AMHERST, Mass. - Adam Phillips scored two power play goals and Paul Dainton made 28 saves to lead the UMass hockey team (5-11-3, 4-6-3 HEA) to a weekend sweep over UMass Lowell on Saturday night at the Mullins Center, 4-1. The Minutemen scored two goals in each of the first two periods, including Colin Shea's first collegiate goal late in the second frame. Maury Edwards scored the lone goal for the River Hawks (2-18-2, 2-14-0 HEA) while Doug Carr made 22 stops in the losing effort. The Mass Attack will head to Vermont next weekend for a pair of games against the Catamounts from Gutterson Fieldhouse.
Saturday's win gives the Minutemen a season sweep over the River Hawks, 3-0, and are now in seventh place in the Hockey East standings with 11 points, four behind fifth place Merrimack and Northeastern. Massachusetts led Lowell in shots 29-26 and scored a power play goal for the fifth straight game with a 2-for-3 effort on the man advantage. The River Hawks went 0-for-6 on the power play, extending the Minutemen's streak to 15 straight penalties killed.
The Minutemen came out strong in the first period, outshooting Lowell 13-7 and scoring twice in the first five minutes of the frame. The UMass power play squad looked to extend its streak to five straight games with a power play tally when Lowell took an elbowing penalty three minutes into the stanza, and Adam Phillips did just that by burying his fifth goal of the season on a shot from the point. After taking a pass from Danny Hobbs, T.J. Syner took a stride out from the right corner and fed Phillips with a hard pass at the point. Phillips then took a quick one-timer that got through the pads of Carr for the score.
Conor Sheary netted his third goal of the year 45 seconds later when he took a pass from Michael Lecomte and fired a wrist shot over Carr's right shoulder. Darren Rowe was also credited with an assist.
Although the River Hawks outshot UMass 9-7 during the second period, it was the Minutemen who walked away with two more goals and a 4-0 lead after 40 minutes of play. Phillips netted his second power play tally of the night two minutes into the period when he pounded home a rebound off a shot from Hobbs. Hobbs began the play when he took a pass from Chase Langeraap in the corner, and threw a low shot into the pads of Carr. The rebound came right out to Phillips at the doorstep, who quickly deposited it in the back on the net.
Colin Shea scored his first collegiate goal with 4:58 to play in the period when he ripped a shot from the point off a UMass faceoff win that appeared to redirect off a body on its way to the net.
Lowell upped the pressure on the Minutemen during the third period, outshooting Massachusetts 13-6 and spoiling Dainton's shutout with 9:29 remaining in regulation. UMass killed off three River Hawk power plays throughout the period, while Dainton made three saves during the man advantage situations.
Maury Edwards scored his fourth goal of the season midway through the period when he hammered home a rebound off an initial save by Dainton. Derek Arnold took a feed from Matt Ferreira and threw a low wrist shot on goal that Dainton stopped with his pads, but Edwards was there to clean up the mess and pound the rebound past the senior captain.