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The University of New Hampshire’s men's hockey team, Ranked 10th in Hockey East entered enemy territory at Tsongas Arena against the 7th-ranked University of Massachusetts Lowell, Wednesday, March 12.
Starting the first period, UNH mostly stayed on defense but kept UMass Lowell from scoring. The first penalty of the night was called on River Hawks’ Jak Vaarwerk, giving the Wildcats the first five-on-four advantage. On the power play, UML had a chance to score when Alex Gagne missed the puck and Scout Truman picked it up, giving him a one-on-one against Rico DiMatteo, but missed. UMass Lowell was the first to score 10:27 into the period. The goal was scored by Chris Delaney from the inner portion of the left faceoff circle into the opposite side of the net. UNH was quick to tie the score with a goal of their own by Cy LeClerc in the inner portion of the right faceoff circle off a pass from Luke Reid. The Wildcats took the lead with a power-play goal by Robert Cronin with 7:33 left in the period and 48 seconds left in the power play. With 3:17 left in the period, Kristaps Skrastins rushed toward Henry Welsch but hit the left pole of the net. With 0.4 seconds left in the period, UML challenged the previous play for illegal contact, which was ruled as no penalty.
The second period started with UML gaining a power play 1:05 into the period off tripping call on Liam Devlin. With 13:40 left in the period, Connor Sweeney rushed to the net but was stopped by Welsch. At 8:37 left in the period, the Riverhawks tied the score with a goal from Matt Crasa from the center of the right faceoff circle. With 3:32 left in the period, UMass Lowell went on a power play off an unsportsmanlike conduct call that sent Morgan Winters to the box. Libor Nemec rushed the front of the net but was stopped by DiMatteo in a detrimental block.
Souza commented, “I thought we played pretty well. I give the kid a lot of credit.”
This was quickly followed by Devlin obtaining the puck and a quick pass to Nick Ring at the front of the net but just missed.
During the third period, UNH gained multiple scoring chances due to Ryan Conmy’s speed to outskate the opponents and his teammates to the opposite side of the ice. Crasa had a missed opportunity for a second goal but was kept out of the net by DiMatteo. The Wildcats gained a power play 13:29 into the period off a tripping call on Connor Eddy. During the power play, Conmy was hit hard giving the River Hawks a few seconds off defense, and returned to the ice quickly. Luke Reid tried for a goal, but the shot was high at 10:04. The Riverhawks also had a close goal from Owen Cole that resulted in DiMatteo unable to properly guard the net but still kept the puck out.
Souza said, “There was never a thought [about switching out DiMatteo for Whale].”
Brendan Fitzgerald blocked a puck in front of DiMatteo with his body and rushed it to the other end of the ice, hoping to allow UNH to score.
With a tied score of 2-2, the game went into overtime. The overtime rules are different since it’s now playoffs. They get a regular 15-minute intermission and will play another 20 minutes. This continues until one team scores. UMass Lowell tried early for the win with a breakaway by Crasa but was denied. Scout Truman was the player to seal the victory with a goal 3:38 into overtime, after poking the puck from Reid.
This ends the hockey season for the Wildcats, with a record of 13-16-6.
