UMass scores 4 power-play goals, routs Union men's hockey 7-0

PHOTOGRAPHER: Peter R. Barber

Union men's hockey head coach Josh Hauge.

UNION COLLEGE – After dropping a 7-1 decision Friday night to sixth-ranked UMass, Union men’s hockey head coach Josh Hauge juggled his forward lines for Saturday’s rematch at Mullins Center.

Even though they gave up a late goal in the first period, the Dutchmen played with more inspiration and had a 16-14 shots on goal advantage.

Then they got into penalty trouble, and everything fell apart.

The Minutemen went 4 for 5 on the power play and rolled to a 7-0 non-conference victory to complete the two-game sweep.

It was the third straight loss for the Dutchmen (2-5-1). They have been outscored 22-6 in those games. They have allowed nine power-play goals in 15 attempts in those games. In Union’s first five games, it had killed off 15 of 16 shorthanded situations.

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“I felt great about the first period,” Huage said in a Zoom interview. “I was really proud of the guys and the effort to bounce back to have that kind of start. We took some undisciplined penalties in the second and put ourselves behind the eight ball. We just can’t be taking undisciplined penalties against a team like that.”

The Minutemen (3-0-1) scored three power-play goals during their four-goal second period. Scott Morrow scored two of those power-play goals, and Lucas Mercuri had the other. Michael Cameron had an even-strength goal.

Tyson Dyck scored UMass’ final power-play goal in the third period. Taylor Makar added an even-strength goal to close out the scoring.

There was some discussion during the second intermission whether or not Union should give senior goalie Connor Murphy the rest of the game and let freshman netminder Kyle Chauvette play the third period. Murphy didn’t want to be pulled.

“There was a lot of talk about it,” Hauge said. “We spoke with Murphy, and he wanted to play his way out of it and fight through some adversity here. I think he needed that.”

Union needs to get back to the way it was playing prior to this losing skid, especially with the start of ECAC Hockey play next weekend with a two-game series against RPI.

“It comes down to just we’re not picking guys up,” Hauge said. “We’ve got to be more responsible with the puck. We’re not picking guys up on our backcheck and not communicating on sorting that stuff out, and just tightening up our special teams.”

Union 0 0 0 — 0

UMass 1 4 2 — 7

First Period — 1, UMass, Koopman 2 (Sullivan, Faith), 16:36. Penalties — Bohlinger, UMass (hooking), 3:34, Allen, Uni (hooking), 6:00, Lautenbach, UMass (interference), 10:13.

Second Period — 2, UMass, Morrow 3 (Lebster, Connors), 3:22 (pp). 3, UMass, Mercuri 1 (Dyck, O’Hara), 11:49 (pp). 4, UMass, Morrow 4 (Ufko, Connors), 13:38 (pp). 5, UMass, Cameron 1 (Lebster, Nodler), 17:55. Penalties — McDermott, UMass (slashing), :24; Korpi, Uni (interference), 2:06; Korpi, Uni (tripping), 10:03; Robertson, Uni (interference), 12:09; Nodler, UMass (tripping), 15:14.

Third Period — 6, UMass, Mercuri 2 (Nodler), 7:31 (pp). 7, UMass, Makar 2 (Mercuri, Bohlinger), 12:29. Penalties — Prokop, Uni (hooking), 7:09; Nodler, UMass (interference), 9:01; O’Hara, UMass (slashing), 14:53.

Shots on Goal — Union 16-7-9 — 32. UMass 14-15-9 — 38.

Power-play opportunities — Union 0 of 6; UMass 4 of 5.

Goalies — Union, Murphy 2-3-1 (29 shots-24 saves). UMass, Brady 1-0-0 (23-23).

A — .

Referees — Jack Millea, Jeremy Tufts. Linesmen — Kevin Briganti, Christopher Millea.

Women

RPI 3, RIT 0

Goalie Amanda Rampado stopped 29 shots to record her second straight shutout as the Engineers completed a non-conference sweep of the Tigers at Houston Field House.

Rampado made 13 saves in Friday’s 2-0 win.

Like they did on Friday, the Engineers (2-6) scored all of their goals in the second period Saturday, which came in a 5:14 span. Ellie Kaiser scored at 10:20, Asiah Taylor-Walters tallied at 12:29 and Magadalena Erbenova scored on the power play at 15:34.

RPI begins ECAC Hockey play Friday at St. Lawrence.

RIT 0 0 0 — 0

RPI 0 3 0 — 3

First Period — None. Penalties — Maloney, RIT (hooking), 12:15.

Second Period — 1, RPI, Kaiser 1 (Wagner, Alexander), 10:20. 2, RPI, Taylor-Walters 1 (Bayne, Beaudoin), 12:29. 3, RPI, Erbenova 1 (Kaiser, Wagner), 15:34 (pp). Penalties — Burks, RIT (cross-checking), 14:55.

Third Period — None. Penalties — Maloney, RIT (elbowing), 8:51.

Shots on Goal — RIT 9-9-11 — 29. RPI 9-12-9 — 30.

Power-play opportunities — RIT 0 of 0; RPI 1 of 3.

Goalies — RIT, Coe 1-5-0 (30 shots-27 saves). RPI, Rampado 2-6-0 (29-29).

A — 200.

Referees — Pierce Marston, Derek Zuckerman. Linesmen — Christopher Hunter, Carmine Valtrano.