Friday, December 29, 2006
UMASS LOWELL, BROWN SKATE TO 1-1 DRAW
River Hawks win shootout to advance to Denver Cup title game
Box Score

DENVER, CO (Dec. 29, 2006) – Jason Tejchma (Muskegon, MI) scored in regulation and Jeremy Dehner (Madison, WI) netted the shootout winner as the UMass Lowell River Hawks advance to the championship game of the Wells Fargo Denver Cup. Officially the game ends as a 1-1 tie between Brown and UML, with the shootout deciding which team advanced to the title game.

Jeremy Hall (Mays Landing, NJ) and Nick Schaus (Orchard Park, NY) also netted goals for UML in the shootout.

With the tie, the River Hawks move to 3-10-5. Lowell is 0-0-5 in overtime games this season. Brown is 6-4-3 with the tie.

All of the game’s offense came in the second period. Ryan Garbutt gave Brown a 1-0 lead at 4:26 with assists going to Jordan Pietrus and Eric Slais. Garbutt drove the net and pushed both the puck and UML goaltender Vinny Monaco (Andover, MA) across the goal line.

Tejchma scored the equalizer at 12:21 of the second period on the power play when he deflected a shot from Schaus on the power play. Dehner earned the secondary assist on the goal.

Monaco made 22 saves to earn his first career tie. Freshman goaltender Dan Rosen made a career-best 47 saves in his first career tie.

The River Hawks out-shot Brown 48-23, including a decided 22-6 edge in the second period. The 48 shots are a season high for UML. Hall had a game-high eight shots, while Tejchma recorded seven shots on goal in the contest.

“It was a good outing by us, I thought we had a lot of energy,” said UML head coach Blaise MacDonald. “We made a lot of good plays and I’m very proud of how hard the guys played. I think most nights we win that game going away. But as a team it’s just tough for us to score. So I’m very happy that we got what we deserved to play for a championship tomorrow and that’s what we wanted.”

Lowell went 1-for-5 on the power play with 13 shots. All 13 shots came on a five-minute power play in the second period after Antonin Roux was whistled for a checking from behind major penalty. Brown was 0-for-4 with two shots on the man-advantage.

The River Hawks next play Saturday at 9:00 p.m. eastern time in the championship game of the Wells Fargo Denver Cup against either Mercyhurst or Denver.