HAMILTON, N.Y. - The UMass hockey team used three special teams tallies to carry the squad to its third straight victory, downing Colgate 3-2 on Sunday afternoon at Starr Rink. The win moves the Minutemen to 6-11-2 overall, while the Raiders fall to 7-9-2.
Steven Iacobellis provided two of UMass' three goals on the day, including his first career short-handed tally and his fifth on the power play, and now leads the squad with eight goals on the season. The freshman logged his second multi-goal game of the year and fourth multi-point effort.
Senior Michael Pereira scored on the power play, as well, his 17th of his career with the man advantage and is now tied for fourth in program history for career power play goals.
Midway through the first period while on the penalty kill, UMass took a 1-0 lead as a result of a miscue by Colgate's defensive pair. With senior Conor Sheary forechecking in the offensive zone, an errant D-to-D pass redirected off a Raider's player and into the net. Iacobellis, the last Minuteman to touch the puck on the defensive zone clear, earned credit for the tally, which came at the 11:09 mark.
On a power-play that carried over from the end of the first into the second, Pereira increased the UMass margin to 2-0 just 47 seconds into the second stanza. Off a feed from sophomore Shane Walsh, Pereira fired a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle that rung inside the far post for his fifth of the season.
However, Colgate climbed back to within one at the 11:25 mark. A mere seconds after a lengthy penalty kill expired for the Minutemen, Mike Borkowski drove home the first tally of the weekend for the Raiders from Spiro Goulakos and Emilio Audi.
Iacobellis pushed UMass' lead back out to two, scoring the eventual game winner 11:23 into the third. Tic-tac-toe passing by redshirt junior Troy Power and senior Adam Phillips set up Iacobellis for the tap in at the post.
Colgate made it a one-goal game once more as Brokowski scored his second of the night on the rush at 14:15 with assists from Ryan Johnston and Joe Wilson.
On the back of another stellar defensive effort, though, the Minutemen held strong for the remainder of the frame. UMass limited Colgate for a 0-for-9 night on the power play and has killed off 18-of-18 opponent power plays during its current three-game win streak. The Minutemen were 2-for-5 with the man advantage in the contest.
Junior Steve Mastalerz logged 33 saves on the way to the win as UMass was out-shot, 35-22 in the contest. Eric Mihalik had 19 stops for Colgate.
UMass next returns home for its final game before the holiday break, next playing host to #20 Denver on Tuesday, Dec. 17, at 7 p.m. at the Mullins Center.