BURLINGTON, Vt. – No. 18/17 University of Massachusetts hockey was unable to erase a 2-0 first period deficit, falling 4-0 to Vermont at Gutterson Fieldhouse on Saturday night. The loss leaves the Minutemen at 4-4-2 overall, 0-2-2 in Hockey East, while the Catamounts improve to 2-4-3 overall and 2-2-2 in league action.
“Again, I didn’t mind our game,” said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. “Michael Hrabal’s games is off right now, which gave Vermont the early lead, and we’re just snake bitten. I like the way we’re playing. You know, it was to me a good 60 minutes. We just can’t get the puck in the net. Give the UVM goalie a lot of credit. He played well and saw pucks. Outside of being snake bitten, you know, we’ve still got a young defense and we’re dealing with that. Even more so, we need some big saves. I thought Irving came in and did an outstanding job. I’m not surprised, he’s been really good this year and I’m glad we were able to give him an opportunity.”
The Catamounts took a 1-0 advantage just 1:12 into the contest as Luca Münzenberger and Timofei Spitserov sent the puck up the ice for Massimo Lombardi on the rush. Lombardi beat his defender and wristed one from the right faceoff circle past Hrabal.
UVM then made it 2-0 off a turnover in the UMass end as Münzenberger’s shot from the left point fluttered over the glove of Hrabal at 14:14.
The score remained at 2-0 until late in the third when the Catamounts added a pair of empty net goals by Spitserov and Joel Maatta at 16:52 and 19:09, respectively.
The Minutemen led in shots, 26-19 and were 0-2 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill on the night.
In relief of Hrabal (four saves), sophomore Jackson Irving stopped all 11 shots he faced for UMass, while Axel Mangbo turned aside all 26 he faced for the Catamounts in a shutout effort.
UMass will be back in action on Thursday, November 14, when the squad plays host to No. 11 Providence at the Mullins Center at 7 p.m.
