NEW BEDFORD, Mass. – Backed by 12 points from their top line and the fourth hat trick of the season from senior
Tyler Stewart, the UMass Dartmouth men's hockey team defeated Western Connecticut State, 7-0 in Little East action on Friday evening. The win moves the Corsairs to 11-13-0 and 6-11-0 in conference play, while the Wolves are now 2-22-0 and 1-16-0 in the LEC.
Stewart – and assistant captain and left wing – opened the game's scoring in the first just 22 seconds into the contest as a pass from junior right wing and linemate
Alex Walker past the reach of netminder Liam Lane.
The Corsairs continued to press but were unable to light the lamp again until 7:10 of the second period as Stewart connected once more. Walker collected a pass from rookie center
Kailin Chen and shot it over to Stewart as he navigated through the slot for the score.
The senior completed the hat trick – his conference leading fourth of the season – at the 15:36 mark with another power play marker as Chen fed him a cross-slot pass after collecting the puck from sophomore defender
Hunter Scanlon – who earned the secondary assist.
Heading into the third with a 3-0 advantage, UMass Dartmouth broke open the game with four unanswered, including three on the power play. Scanlon kicked it off at the 1:30 mark, firing in a pass from sophomore defender
Brennen Pecararo. Stewart earned the secondary assist with a nice feed to the point.
Chen stole the show with back-to-back power play goals, his first coming at 7:24 as he tipped in a shot by Pecararo from the point with Scanlon earning the second assist on the tally. Chen then banked his second of the game at 14:22, driving home a pass from Stewart for the 6-0 advantage.
The Corsairs concluded the scoring at 19:13 as senior left wing
Vincent Nicosia corralled a pass from assistant captain and right wing
Kevin Johnston crashing the net for a slap shot past the reach of rookie goalie Dylan Dewachter. Scanlon earned the secondary assist with a nice tip up to Johnston.
Stewart finished the game with three goals and two assists, recording a game-high seven shots, while Chen had two goals and two assists with three shots – also going 18-24 in the face-off circle. Their linemate Walker added three assists as the Corsairs top line finished with 12 points on the afternoon. Scanlon added a goal and three assists, while Nicosia (1 goal) Pecararo (2 assists) and Johnston (1 assist) all contributed offensively.
Defensively, senior captain
Lane Ruffner notched a game-high three blocked shots as the Corsairs posted 13 blocks as a team. In goal, senior
Graham Burke earned the victory, recording 20 saves with no goals allowed.
The Corsairs return to action tomorrow, hosting Keene State at 4:30pm in the regular season finale for both teams. UMD will also celebrate their graduating seniors prior to the game, including Stewart, Nicosia, Burke, Ruffner, Johnston,
Marshall McKallip,
Brandon Clark and
Hank McDonough.
