AMHERST – University of Massachusetts men’s hockey scored three in the third period to rally past Alaska, 4-2 on Friday night at the Mullins Center.
With the win, the Minutemen improve to 12-10-2 on the season, while the Nanooks fell to 7-10-5.
“Slow start,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said. “But as the game went on, we got better and better. I really like liked our second and I really liked our third. I thought we did a good job just wearing them down. They’re a well-coached team that plays the game the right way. I think that second power-play goal would have given us some juice, but it got called back.
“But our third period was excellent. A win’s a win, two in a row, we’ll take it.”
Alaska opened the scoring just 2:15 into the first period when Brendan Ross won a battle for the puck in the UMass zone and fed Caelum Dick at the right point, who sent a pass over to Broten Sabo. Sabo fluttered a shot through traffic past Michael Hrabal.
UMass leveled the score at 1-1 at the 11:49 mark. Exiting the penalty box, sophomore Bo Cosman collected an outlet pass and sent a cross-ice feed to Michael Cameron.
While Cameron’s initial attempt went wide, he could re-gather the puck behind the goal and send it back into the crease for Lucas Mercuri to put home into an open net.
The Nanooks managed to regain the lead before the first intermission. Kyle Gaffney and Brendan Ross set up Matt Hubbarde for the finish from the slot at 17:24, bringing the score to 2-1.
Midway through the second, it appeared the Minutemen had tied the score with a power-play goal by senior Ryan Lautenbach, but a coach’s challenge from Alaska resulted in the tally being overturned for goaltender interference.
At the 5:25 mark of the third period, sophomore Dans Locmelis picked up a pass from classmate Nick VanTassell in the corner and swung around the back of the Alaska net to roof a wraparound over the shoulder of netminder Lassi Lehti to level things at two goals apiece.
Freshman Francesco Dell’Elce put UMass in front for the first time 11:24 into the frame, curling into the high slot to create space to fire off his sixth goal. Junior Kennedy O’Connor and sophomore Jack Musa earned assists on the play.
The Minutemen later sealed the win with an empty net goal by junior Kenny Connors from classmate Cole O’Hara and Locmelis at 19:16.
UMass ended the contest with a 30-26 edge in shots and went 0-1 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill. Hrabal totaled 24 saves in net for the Minutemen, and Lehti stopped 26 for the Nanooks.
Both teams will be back in action on Saturday night at the Mullins Center. The puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m.
