Sixth-ranked UMass rolls to 7-1 men's college hockey win over Union

PHOTOGRAPHER: Stan Hudy

Union Bram Scheerer scored his first collegiate goal in Friday's loss to UMass.

UNION COLLEGE – The Union College men’s hockey team was hoping to shore up its defensive play after allowing eight goals last Saturday against RIT.

The Dutchmen didn’t do that Friday against sixth-ranked UMass.

Kenny Connors scored two of the Minutemen’s three power-play goals to power their 7-1 non-conference victory over the Dutchmen at Mullins Center in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Union men’s head coach Josh Hauge was frustrated with the team’s effort.

“I thought [UMass] set the pace right away.” Hauge said in a Zoom call. “We did not compete as hard as we needed to to be successful. … We didn’t get after them as hard as we needed to. For us to be successful, we have to compete extremely hard. When we’re playing an easy game, we’re not going to have success.”

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Union (2-4-1) almost fell behind 1-0 just over a minute into the game, but the goal was waved off after a successful video challenge for contact with goalie Connor Murphy. But a short time later, Taylor Makar gave the Minutemen (3-0-1) a 1-0 lead.

Dutchmen sophomore forward Bram Scheerer gave the team some life when he fired a quick wrist shot from the right circle that fooled goalie Luke Pavicich midway through the first.

Connors sent the Minutemen on their way to victory with 7:23 left in the first with his first power-play goal. Jerry Harding scored a back-breaking goal with 13.5 seconds remaining in the period.

Cole O’Hara made it a three-goal UMass lead midway through the second period.

Ryan Lautenbach and Connors scored power-play goals in a 1:11 span in the third period. Linden Alger capped the scoring with 1.5 seconds left.

Hauge said to expect some lineup changes for Saturday’s 7 p.m. rematch.

“That’s kind of where we’re at this point,” Hauge said. “Got to make some changes.”

Union 1 0 0 — 1

UMass 3 1 3 — 7

First Period — 1, UMass, Makar 1 (Lautenbach, Mercuri), 4:39. 2, Union, Scheerer 1 (Smedsrud), 10:54. 3, UMass, Connors 2 (Kiefiuk, Ufko), 12:37 (pp). 4, UMass, Harding 1 (Bohlinger, Faith), 19:46. Penalties — Immonen, Uni (tripping), 5:02; Theodore, Uni (hooking), 12:18.

Second Period — 5, UMass, O’Hara 1 (Lebster), 10:06. Penalties — Snell, Uni (interference), 5:24; Faith, UMass (hooking), 14:13.

Third Period — 6, UMass, Lautenbach 1 (Morrow), 8:37 (pp). 7, UMass, Connors 3 (Lautenbach, Ufko), 9:48 (pp). 8, UMass, Alger 1 (O’Hara) 19:58. Penalties — Scheerer, Uni (interference), :40; Robertson, Uni (hooking), 8:11; Young, Uni (boarding), 8:50; 11:59.

Shots on Goal — Union 5-9-9 — 23. UMass 20-11-8 — 39.

Power-play opportunities — Union 0 of 2; UMass 3 of 6.

Goalies — Union, C. Murphy 2-2-1 (39 shots-32 saves). UMass, Pavicich 3-0-1 (18-17); Graham (11:59 third, 5-5).

A — 3,721.

Referees — Terrence Murphy, AJ Potvin. Linesmen — Kevin Briganti, Phil Kitchen.

Women

RPI 2, RIT 0

Marah Wagner and Maddy Papineau scored second-period goals to help the Engineers beat the Tigers in a non-conference game at Houston Field House.

The win snapped a six-game losing streak to start the season for RPI (1-6).

Engineers goalie Amanda Rampado stopped 13 shots for the shutout.

The two teams meet again at 3 p.m. Saturday.

RIT 0 0 0 — 0

RPI 0 2 0 — 2

First Period — None. Penalties — Maloney, RIT (elbowing), 4:01; Christof, RPI (interference), 12:20; Papineau, RPI (boarding), 15:00.

Second Period — 1, RPI, Wagner 1 (Christof, Kaiser), 4:28. 2, RPI, Papineau 1 (Larsen, Jones), 14:10. Penalties — Papineau, RPI (body checking), 1:13; Christof, RPU (interference), 6:19; Vasdani, RIT (interference), 8:11; Ness, RIT (hitting from behind), 12:04; Carr, RIT (roughing), 16:51.

Third Period — None. Penalties — Kolssak, RIT (boarding), 17:30.

Shots on Goal — RIT 7-4-2 — 13. RPI 11-18-9 — 38.

Power-play opportunities — RIT 0 of 4; RPI 0 of 5.

Goalies — RIT, Stephen 1-3-0 (38 shots-36 saves). RPI, Rampado 1-6-0 (13-13).

A — 150.

Referees — Pierce Marston, Matt Wyld. Linesmen — Jamie Colacino, Carmine Valtrano.