The University of Massachusetts Amherst men’s hockey team was victorious in a 5-2 win over the Sacred Heart University Pioneers this past Friday, Oct. 16.

The Minutemen entered the game with a 2-0-0 record after a successful road trip to Colorado College. The Pioneers entered with a 0-0-1 record after a game against Union College that resulted in a 1-1 tie.

The game started out a bit rocky for the Minutemen, as they spent most of the first period in their defensive end. At the 10-minute mark, the Pioneers were the first to get on the scoreboard with a goal by forward Kory Kennedy.

After Kennedy’s goal, UMass began to pick up momentum and started carrying the puck through the neutral zone and into the Pioneers’ territory. The Minutemen answered back late in the first period with a goal at the seventeenth minute by sophomore forward Keith Burchett.   

By the end of the first period, the crowd was roaring and the Minutemen were putting up a fight against the Pioneers.

At the start of the second period, both teams came out of the locker room ready to play. The Pioneers and Minutemen each spent a significant amount of time in their offensive ends. In the fourth minute of the second period, Pioneer forward Jeff Carroll received a two minute penalty for boarding, giving the Minutemen a five-man advantage.

Just as Carroll stepped out of the penalty box, UMass forward Dennis Kravchenko scored with an assist from freshman forward Austin Plevy and junior captain forward Steven Iacobellis, giving the Minutemen a 2-1 lead over the Pioneers.

With five minutes left in the second period, Kennedy scored a second goal, tying the game at 2-2.

Statistics from the end of the second period show that Sacred Heart should have had the upper hand, with 27 shot attempts in the first two periods. The Minutemen had only attempted 15.

With the game tied once again, it was hard to tell which team would come out on top.

After the second intermission, Minutemen Dominic Trento, Ray Pigozzi, and Dennis Kravchenko came back on the ice, looking to get the puck into the Pioneers’ net. In the thirteenth minute of the game, Kravchenko made his second goal with an assist from Pigozzi and Trento. Two minutes later, Pigozzi and Kravchenko carried the puck up from the neutral zone as Kravchenko passed to Trento, who scored another goal for the Minutemen, bringing the score to 4-2.

With less than five minutes to go in regulation time, Sacred Heart Head Coach C. J. Marottolo pulled freshman goaltender Brett Magnus to give the Pioneers another offensive player on the ice, but Kravchenko scored a hat trick goal on the empty net to give the Minutemen a three-point lead.

Although the Pioneers outshot the Minutemen 38-26, UMass came out on top with a third victory for this season. Minutemen goaltender Henry Dill had 36 saves, while Magnus had 21.

The Minutemen will take on the University of New Hampshire Wildcats for their first Hockey East game at the Mullins Center on Friday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m.

Email Allie Furlo at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter @Alexandra_Furlo.