UMass Trips Up #14/15 Men's Ice Hockey, 4-1, in Weekend Finale Sunday in Amherst
Links: Box Score
AMHREST, Mass. – The No. 14/15 Merrimack College men's ice hockey team was denied its first win at the Mullins Center in three years after the Warriors were stymied by the University of Massachusetts, 4-1, on Sunday afternoon in Amherst.
The Basics
Score: Massachusetts 4, #14/15 Merrimack 1
Records: #14/15 Merrimack (13-8-3, 4-6-2 HEA) | Massachusetts (8-16-1, 3-11-1 HEA)
Location: Mullins Center | Amherst, Mass.
How It Happened
Merrimack's inability to capitalize on power plays proved to be costly on Saturday, as the Warriors were awarded seven power plays, two shy of their season high, but came up empty on all of them, including two full minutes of a 5-on-3 advantage in the second period.
The hosts, meanwhile, missed out on their first four power-play chances before netting the go-ahead goal with 10 seconds left in the second. An early third-period tally wound up being the game-winner, as senior Steve Mastalerz, who entered Sunday 0-7-0 on the year, turned away 44 of the 45 shots he saw to pick up his first win of the season. Freshman Collin Delia (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) was no slouch either for Merrimack, posting a career-high 36 saves while dropping to 4-4-1 on the year.
Sophomore Hampus Gustafsson (Ljungby, Sweden) tallied Merrimack's lone goal of the season with 1:15 to play, but that only bookended a pair of UMass empty-net tallies that iced the victory for the hosts.
UMass controlled the bulk of play in the first period thanks to a pair of power-play opportunities for the hosts. In total, the Minutemen outshot Merrimack by a 17-11 margin in the opening stanza, with 10 of those shots coming on the man advantage. Merrimack also came up empty on its own power play in the first frame.
The story of the second frame was both sides' inability to capitalize on extended man advantages. First, it was Merrimack coming up short on a double minor and a subsequent UMass penalty that gave the visitors two full minutes of a 5-on-3 advantage, and then another 55 seconds of a 5-on-4 power play.
Then it was UMass' turn on the power play, first at 9:45 of the period, but that was turned away by Merrimack. The best chance for the hosts came after a tripping call led to a penalty shot, but Delia kept his masterful performance going with a huge save on that chance.
Merrimack would get one more power play at 15:22 but was kept in check, and then eight seconds after that penalty expired the Minutemen would benefit from two calls against the Warriors that gave the hosts over a minute of a 5-on-3. Merrimack fended off the first minor, but with 10 seconds left in the period, Dennis Kravchenko punched in a rebound on the left side of the crease to send the Minutemen into the second intermission with a 1-0 advantage.
It didn't take much longer than a minute for the home side to double its lead after play resumed in the third. An errant cross-ice pass in the neutral zone was intercepted by Troy Power, who fed it across to Kravchenko for a one-time tally just 59 seconds into the final frame that made it a 2-0 edge for the Minutemen.
The theme of the day still held true for Merrimack, which came up empty on two power plays before yielding a shorthanded, empty-net goal with 2:30 to go. Gustafsson broke up the shutout bid on his eighth marker of the season with freshman Marc Biega (Pointe-Claire, Quebec) earning the assist, but the Minutemen came right back and added a second empty-netter to account for the final margin of defeat.
Inside The Numbers
- Merrimack ended a stretch of seven straight games in which it was outshot, as the Warriors finished with a 45-40 lead in shot attempts, leading the shot chart in the second (16-14) and third (18-9) periods
- UMass totaled nearly half of its shots while on the power play on Sunday, throwing 18 on net during its five man advantages compared to 15 on Merrimack's seven power plays
- The third UMass goal by Dominic Trentowas also shorthanded, as the Warriors had a power play and had pulled the goaltender late in regulation; UMass scored a shorthanded goal in both games this weekend after Merrimack had gone 22 games without giving up a shorthanded strike
- Gustafsson finished with a team-high seven shots for the Warriors, which also tied the game-high with UMass' Brandon Montour
- UMass won the battle on the dot, taking 36-of-60 contested faceoffs; Gustafsson won a team-high eight draws on 16 attempts
Up Next
Merrimack is scheduled to conclude its season series with the University of Connecticut this Tuesday, Jan. 27, in Hartford at the XL Center at 7 p.m. Should the schedule change due to the impending winter storm, updates will be posted online at MerrimackAthletics.com.
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