AMHERST, Mass. - No. 1 University of Massachusetts hockey battled back from a 1-0 deficit with a three-goal third period to rally for a 3-1 win over No. 8 Quinnipiac in front of a record crowd of 8,412 fans at the Mullins Center on Saturday night. The victory moves the Minutemen to 13-2-0 on the year, while the Bobcats fall to 14-3-0 on the season.
"I thought that was a tremendous series between us and Quinnipiac," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "I thought Quinnipiac got outstanding goaltending both nights. We kept telling our players to just keep pounding the rock, keep going to the net and eventually it'll break, and it finally did in the third. Tonight, I felt like we were the stronger team for 60 minutes and that we deserved to win. That's great college hockey and it's great to see it in this building in front of 8,000 people. It doesn't get any better than this; beating a really good team at home in front of a full house."
UMass had the majority of the offensive opportunities through the first two periods of play, but trailed 1-0 at the intermission courtesy of a Bobcats' power-play goal at the 8:24 mark of the second. Chase Priskie rifled home a shot from the left faceoff circle off a feed from Brogan Rafferty and Odeen Tufto.
Early in the third, though, the Minutemen were ultimately rewarded for their efforts. Freshman Colin Felix and sophomore Mitchell Chaffee set up a Ivan Chukarov strike from the point that leveled the score at 1-1 at 5:27.
Senior Jacob Pritchard then put UMass on top with his seventh of the year. Sophomore Philip Lagunov centered the puck off a Quinnipiac turnover down low to find Pritchard alone at the top of the crease for the tally 8:37 into the period.
Freshman Bobby Trivigno sealed the victory for the Minutemen with the empty net goal at 19:34.
Sophomore Matt Murray made 27 saves en route to his 10th win of the year, while Keith Petruzzelli stopped 37 shots for Quinnipiac. The Bobcats went 1-for-5 on the power play on the evening and UMass was 0-for-4. The Minutemen finished the night with a 40-28 shot advantage.
UMass will close out the first half on Tuesday, Dec. 11, when the squad will play host to Yale at the Mullins Center at 7 p.m.
