Box Score
BOSTON, Mass. – In his first collegiate start Division I transfer Bailey MacBurnie (Beverly, Mass.) along with junior Colin Larkin (Waterford, Mich.) propelled the 12th ranked Beacons to their first win of 2017 as they cruised to a 5-2 victory over St. Anselm College Friday evening at the Edward T. Barry Ice Rink in an NEHC contest.
THE BASICS
#12 UMass Boston 5, St. Anselm College 2
UMass Boston (8-4-2, 3-3-1 NEHC)
St. Anselm College (6-6-1, 3-5-0 NEHC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
MacBurnie, who arrived on campus earlier this week from Sacred Heart University, had a strong debut in a Beacons uniform. The Beverly, Mass. native collected 34 saves to lead UMass to the crucial conference win.
Offensively, the night belonged to Larkin, who collected a career-high five points in the win. Larkin recorded the first three Beacons goal, and notched his fourth of the night just 10 seconds after St. Anselm scored their second in the third period.
Larkin got the Beacons on the board at 9:32 of the first period when he went one-on-one with St. Anselm's Colin Soucy. Ten minutes later, Larkin tipped in a laser shot from Tyler Bishop (Ramsey, N.J.) to make it 2-0 Beacons with 51 seconds left before the first intermission.
In the second period, St. Anselm managed to sneak the puck past MacBurnie just one minute and 49 seconds. With the lead cut in half, St. Anselm began to build some momentum, however Larkin quickly knocked the wind out of the Hawks with his third goal of the contest. The senior, would once again connect take advantage of a Bishop shot. Bishop's initial shot was saved by new St. Anselm goaltender Shane Joyce, but he was unable to completely cover it. With the puck lying right in the crease, Larkin snuck in past the netminder to record the hat trick.
Ryan Cusin (Detroit, Mich.) would collect the fourth goal for UMass at the 12:44 mark, when he beat the entire St. Anselm defense with some solid puck handling. The freshman tapped in his ninth goal of the year to make it 4-1 UMB. Assisting on the play was Larkin and Nolan Redler (Winchester, Mass.).
After the second intermission, neither team would find the back of the net until the Hawks caught a lucky break late in the third. A Trey Aiello shot would get past MacBurnie's glove and deflected into the back of the net off the inside of his pad to make it a 4-2 contest.
However, just like the second period, Larkin silenced any St. Anselm comeback seconds later as he brought the puck up off the face-off and beat Joyce to the near post to secure his five point night.
The Hawks would pull their goaltender for over three minutes, and even had a 6-on-3 situation, but MacBurnie held strong to keep the Hawks at just the two goals.
BY THE NUMBERS
- On the night UMass Boston finish 0-for-2 on the power play, while St. Anselm went 0-for-4
- Tonight's win marked the first time during the Peter Belisle era that two freshman goaltenders both won their collegiate debuts in the same season.
- Larkin's hat trick marked the second of the year for the junior as he leads the team with five game-winners
- Larkin now sits just 14 points away from his 100th which would make him the third player in the last three seasons to reach the career milestone
WHO'S NEXT
The Beacons will host New England College tomorrow at 3 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for a 4 p.m. start, but has been moved up with inclement weather in the forecast.
