AMHERST – After falling at the University of Vermont in their last matchup on December 1, No. 11 UMass men’s hockey was looking to get back to its winning ways when it faced off with the University of Alaska-Anchorage for the first time in the history of the two programs.
After 60 minutes of play, UMass defeated the Seawolves by a score of 11-2 on Friday night.
According to UMass Athletics, the tally set a program record in a game against a fellow Division I opponent, coming just two goals short of their previous record of 13 goals recorded against Sacred Heart who was not a Division I program at the time.
“I really liked our first and third periods, the second period I wasn’t happy with,” UMass head coach Greg Carvel said. “We took our foot off the gas, but our guys responded.”
UMass saw all of their goals come from eight different goal-scorers, the first time that has happened since February 26, 2022 at Vermont.
To say the first period was dominated by the Minutemen would be putting it mildly. They outshot their opponents 19-9 and led 5-0 at the end of the first period, with all five goals coming off the stick of a different skater.
The first came from Michael Cameron who was just coming back from of injury. Cameron took a stretch pass from Ryan Lautenbach to the deep end of the right circle and took a wrist shot that beat Alaska-Anchorage goaltender Jared Whale just under his blocker.
Barely three minutes later, with UMass goaltender Cole Brady at the bench following a delayed penalty, Aydar Suniev found the back of the net after a perfect pass by Ryan Ufko.
Ufko scored the next goal for the Minutemen on the power play, and just 20 seconds after the goal with 12:13 to play in the first period, the Seawolves made a goaltending change, inserting Greg Ososz into the game.
Cam O’Neill kept the offensive on-slaught going when he tipped a net-front feed from Nick VanTassell past Ososz, making it 4-0 in favor of the home squad.
At the 16:25 mark Dans Locmelis made it five consecutive goals when he took advantage of a perfect backhand feed by Jack Musa, wristed it past Ososz and into the back of the net making it 5-0.
“I think we had a good practice on Thursday, good morning skate today,” Locmelis said. “We came out ready.”
Despite two goals by Alaska-Anchorage from Maximillion Helgeson and Riley Thompson, the trend continued for UMass, adding two more goals in the middle frame – from Suniev and Taylor Makar.
“It’s good to see a lot of contributions from a bunch of different guys,” Makar said. “At the end of the day, it really doesn’t mean that much if you’re not going that far. Our main goal is to keep pushing and get as many wins as we can.”
In the second period, Alaska-Anchorage quickly made sure that Brady would not get the shutout as Helgeson took advantage of a loose puck in the Minutemen’s defensive zone and scored the Seawolves’ first goal of the game just 10 seconds into the second period.
Just under seven minutes later, Suniev tucked a loose puck past Ososz increasing the hosts’ lead to 6-1. However, the visitors answered quickly this time as Thompson scored at the 9:38 mark in the middle stanza, making it 6-2.
The goal was one of two on the night for Suniev, one of three players who had a multi-goal night alongside Locmelis and Makar.
Locmelis, Makar, Jack Musa and Scott Morrow all scored in the final frame, with Musa and Scott finishing off power-play goals.
“We have a lot of talent in the front and back,” Carvel said. “I know Ufko and Morrow both had big nights for us … We’re deep offensively. I’ve been saying it all year.
“A couple of guys could have had hat tricks, we could have had a couple of goals, but we gave up a lot of chances too.”
After Brady played the first 51 minutes in net, Carvel decided to give Jackson Irving his first collegiate action with UMass up by eight goals. Irving wound up with six saves including a few timely ones on a five-on-three power play he faced when he first came into the game.
“It feels great to see him in net tonight,” Locmelis said. “He’s my (roommate), so I’m really proud of him.”
UMass and Alaska-Anchorage finish their two-game tilt on Saturday, Dec. 9 with the puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.
