(above) UMass players celebrate thei victory over Colorado College on Sunday nightTHE GAZETTE
TAMPA, Fla. - Massachusetts fourth-line forward Matt Burto beelined toward the net and redirected a pass from right wing James Marcou to beat Colorado College 5-4 less than two minutes into overtime.
Stung by losing a game they led 2-0 after a period, the No. 4 Tigers silently sulked into their locker room Sunday.
Winners of the Lightning College Hockey Classic at St. Pete Forum, the ninth-ranked Minutemen strutted into theirs: whooping, hollering and toting their first regular-season tournament trophy.
“That was a winnable game,” CC captain Scott Thauwald said. “We all feel like that kind of got away from us. The mood is not too good.”
The Tigers dropped to 12-6 and are 0-3 against Hockey East teams. UMass extended its unbeaten streak to six games and improved to 9-3-5.
Burto earned tournament MVP honors, while CC center Chad Rau, right wing Jimmy Kilpatrick and defenseman Nate Prosser were named to the six-player All-Tournament team.
After outshooting UMass 7-1 in the first five minutes, CC scored when defenseman Jack Hillen flipped the puck off goaltender Paul Dainton’s left shoulder. Right wing Eric Walsky gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead heading into the break.
Then came the penalties. CC took four in the second period and nine total.
Coach Scott Owens cited different officiating.
“The only time we got ourselves in trouble penalty-wise was when we didn’t move our feet and started reaching,” he said.
Just as CC killed its second 5-on-3 of the game at 2:41 of the second period, UMass left wing Alex Berry’s shot from the blue line snuck under goaltender Drew O’Connell’s blocker.
“I picked it up late and I just mishandled it,” said O’Connell, who Owens decided to start for only the fourth time this season because the Tigers are playing four games in eight days, rounding up a nine-game road trip at Wisconsin on Friday and Saturday.
UMass’s Michael Lecomte scored on a 4-on-4 situation and teammate P.J. Fenton capitalized on a 5-on-3 100 seconds later to put the Minutemen ahead 3-2.
Rau — who was scratched Saturday for the first time in his career for violating a team rule — answered 14 seconds later with his third short-handed goal of the season.
UMass center Cory Quirk knocked a pass from Chris Davis past O’Connell 48 seconds into the third period to give the Minutemen a 4-3 lead.
On CC’s sixth power play, less than seven minutes later, Rau rocketed a shot from the left circle over Dainton’s glove to tie the score.
O’Connell, who posted a career-high 39 saves, made a 1-on-1 save on Burto and a point-blank stop on Lecomte as UMass’ seventh and final power play expired to help preserve the deadlock. But what proved to be the Tigers’ final line rush resulted in nothing more than a scrum in front of the goal.
Stung by losing a game they led 2-0 after a period, the No. 4 Tigers silently sulked into their locker room Sunday.
Winners of the Lightning College Hockey Classic at St. Pete Forum, the ninth-ranked Minutemen strutted into theirs: whooping, hollering and toting their first regular-season tournament trophy.
“That was a winnable game,” CC captain Scott Thauwald said. “We all feel like that kind of got away from us. The mood is not too good.”
The Tigers dropped to 12-6 and are 0-3 against Hockey East teams. UMass extended its unbeaten streak to six games and improved to 9-3-5.
Burto earned tournament MVP honors, while CC center Chad Rau, right wing Jimmy Kilpatrick and defenseman Nate Prosser were named to the six-player All-Tournament team.
After outshooting UMass 7-1 in the first five minutes, CC scored when defenseman Jack Hillen flipped the puck off goaltender Paul Dainton’s left shoulder. Right wing Eric Walsky gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead heading into the break.
Then came the penalties. CC took four in the second period and nine total.
Coach Scott Owens cited different officiating.
“The only time we got ourselves in trouble penalty-wise was when we didn’t move our feet and started reaching,” he said.
Just as CC killed its second 5-on-3 of the game at 2:41 of the second period, UMass left wing Alex Berry’s shot from the blue line snuck under goaltender Drew O’Connell’s blocker.
“I picked it up late and I just mishandled it,” said O’Connell, who Owens decided to start for only the fourth time this season because the Tigers are playing four games in eight days, rounding up a nine-game road trip at Wisconsin on Friday and Saturday.
UMass’s Michael Lecomte scored on a 4-on-4 situation and teammate P.J. Fenton capitalized on a 5-on-3 100 seconds later to put the Minutemen ahead 3-2.
Rau — who was scratched Saturday for the first time in his career for violating a team rule — answered 14 seconds later with his third short-handed goal of the season.
UMass center Cory Quirk knocked a pass from Chris Davis past O’Connell 48 seconds into the third period to give the Minutemen a 4-3 lead.
On CC’s sixth power play, less than seven minutes later, Rau rocketed a shot from the left circle over Dainton’s glove to tie the score.
O’Connell, who posted a career-high 39 saves, made a 1-on-1 save on Burto and a point-blank stop on Lecomte as UMass’ seventh and final power play expired to help preserve the deadlock. But what proved to be the Tigers’ final line rush resulted in nothing more than a scrum in front of the goal.
1 comment:
That guy on the end is really fat. He must have eaten a bunch of those cupcakes before DU got to them
Post a Comment