Box Score HENNIKER, N.H.—#4 New England College struck for three goals in the final 8:22, to earn a 4-1 win over #5 UMass Boston men's hockey in the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) Quarterfinals.
THE BASICS
#4 New England College 4, #5 UMass Boston 1
(UMass Boston 14-11-1)
(New England College 17-8-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED
After the two teams went back-and-forth for the first 50+ minutes, the Pilgrims scored an even-strength goal, a 5-on-3 power-play goal and an empty-net goal to earn a spot in next week's NEHC Semifinals.
With the loss, #4 UMass Boston sees their season come to a close with a 14-11-1 record.
Senior forward Daniel Nachbaur (Richland, Wash.) tied the game at 1-1 with his seventh goal of the season 1:05 into the third period.
In net, senior Bailey MacBurnie (Beverly, Mass.) made 35 saves on 38 shots in his final collegiate contest.
New England College sophomore Nikita Pintusov paced the Pilgrims with two points, including his league-high, fifth game-winning goal.
Connor Inger, Hunter Hall and Channing Gorschak all scored for the hosts in the victory.
In net, senior goalie Anthony Pupplo made 27 saves on 28 shots to earn his 16th victory of the season.
UMass Boston nearly took a 1-0 lead seven minutes into the contest, but Ethan Nitkin's (Miami Beach, Fla.) goal was waived off due to goalie interference.
The Pilgrims took a 1-0 lead at 14:57. Jhuwon Davis and Alex LaPlante fed Hall and the freshman ripped a shot just underneath the bar.
UMass Boston had a pair of power-play chances in the second period, but couldn't find a game-winning tally.
After killing off the final 31 seconds of a Pilgrims power-play that carried over from the second period, UMass Boston tied the game 65 seconds into the third period.
Nitkin released a pass along the near boards that found Nachbaur, who waited out a defenseman skating by, before slipping a shot through Pupplo's five-hole.
UMass Boston kept the momentum going and had several great chances to tie the game. Zack Bross (St. Louis, Mo.) had multiple looks around the net, including putting the puck in the back of the net-only for the referees to waive the goal off for goalie interference.
After Pupplo denied a great chance at 8:30, Pintusov turned the game with a breakaway goal. The sophomore created a turnover at the top of his own defensive zone, skated in on MacBurnie and beat him five-hole for his league-high 25th goal of the year.
UMass Boston shot themselves in the foot minutes later, as they were called for back-to-back penalties, including a five-minute major call.
Gorschak made it 3-1 with 4:28 left, when MacBurnie made an initial save, but the rebound bounced up and Gorschak knocked it in from mid air.
Inger closed out the scoring at 18:46 with an empty-net goal.
BY THE NUMBERS
- New England College outshot the Beacons 39-29 and earned a 41-29 lead in face-offs.
- With the loss, UMass Boston trails the all-time series 20-34-2. The home team has won each of the past seven meetings.
- The Pilgrims finished 2-4 on the power-play, while UMass Boston went 0-4.
- MacBurnie ends his career second in program history in career wins (44), save percentage (.916) and goals against average (2.37).
- Saturday's contest marked the final game for seniors Derek Caruso (Port Washington, N.Y.), Dakota Keene (Poland, Maine), Tyler Sifferlen (North Andover, Mass.), Nachbaur and MacBurnie.
WHO'S NEXT
UMass Boston is scheduled to return 20 of their 27 players for the 2020-21 season, including All-Conference defenseman Nick Albano (Beverly, Mass.) and Joe Petruzzella (Scottsdale, Ariz.).
