AMHERST, Mass. - David Boehm's goal with 2:55 remaining in overtime propelled the No. 14/10 UMass hockey team to a 4-3 victory over New Hampshire on Friday night at the Mullins Center. Casey Wellman netted the game-tying goal with 11 seconds in regulation, his fifth goal of the season. Paul Dainton made a career high 42 saves in goal for the Minutemen (7-1-0, 4-1-0), while Brian Foster made 27 stops for the Wildcats (2-6-2, 2-2-1 HEA). The two teams will square off again tomorrow night at the Mullins Center. Gametime is scheduled for 7 PM.
UMass' 7-1-0 start is the team's best since Don Cahoon became head coach in 2000-01. New Hampshire outshot the Minutemen 45-31 for the game, while the two teams took a combined three penalties. UMass was 0-for-2 on the power play, while the Wildcats were 0-for-1.
Although the Wildcats outshot Massachusetts 11-10 in the first period, it was the Minutemen who jumped out to a 2-0 with goals two minutes apart, both coming during five-on-five play. With 3:32 remaining in the period, Michael Lecomte netted his third goal in as many games. After Will Ortiz received a pass from Chase Langeraap, Ortiz fired a low wrist shot on goal. Foster allowed the rebound to trickle into the slot where Lecomte swiftly corralled it and threw it past the New Hampshire netminder for the 1-0 lead.
The Minutemen extended their lead just 2:11 later on Justin Braun's second goal of the year. During a scrum in the neutral zone, Danny Hobbs emerged with the puck and threaded a pass across to Braun. Braun skated into the right faceoff dot and blasted a shot that beat Foster right under the cross bar.
New Hampshire outshot the Minutemen 18-7 during the second period, and netted two goals of its own to tie the score heading into intermission. Steve Moses notched his fourth goal of the season near the midway mark of the period off a feed from Kevin McCarey. McCarey controlled the puck along the side boards before dishing a pass to Moses in the slot for a quick wrister past Dainton.
The Wildcats evened the score seven minutes later on Peter LeBlanc's third goal of the year. After Greg Burke took a shot that was initially saved by Dainton, LeBlanc grabbed the rebound and stuffed it home for the score.
While New Hampshire took a 3-2 in the first minute of the third period, the Minutemen were able to recover with a goal of their own with 11 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime. Bobby Butler tallied his seventh goal of the season when he pounded home a loose puck in the slot to give the Wildcats their first lead of the game.
With an empty net and less than a minute to play in the period, Massachusetts applied heavy pressure to try to notch the game-tying goal. With 11 seconds remaining, Wellman was left all alone at the top of the crease, snatched up a loose puck and buried it past Foster.
The Minutemen took two shots in overtime, but it was Boehm's wrist shot from just inside the blueline to give the Minutemen the thrilling win. Michael Marcou held the puck in the neutral zone before spotting Boehm and sending a pass across the rink to him. Boehm then skated into the New Hampshire zone and let a shot go that squirted through Foster's pads for the game-winner.