Box Score BOSTON, Mass.—Despite a career-high 36 saves from freshman Sam Best (Woburn, Mass.), UMass Boston men's hockey fell 5-0 to #1 Norwich University on Friday night at the Edward T. Barry Ice Rink.
THE BASICS
#1 Norwich University 5, UMass Boston 0
(UMass Boston 10-9-1, NEHC 6-6-1)
(Norwich 17-2-2, NEHC 12-1-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Cadets scored twice in the second period and three more times in the third, to extend their unbeaten streak to 11 in a row (9-0-2).
Best played much better in his second career start against the Cadets, but still come out on the losing end. He made eight saves in the first, 16 in the second and 12 more in the third period for his second-straight 30+ save contest.
Norwich senior goalie Tom Aubrun set the program-record for career shutouts with his sixth of the season and 13th of his career. The senior netminder made a season-high 41 stops, including double-digit saves in all three periods.
Senior Taeron Lewis and junior Coby Downs paced the Norwich attack with a goal and an assist apiece. Carter Cowlthorp, Gabriel Chicoine and Scott Swanson also added goals in the victory.
UMass Boston played their best period of hockey in the first, as they outshot Norwich 13-8 and generated several strong chances. Sophomore Chris Peters (Fairport, N.Y.) forced two kick saves from Aubrun and Nolan Redler (Winchester, Mass.) had a great chance at the back post but the puck bounced over his stick.
Norwich took control of the game with two goals in 2:53 early in the second period. Cowlthorp gave the Cadets the lead at 3:31, after he dashed into the zone and pushed Lewis' rebound past Best.
The Cadets doubled their lead at 6:24. Norwich skated into the zone on a 3-on-1 and Brett Ouderkirk sent a perfectly-time saucer pass to the back post, where Chicoine redirected the puck past Best.
Things went from bad-to-worse for the Beacons late in the period, when they were whistled for a major penalty with 3:08 to go in the period.
UMass Boston killed off the penalty to end the period and had a chance to grab some of the momentum back to start the third. The Beacons killed off 71 seconds to begin the period, before the Cadets finally capitalized.
Downs sent a centering feed to the low slot and Swanson one-timed a shot for a 3-0 advantage.
The Cadets added two goals in the final five minutes of the contest. Downs earned an unassisted goal on a rocket of a shot just inside the zone and Lewis added a power-play goal off a mad scramble around the crease with 1:45 to play.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Norwich outshot UMass Boston 41-37, after earning a 33-24 advantage the final two periods.
- The Cadets went 2-4 on the power-play, while UMass Boston finished the game 0-1.
- With the win, the Cadets earned the sweep of the season-series and improve to 46-11 all-time against the Beacons.
- Freshman Jake Adkins (Centennial, Colo.) led the Beacons with six total shots. Andy Walker (Mason, Mich.) was a team-best 8-of-13 in the face-off dot.
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston will return to action on Saturday afternoon, when they host Castleton University at 4 p.m.
