Box Score
BOSTON, Mass.-#9/10 UMass Boston men's hockey erupted for four goals in the first 15:23, to cruise to the program's first regular-season title since 1982.
THE BASICS
#9/10 UMass Boston 6, St. Anselm College 2
(UMass Boston 18-4-3, New England Hockey Conference 14-2-2)
(St. Anselm College 11-11-3, New England Hockey Conference 6-9-3)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Beacons had five different players score and 11 players record points, to win the first-ever New England Hockey Conference Regular-Season Title. With their victory, the Beacons' snapped Norwich University's 17-year streak of winning conference regular season titles and earned the right to home-ice advantage throughout the NEHC Tournament.
UMass Boston honored the most successful class in program history prior to the game and then the Class of 2016 came out and made history. With the win, the Beacons' nine seniors (Matt Lemire (Townsend, Mass.), Derek Colucci (North Scituate, R.I.), Jeremy Finger (Orlando, Fla.), Alex Demchuk (Calgary, Alberta), Mike Miller(Wrentham, Mass.), Frankie DeAugustine (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Andrew Crawford (Medford, Mass.), Zach Andrews (Coral Springs, Fla.) and Billy Faust (Alta Loma, Calif.)) earned their program-record 76th win.
Finger led the charge on Senior Day, as the senior forward scored the first two goals of his senior season. Lemire added a goal and an assist, while DeAugustine was the third Beacons' senior to find the back of the net.
Junior captain Albee Daley (Averill Park, N.Y.) and freshman Mike Thomson (Reading, Mass.) also found the back of the net in the victory.
In net, Faust stopped 18 of 20 shots to improve to 11-4-3 on the season.
Peter Sikalis and Thomas O'Brien scored for St. Anselm College, who will play in the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament starting next Saturday.
The Hawks were forced to play all three of their goalies, as the trio combined to make 37 saves on 43. Sophomore starter Shane Joyce was forced out after stopping just eight shots on 12 goals in 15:23 of action. Colin Soucy made 18 saves on 20 shots and then sophomore Brendan Cain closed out the game and stopped 11 shots in his season debut.
It took UMass Boston just 15:23 to blow the doors open, as the Beacons struck for four goals in a 7:31 span.
The Beacons' top line opened the scoring at 7:52, when Colin Larkin (Waterford, Mich.) passed up a scoring chance and sent a pass to the far side for Daley, who roofed a shot home with Joyce still trying to come across the crease.
Thomson made it 2-0 at 9:07, off of a terrific two-man rush with fellow freshman David MacGregor (Asuza, Calif.). Thomson left a perfect pass for MacGregor who was stoned by Joyce, but Thomson darted through and poked the rebound home for a 2-0 lead.
UMass Boston scored from in close once again 23 seconds later, when Finger scored the first of his two tallies. Zach Lindsay (Egg Harbor Township, N.J.) fed Brett Mason (Rowley, Mass.) at the point and Mason's rebound fell to Finger, who deflected a shot over Joyce's shoulder for a 3-0 lead.
The Hawks used their timeout at that point, but it wouldn't be enough to stem the tide.
Lemire scored his team-leading 14th goal at 15:23, when the senior made a great individual play. He skated with the puck from behind the net all the way to the center of the blue line and then ripped a shot through four bodies in front, that clanged off Joyce's facemask on it's way in. Larkin and Daley were both credited with assists on the play.
UMass Boston tacked on a fifth goal at 6:27 of the second, on a terrific play right off the face-off. Colucci won the draw back to DeAugustine in the slot and DeAugustine fired a shot past Soucy for his 95th collegiate point.
Sikalis finally broke the scoring run at 10:49, when the junior defenseman rifled a shot past Faust during some 4-on-4 action. CJ Blaszka picked up an assist on the play.
UMass Boston answered back 41 seconds later, when Finger scored a short-handed tally. Finger and Demchuk did a good job to force a turnover in the Hawks' zone and after losing the puck in front of the net, Finger whirled and sent a shot past Soucy's leg for a 6-1 lead.
The Hawks scored the lone tally of the third period, as Thomas O'Brien potted his first collegiate goal at 9:07. Kevin Dazkevich and Trevor Kacz created some chaos in out in front and the puck fell to O'Brien on the near post with a wide-open net in front of him.
BY THE NUMBERS
- With the victory, UMass Boston's senior class improved to 76-20-10 in 106 career games.
- The Beacons outshot the Hawks 43-20 for the contest and earned a 36-30 edge in face-offs.
- UMass Boston went 0-for-2 on the power-play, while St. Anselm College finished 0-for-3.
- With the win, UMass Boston improved to 25-23-1 all-time against the Hawks. The Beacons have won seven in a row and eight of the past nine meetings.
WHO'S NEXT
Top-seeded UMass Boston will open the New England Hockey Conference Tournament on Saturday, when they host eighth-seeded University of Southern Maine at 7 p.m. The Beacons swept the Huskies in the regular-season with wins of 3-2 and 5-2.
