 "Photo: Brian Tedder/Collegian")
Upsets don't exist in Hockey East. Any team can win on any given day, and for the Massachusetts hockey team, that is exactly what happened this weekend.
The No. 20 Minutemen overpowered No. 1 Boston University Friday in a 5-1 win at the Mullins Center in front of 7,212 fans. But the momentum didn't carry over to the next night when UMass lost, 2-0, to unranked UMass Lowell.
Each game started out similarly, as BU and UML dominated play at the start as UMass (5-3-1, 3-2-1 Hockey East) played stale hockey. Against the Terriers (6-2-0, 3-2-0 HEA), the Minutemen picked up their play and came out with an unexpected win. On Saturday, for the second week in a row, UMass lost to a team that rankings say it should have beaten - the Minutemen lost 3-1 at Merrimack on Nov. 8.
"Real ugly game from our standpoint," UMass coach Don Cahoon said after Saturday's loss. "I think we went into the game knowing it was going to be an ugly game, but that doesn't mean it can't be a good hockey game. You just know it's not going to be very pretty - pucks are bouncing all over the place and ice conditions weren't great."
The amount of fans from the night before and the unusually warm weather for a New England November evening increased the humidity inside the Mullins Center for Saturday's game, making the ice much softer and harder to play on.
The River Hawks (5-4-0, 3-2-0 HEA) adapted to the conditions better than the Minutemen as they controlled play for the entire game. The Minutemen struggled to make crisp, precise passes and keep control of the puck - ultimately shutting down their offense for the first time this season.
UMass sophomore Paul Dainton was in net, while Nevin Hamilton started for the River Hawks. Each goaltender made 22 saves in the game, and UML outshot UMass by a very slim margin, 24-22.
"[The River Hawks] ended up making a couple plays, scoring a couple goals, but we didn't and that's the game," Cahoon said.
UMass Lowell's ability to overcome the abnormal ice conditions ultimately granted them the win.
"[The] game is played on a lot of different surfaces and sometimes you just have to adjust and play. You obviously didn't see the puck movement tonight that maybe you've seen a few times in the past and it affected us," Cahoon said. "We've got to be able to play through that and be able to make an adjustment to our game to be able to generate a little more offense and we didn't do that."
The first period was scoreless, but 9 minutes, 37 seconds into the second period UML's Michael Budd scored his first career goal in his second game for the River Hawks. They doubled the lead at 12:03 in the third period when Scott Campbell scored on UML's man advantage - ending UMass' penalty kill streak that had been perfect for the last 29 attempts.
In the third period, UMass seemed to adjust to the conditions, but a little too late. UMass outshot UML, 9-7, but still couldn't come out with a goal.
On Friday, ice conditions weren't a factor and the Minutemen dominated play for much of the game. The Terriers came out hard, putting a lot of pressure on their forecheck by sending two forwards deep into the Minutemen's zone. This didn't allow UMass to break out the puck efficiently.
With Dainton in net, and after withstanding the pressure from one of the top offenses in Hockey East during the first period, UMass was confident that his sharp play would continue to benefit the team for the remainder of the game, and it did. He made 30 saves.
After the first half of the first period, the Minutemen took control of play and didn't let down for the rest of the game, putting pressure on BU's goaltender Grant Rollheiser - who made 21 saves.
Senior Alex Berry scored the game-winning goal for the Minutemen and added an empty netter with less than a minute left of play.
Senior Cory Quirk put UMass on the board first, 7:03 into the game, when he received a pass from sophomore line-mate James Marcou. Quirk skated into the slot and backhanded the puck into the top shelf.
UMass returns to play next weekend with two games against defending national champion Boston College.
Game notes
The last time UMass beat a No. 1 opponent was Jan. 28, 1995 in a 4-2 win over Maine. Overall it is 2-12-1 against No. 1 teams … In the last 50 games, the Minutemen are 47-2-1 when scoring at least four goals … UMass is 0-3-1 when it doesn't score at least three goals … The last time UMass was shutout by UMass Lowell was Jan. 4, 2004 … Freshman defender Matthew Irwin scored his first career goal against BU.
Melissa Turtinen can be reached at mturtinen@dailycollegian.com.
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