UMass Dartmouth 8, Worcester State 4
Auburn, MA --- Junior Todd Bartleson (Pepperell, MA) and
sophomore Rob Dudley (Douglas, MA) registered two goals and an
assist apiece to help lead UMass Dartmouth to an 8-4 win in MASCAC
men’s ice hockey action this evening at Horgan memorial
rink.
With the win the Corsairs snap a four game drought to improve to
8-14-1 and 3-12-1 in the MASCAC while the Lancers slip to 5-14-2
and 3-10-2 in the conference.
Bartleson started the visitors off with the quick 1-0 lead as he
scored nine seconds into the game on a feed from junior Joe Hill
(Newburyport, MA). UMD built up on their advantage as they scored
four minutes apart on a pair of goals by Dudley midway through the
period.
Worcester State would pull their starting goalie for senior
Andrew Evans (Cromwell, CT) who would shut UMass
Dartmouth down and allowed WSC to get back into the game. The
Lancers ended the first stanza with a goal by junior Chris
Wallin (Avon, CT) at 15:53 and began the second frame with
senior Mark Rintel’s (Oakland Gardens, NY)
team-leading 11th goal at 3:10 to make the score 3-2.
But the Corsairs battled back as third-year Jason Stahl
(Londonderry, NH) put UMass Dartmouth up 4-2 at 8:18.
Junior Shaun Tribbett (Austin, TX) helped the
Blue and Gold get back to within a goal 1½ minutes later,
but the visitors would score three unanswered markers to take
control of the game. Hill tacked on the game-winning tally with
11:34 remaining in the second and then senior Aaron Blades (Chino,
CA) and Bartleson scored five minutes apart to begin the third.
Down 7-3, Worcester State decided to make things interesting as
junior Billy O’Neill (Strafford, PA) notched
an unassisted goal on a breakaway at 8:24, but after that Corsairs
would keep the Lancers off the board for the rest of the game. UMD
freshman Phil Bronner (Wilbraham, MA) added the exclamation point
with 21 ticks remaining in the game for the final score.
UMass Dartmouth would kill a pair of penalties in the final 10
minutes of the game as WSC would go 0-for-3 for the game on power
plays. The Corsairs would outshoot Worcester State 24-4 in the
opening frame, but they would only hold the 24-19 lead for the
final two periods. UMD was 0-for-2 with the extra-man
advantage.
Freshman Zach Hansen (Dexter, MI) and Evans
combined for 41 saves while junior Colin Tracy (Medford, MA) and
senior Jon Dryjowicz-Burek (Ludlow, MA) split time as they amassed
19 stops for the visitors.
Rintel, Evans, Andrew Brady (Oreland, PA),
Dan Drinkwater (Walpole, MA), Dillon
Wilde (Rutland, MA), Tim Stalmok (Paxton,
MA) and Lee Belisle (Chicopee, MA) were honored in
a pre-game ceremony for playing in their last home game on
“senior night.”
The Lancers look to maintain their hold on fifth place in the
MASCAC as they are now a single point ahead of the sixth place
Corsairs and three points ahead of Framingham State, who is at the
bottom of the standings.
Worcester State plays again on Saturday when they travel to Fitchburg State for a 7 PM face off while UMass Dartmouth takes break for the week as they will entertain the Rams in a key conference matchup next Thursday at 7:30.