BELFAST, Northern Ireland - Two goals from freshman Kenny Connors helped No. 17 Massachusetts hockey advance to the Belpot Championship game with a 2-1 victory over No. 13/14 UMass Lowell on Friday night at the Friendship Four at SSE Arena. The Minutemen (7-5-1, 3-5-0 HE) now move on to face #4 Quinnipiac in a matchup for the Belpot Trophy at 7 p.m. (2 p.m. Eastern) on Saturday, November 26. The River Hawks fall to 8-6-0 (5-4-0 HE) following the loss.
"I thought that was a great hockey game," said UMass head coach Greg Carvel. "I thought our kids executed our game plan extremely well, competed. The ice conditions were a little choppy out there, which made for some uncertainty, but we had a game plan and I thought the kids executed really well. I would've liked the power play to find a way to score a goal, but I'm extremely proud of that victory. That was a big victory for this team this year."
After a scoreless first that saw the Minutemen kill off two penalties, Connors put UMass on the board 2:11 into the second period. Freshman Cole O'Hara chipped the puck into the slot for Connors who fired it past Gustavs Davis Grigals with Ryan Ufko collecting the secondary helper.
Massachusetts later made it 2-0 with Connors second of the night just 1:39 into the third. After Taylor Makar's initial shot was stopped, Connors trailed the play and cleaned up the rebound in front.
The River Hawks halved their deficit at the 9:37 mark as TJ Schweighardt batted in a bouncing puck from Jack Collins and Jon McDonald.
UMass' defense held strong the rest of the way, though, holding off a UMass Lowell rally attempt with the extra skater on for the final two minutes of the third.
Luke Pavicich finished the evening with 32 saves as the Minutemen were out-shot 33-27 and Grigals turned aside 25 for the River Hawks. On the power play, UMass was 0-for-4 and UMass Lowell went 0-for-3 on the night.
