BOSTON, Mass.—Fresh off their first league-title since 1982, #6/7 UMass Boston Men's Hockey is set to take on defending national champion #5/5 Trinity College in the NCAA Tournament First Round. The Beacons will play their first-ever NCAA Tournament game on March 12th at 7 p.m. at Trinity's Koeppel Center in Hartford, Connecticut.
GAME INFORMATION
LIVE STATS / VIDEO / AUDIO (UMass Boston)
TICKET INFORMATION : Tickets will only be sold on Saturday and will be sold at the door. Tickets are $6 for adults, $4 for students and seniors, $3 for children ages 3 to 12, and free for children under three.
ALL-TIME SERIES: The Beacons and the Bantams will be playing for the 18th time, with Trinity owning a 13-5-1 all-time advantage. These two teams have only met once in the past five years, with UMass Boston downing the Bantams 5-3 on November 30, 2014 in Hartford.
After falling behind 3-1 five minutes into the second period, the Beacons found the back of the net four times over the final 30 minutes to hand the eventual national champions a 5-3 loss. Seniors Nathan Milam ('15) and Stephen Buco ('15) each scored twice for the Beacons in the win, while Trinity's Sean Orlando scored twice for the hosts. The Bantams outshot UMass Boston 37-32 in the contest, with the Beacons finishing 1-for-2 on the man-advantage and Trinity going 2-for-6.
SCOUTING THE BANTAMS: After winning their first-ever NCAA Title last spring, Trinity College is looking to become the first back-to-back national champion since St. Norbert College accomplished the feat in 2011-2012. The Bantams are making their fifth all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament and are 6-3 all-time. Last season they defeated Nichols College 4-2 in Hartford and then beat SUNY Plattsburgh 5-1 at home in the NCAA Quarterfinals. The Bantams earned the National Title by defeating Adrian College 5-3 and then University of Wisconsin Stevens Point 5-2, with both games played in Minneapolis.
Fifth-year head coach Matt Greason returned 18 of the team's 28 players from last season's team (25-3-1) and brought in a strong class of eight freshmen. After opening the season 7-3-1, Trinity won 11 of their final 13 games to finish second in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) in the regular season. In the NESCAC Tournament, Trinity defeated Colby College 3-1, Tufts University 4-3 and Amherst College 5-1 to earn their first NESCAC Tournament Title since 2008.
Trinity used a red-hot offense and strong goaltending to earn back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in school history. The Bantams rank tied for 14th in the nation in scoring offense (3.59 goals per) and scoring defense (2.19). Special teams has been a question mark all season long, as they rank 66th out of 76 teams in combined special teams (45.4 percent) and 54th with their 79.1 percent penalty kill. They seemed to solve those issues during the NESCAC Tournament, as the Bantams went 5-for-11 on the power-play (45.4 percent) and held their opponents to an 0-for-6 mark.
Led by Orlando, a First Team All-Conference selection, the Bantams sport five 20-point scorers and 10 players with 15 or more points on the season. Orlando sits second on the team with his 16 assists and 25 points, while he's tied for the team lead with four power-play goals and three game-winners. Sophomore Anthony Sabitsky paces the team with 17 assists and 29 points and junior Ethan Holdaway owns the team lead with 13 total goals.
Two other forwards to watch out for are junior Ryan Cole and senior Michael Hawkrigg. Cole (10 goals and 12 assists) earned American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) CCM Division II-III East All-American First Team honors as a sophomore, while Hawkrigg (four goals and 12 assists) was selected to the third team.
In net, sophomore Alex Morin wrestled the starting job away from Nathaniel Heilbron-last year's Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament. Morin has started in 16 games this season and owns a 14-2 record with a team-best .935 save percentage and a 1.73 goals against average. The sophomore has started each of the past four games and has allowed just six goals on 112 shots (94.6 percent).
SCOUTING THE BEACONS: UMass Boston is about to set forth into unchartered territory. The Beacons' only previous tournament title came in 1982, before the creation of the Division III NCAA Tournament, so Saturday's matchup will mark the Beacons' first-ever NCAA Tournament Title appearance.
UMass Boston earned their first-ever trip thanks to a 3-2 overtime win over rival Babson College in the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) Tournament. Seniors Andrew Crawford (Medford, Mass.) and Alex Demchuk (Calgary, Alberta) tied the game at 1-1 and 2-2 to force an extra session. After several huge saves by senior Billy Faust (Alta Loma, Calif.), sophomore Colin Larkin (Waterford, Mich.) scored the game-winner 12:51 into the extra session, with Matt Lemire (Townsend, Mass.) and Tyler Bishop (Ramsey, N.J.) picking up assists on the play.
The Beacons stand as one of the best teams in the nation statistically, as they rank fifth in the country in goals against average (4.32), ninth in penalty minutes per game (8.6), sixth in power-play rate (24.7 percent), tied for eight in penalty-kill rate (87.9 percent) and ninth in combined special teams (55.3 percent).
Offensively, the Beacons have spread the wealth with six 20-point scorers and 13 total players with 10 or more points. Lemire (29 assists and 43 points) and Larkin (25 assists and 35 points) lead the Beacons in assists and points, while senior Frankie DeAugustine (Pittsburgh, Pa.) paces the team with 15 goals and eight power-play tallies. DeAugustine will move into second-place in program history on Saturday in career games played, as he takes the ice for the 105th time. Junior defenseman Tyler Bishop (Ramsey, N.J.) joined Lemire and Larkin on the NEHC 1st Team, after leading the conference in defenseman scoring and ranking tied for sixth in the nation with his 22 points.
UMass Boston has relied on Faust throughout their playoff run. The senior goalie carries a 14-4-3 mark with two shutouts, a .925 save percentage and a 2.13 goals against average into Saturday's contest. He's allowed two goals or fewer in five of his last eight appearances, and gave up five goals on 78 shots (.936) during the NEHC Tournament.
STAT TO KNOW: Trinity has been a first period team all season-long. The Bantams have outscored their opponents 32-13 (+19) in the first period, compared to 65-46 (+19) over the final two periods and overtime. Over their past five games, Trinity has outscored their opponents 11-1 in the first period, including 5-0 in the NESCAC Tournament.
The Beacons have been pretty balanced all season long, with a +17 margin in the first period, +21 in the second and +19 in the third. In their four losses this season, the Beacons' were outscored 6-1 in the first period.
