AMHERST, Mass. - In a game that saw four lead changes and four ties, Garrett Noonan's overtime goal with 3:14 left in the extra frame gave No. 14 Boston University a 4-3 win over the UMass hockey team (6-16-4, 5-11-4 HEA) Friday night at the Mullins Center. The Minutemen overcame two one-goal deficits and led 3-2 in the second period before the Terriers (14-8-7, 11-5-5 HEA) scored two unanswered goals for the win. Paul Dainton made 24 saves for the Minutemen, who will faceoff with Providence tomorrow night in Amherst.
Friday's loss drops the Minutemen into a tie for seventh place with Vermont in the Hockey East standings with 14 points. The Mass Attack currently leads Providence by three points in the conference standings. Boston University held a slight 28-26 edge in shots for the game while the Minutemen won 30-of-58 draws. Both teams went 0-for-6 on the man advantage.
The Terriers capitalized the first and last two minutes of the first period, scoring twice to take a 2-1 after 20 minutes of play. Corey Trivino buried his seventh goal of the season just 1:09 into the game when he took a pass from Matt Nieto in the right faceoff dot and fired a wrist shot that beat Dainton.
UMass stormed right back, however, as Branden Gracel picked up his fourth goal of the year when he jammed home a loose puck in front that got through Millan for the score. Marc Concannon assisted on the goal, his fourth of the season and second in as many games. Both teams battled through the remainder of the frame in hopes of capturing an edge, and the Terriers did just that with only five seconds left in the stanza as Alex Chiasson netted his 10th goal of the season with a one-timer in the slot off another feed from Nieto.
The Minutemen bolted out to a hot start to the second period with two scores in the first four minutes to grab their first lead of the game. Conor Sheary scored the fifth goal of his freshman campaign off a botched clearing attempt from the Terriers. Michael Pereira picked up a loose puck on the right side and slid it over to Sheary in between the hashmarks for the score.
Danny Hobbs put the Mass Attack up 3-2 two and half minutes later with his eighth goal of the year off a nifty pass from T.J. Syner. Joel Hanley began the play with a big hit in the UMass defensive zone, allowing Rocco Carzo to begin the transition with a pass up to Syner in the neutral zone. Syner then sped down the right side, before shifting the puck over to his backhand to find Hobbs cutting to the far post for the one-timer past Millan.
Boston University continued to pressure, however and Wade Megan knotted the score at three midway through the frame with his seventh goal of the season. After taking a pass from Sahir Gill at the point, Ryan Ruikka sent a shot in on Dainton that popped into the air and behind the UMass captain, where Megan banged it home.
Dainton kept the Minutemen in the game throughout the third period as the Terriers outshot UMass 13-3 and were awarded four power plays, including an abbreviated five-on-three with 4:32 left in regulation. Dainton stopped nine Boston University shot bids during the man advantage while the Minutemen blocked two shots.
The Terriers had 38 seconds of left over power play time to open the overtime period, but once again the UMass penalty killing squad was able to weather the storm to kill off the man advantage. Boston University got the last laugh, however, as Noonan's shot off a pass from Chiasson squeaked through the pads of Dainton for Noonan's third goal of the season to hand the Minutemen their first overtime loss of the season.