Box Score
BOSTON, Mass.—Junior goalie Zach Andrews (Coral Springs, Fla.) earned his first shutout of the year, to lead #11/14 UMass Boston men's hockey (5-0, 3-0 ECAC East) to their record-setting fifth-straight win of the season in a 2-0 victory over Castleton State College (3-3, 3-2 ECAC East) Friday night at the Beacons Ice Arena.
Andrews posted 32 saves, including 13 in the final stanza, to pick up his second collegiate shutout. The Coral Springs, Fla. Native registered his only other shutout during his freshman season, when Andrews blanked St. Michael's College with 22 saves in a 5-0 win.
Senior Stephen Buco (North Providence, R.I.) provided all the offense UMass Boston would need with his third game-winner of the year. The first-line center scored 48 seconds into the second period on a breakaway for his fourth tally of the season. Linemates Mike Kuhn (Holbrook, Mass.) and Nathan Milam (Westland, Mich.) were credited with the assists.
Junior
Kit Sitterley (Mooresville, N.C.) added the second goal of the contest with 1.5 seconds to go in the second, on a tipped
Dan Cornell (Abington, Mass.) shot. Cornell and fellow defenseman
Tyler Bishop (Ramsey, N.J.) recorded assists on the play.
Friday night's contest was a penalty-filled affair, as the two teams combined for 27 penalties and 70 total penalty minutes. Both team's penalty-killers were exhausted by the end of the contest, but the game stayed a low-scoring affair thanks to the strong play of Andrews and Spartans freshman goalie Ryan Mulder.
Mulder made a career-high 41 saves in the contest and posted at least a dozen saves in every period.
The two goaltenders combined to hold the opposition to an 0-for-20 night on the power-play. Castleton State finished 0-for-12, as the Spartans scoreless streak on the power-play extended to 30 in a row. The Beacons' recent woes showed as well, as UMass Boston has now failed to score on their past 13 chances, after an 0-for-8 night.
UMass Boston managed to outshoot the Spartans 43-32.
Castleton State came out with a ton of energy in the opening period and very nearly took the Beacons off guard on several occasions. Despite their power-play opportunities and 10 total shots though, Andrews was up to the task.
After killing off the final 31 seconds of a penalty to start the second, Buco caught the defense sleeping and made it 1-0 48 seconds into the second. He received a long pass at the Spartans blue line and went in 1-on-1 with Mulder, before firing a rocket glove-side, just under the crossbar.
The Beacons continued to pepper Mulder in the period with 18 total shots, but failed to extend their lead until their 18th and final shot.
Bishop sent a pass across to Cornell just inside the blue line and Cornell's shot tipped off of Sitterley's stick and past Mulder with less than two seconds to play in the second.
Neither side managed to find the back of the net in a third period that was characterized by whistles and tired legs. Both sides were handed a 10-minute misconduct and the two teams were whistled for 14 total penalties.
Buco nearly made it a 3-0 game midway through the period when he hit the underside of the crossbar, while Castleton's leading scorer Brian Greene dinged the post during a 6-on-4 man advantage.
UMass Boston will return to action Saturday at 4pm when they host Skidmore College as part of the Beacons' Alumni Day. The Beacons will host an Alumni Game at 9 a.m. and will have festivities for alumni throughout the day.
