut the deficit to one (3-2) soon after as rookie center Jake Russell won the faceoff and dropped it back to junior winger Daniel Lemanski. He fired a shot that sailed in past Boos at 14:24 on the power play.
Third period action saw the Corsairs turn up the momentum as senior assistant captain and left wing
Tyler Stewart connected on a pass from Shea at 16:22 on the power play to push the margin to 4-2. Looking to answer, Assumption called the timeout and pulled their goalie in favor of the extra attacker.
Walker netted the empty-net goal for the Corsairs, corralling a pass from Wutzke to bury it in for the 5-2 lead. Sophomore winger
Blake Kashark then connected on a pass from sophomore defender
Hunter Scanlon making it a four-goal game (6-2), but the Greyhounds answered as senior Kyle LoNigro converted a pass from sophomore wing Declan Chapman.
The Corsairs held on for the victory, backed by a 36-save effort from Boos – who improved to 2-0 on the season. Ingram shouldered the loss, making 24 stops for the Greyhounds. Junior centers
Doug Doren and
Connor Little each led the way in faceoffs for the Corsairs with nine wins apiece.
UMass Dartmouth is now idle for the Thanksgiving holiday, but return to action on Thursday, December 4 in a 7pm game at former conference-rival, Salem State University.
