Box Score BOSTON, Mass.—Wesleyan University raced out to a 5-0 lead midway through the second period to earn a 6-2 win over UMass Boston men's hockey in the 55th Annual Codfish Bowl Championship Game.
THE BASICS
Wesleyan University 6, UMass Boston 2
(UMass Boston 7-5-1)
(Wesleyan University 6-3)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first-time entrants scored three goals in the first 12:46 of the first period and added two goals in a nine-second span of the second period, to blow past the hosts.
Senior goalie Tim Sestak earned Tournament Most Valuable Player honors, after making 39 saves on 41 shots. The senior stopped 62 of 65 shots on the weekend and made several key saves late in the second and early in the third period, when the Beacons were trying to make a comeback.
UMass Boston's top line combined for both goals on the afternoon. Jeffrey Skinner (Houston, Texas) and Chris Peters (Fairport, N.Y.) each had a goal and an assist, while Daniel Nachbaur (Richland, Wash.) added an assist.
In net, Nolan Egbert (North Massapequa, N.Y.) was a late entrant into the starting lineup. He made four saves on seven shots, before being pulled 12:46 into the game. Freshman Sam Best (Woburn, Mass.) made 14 saves on 16 shots over the final 47:02.
Cam Peritz paced the Cardinals offense with a pair of goals in the contest. Tyler Levine and Walker Harris each added a goal and an assist and Michael Kerbrat and Andrew Pratt also scored.
Wesleyan opened the scoring 3:52 into the game. Egbert made the initial save on a Wesleyan shot, but the rebound bounced out to Harris in the slot and he was able to skate in and lift a backhand shot past Egbert.
The Cardinals doubled their lead at 10:42, as Peritz took a long stretch pass from Matt Zandi and sent a hard shot off Egbert's shoulder and in.
Pratt made it 3-0 at 12:46, when the freshman pounced on a rebound in front and sent a shot through the Beacons' goalies five-hole.
UMass Boston picked up an important penalty kill early in the second period to gain some momentum, but the Cardinals came back minutes later to push their lead to 5-0.
Peritz pushed the lead to 4-0 at 10:22 and off the ensuing face-off, Kerbrat made it 5-0 at 10:31
UMass Boston got on the board at 12:54. Skinner's initial shot was denied by Sestak, but he picked up the rebound and skated the puck behind the net, before beating Sestak to the far post on a wrap-around chance.
The Beacons cut the deficit to 5-2 just before the end of the period. Nachbaur's initial shot ended up lost in a scramble in front and it went off Peters and in at 19:10.
UMass Boston kept the momentum going into the third period, but Sestak made several big saves to keep the game at 5-2.
Wesleyan put the game away at 16:49, when Levine scored an unassisted goal, right after the Beacons pulled their goalie
BY THE NUMBERS
- UMass Boston outshot 41-24 in the contest, including 32-16 over the final two periods.
- The Cardinals are the second-straight, first-time entrant to win the Codfish Bowl. Last season, SUNY Cortland defeated the Beacons 2-1 in the 54th Codfish Bowl Finals.
- UMass Boston went 0-1 on the power-play and Wesleyan finished 0-4. The Beacons have now put together 21-consecutive penalty kills.
- The Beacons top lined combined for five of the team's 11 goals this weekend.
- With the loss, UMass Boston falls to 10-8 all-time against Wesleyan. Head coach Peter Belisle is 4-3 all-time against his fellow UConn alum Chris Potter.
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston will travel to Skidmore College on Friday night at 7 p.m. to begin a string of 12-straight conference games to end the regular season.
