Junior forward John Leonard had a goal and an assist for the Minutemen
Massachusetts Defeats Maine, 5-1
Junior forward John Leonard and sophomore defenseman Ty Farmer each had a goal and an assist for the Minutemen

AMHERST, Mass. - No. 11/13 University of Massachusetts hockey celebrated Cale Makar's return to the Mullins Center in style, rolling to a 5-1 victory over Maine after raising a banner to the rafters in honor of the 2019 Hobey Baker Award winner. The win moves the Minutemen to 10-4-1 overall and 5-3-1 in Hockey East, while the Black Bears fall to 8-6-3 overall and 4-5-2 in league action.

"We needed Matt Murray to make a couple big saves in the first five minutes of the game," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel, "But after that, I thought we played desperate. We played a good game to our identity. I thought we dominated puck possession. To score five goals on Jeremy Swayman is tough to do and we found different ways to do that. I'm really happy with the guys. That was a really dominant effort and it was a great evening to have Cale here."

UMass wasted little time getting things going as junior Oliver Chau sniped his second of the season over Swayman to put the Minutemen up 1-0 at the 4:54 mark off an outlet feed from senior Jake McLaughlin.

Sophomore Bobby Trivigno doubled the lead just 1:19 later, tapping home a cross-ice pass from junior John Leonard on a 2-on-1.

With UMass already on a five-minute power play late in the opening period, the Minutemen were able to get goaltender Matt Murray to the bench for an extra skater when Maine took a second penalty. This resulted in sophomore Marc Del Gaizo potting a 6-on-4 tally from junior Mitchell Chaffee and Anthony Del Gaizo at 14:50 to make it a 3-0 score.

Coming out of the intermission, UMass picked right up where it left off with sophomore Ty Farmer finding the back of the net just 16 seconds into the frame off a feed from McLaughlin and Chau.

Maine took one back 17:57 into the second, bringing the score to 4-1. Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup scored off an offensive zone faceoff win as the Black Bears were beginning a 5-on-3 power-play opportunity.

Leonard later capped the scoring at 16:22 of the third, redirecting Farmer's shot from the point at the net front. Senior Jack Suter collected an assist on the play, as well.

UMass doubled up Maine in shots, 42-21 and both teams went 1-for-5 on the power play. Murray made 20 saves to collect his sixth win of the season (6-1-0), while Swayman turned aside 37 in net for the Black Bears.

The two teams will close out the weekend series tomorrow, Dec. 7, at the Mullins Center at 7 p.m.

Game Summary

Friday, December 6, 2019

1
5
Game statistics
21 Shots 42
1 / 5 Power Plays 1 / 5
6 / 34 PIM 6 / 12
8-6-3 Records 10-4-1
GOAL SCORERS
Maine Massachusetts
Oliver Chau (2)
1st/4:54
Bobby Trivigno (6)
1st/6:13  GW
Marc Del Gaizo (1)
1st/14:50 PP EA DP
Ty Farmer (2)
2nd/0:16
Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup (8)
2nd/17:57 PP
John Leonard (9)
3rd/16:22
GOALTENDERS
Maine Massachusetts
Jeremy Swayman
60:00, 37 Saves, 5 GA
(L, 8-6-3)
Matt Murray
59:41, 20 Saves, 1 GA
(W, 6-1-0)

Empty Net
0:19, 0 GA