The UMass hockey team swept the now unranked Minnesota State Mavericks this past weekend. Going into the weekend, the Mavericks were ranked No. 19. The Minutemen were able to steal two wins and their rank after a hard fought series.
Game One
The first game of this series was a back and forth, penalty filled battle that saw Massachusetts blow a 2-0 lead. However, the Minutemen were able to fight back and pick up a commanding 6-3 victory.
The scoring started with freshman forward Aydar Suniev as he picked up his first goal as a Minutemen off of a rebound. The original shot came from captain Aaron Bohlinger at the point. He and forward Jack Musa picked up the assists.
Late in the first period, Musa scored the second goal of the game and the second goal of his collegiate career.
The power play goal was set up by defenseman Scott Morrow after he made a nifty move that saw him take the puck through his own legs to create the space needed to pass the puck over to Musa for the one-timer goal. Captain Ryan Ufko picked up the secondary assist.
The second period saw five more goals go up on the scoreboard. Three from the Mavericks and two from the Minutemen.
Minnesota State forwards Adam Eisele and Brenden Olson each scored just over four minutes apart. This tied the game at two apiece.
UMass responded 48 seconds later when forward Ryan Lautenbach scored his first of the night to give the lead back to Massachusetts. Morrow picked up another assist on the goal.
Later in the second period, the Mavericks tied the game once again. Forward Luc Wilson scored to tie the game 3-3.
In the final minutes of the second, forward Taylor Makar was called for a hooking penalty. This was the Minutemen’s fifth penalty this game alone. UMass was not happy with the referees.
On the penalty kill, Lautenbach scored the game winning goal off of an incredible feed by forward Lucas Mercuri. 4-3 was the score as an eventful second period came to a close.
Here's a look at Lautenbach's second of the night, a shorthanded tally, which put us up 4-3 ⤵️#NewMass X #Flagship🚩 pic.twitter.com/lYECfCHHfj
— UMass Hockey (@UMassHockey) October 21, 2023
UMass picked up two more goals in the third period. Each were scored by Mercuri and forward Cole O’Hara. Morrow and Bohlinger picked up assists, earning them each a multi-point night.
Massachusetts goalie Michael Hrabal stopped 28 of 31 shots to win his second straight game. On the other side, Mavericks goaltender Alex Tracy stopped only 19 of 25 shots.
Minnesota State received six power plays and could not score on any of them. The Minutemen scored two power play goals on five attempts.
Game Two
Game two of the series was more tame scoring wise but it still had some fireworks. Massachusetts won with a final score of 1-0.
The only goal of the game came in the second period when Suniev scored his second goal in as many nights, this time on the power play. Bohlinger and Mercuri earned the assists.
This was the only goal that Alex Tracy let in but it was not good enough to earn him the victory. Tracy stopped 14 of only 15 Massachusetts shots.
The big story of this game was Hrabal stopping all 32 shots that he faced. No Maverick could solve the Hrabal puzzle and because of that the Arizona Coyotes second round draft pick earned his first collegiate shutout.
The Minutemen took another eight penalties in this game, including a five minute major penalty by forward Liam Gorman. This brought the total number of penalties on the weekend to 14. UMass was able to kill off all 14 penalties in dominating fashion.
UMass Hockey is back in action this weekend for a huge home and home matchup against the Boston University Terriers in a series that could set the tone for either team’s entire season.
