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University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
UMass Lowell
Hobbs' Last Minute Goal Gives Hockey 5-4 Win Over Lowell
January 14, 2011 | Hockey
Jan. 14, 2011
LOWELL, Mass. - Danny Hobbs scored with 11.6 seconds remaining in regulation to help the UMass hockey team escape with a 5-4 win over UMass Lowell on Friday night at the Tsongas Center. The Minutemen (4-11-3, 3-6-3 HEA) led 4-1 midway through the second period before the River Hawks (2-17-2, 2-13-0 HEA) stormed back with three straight scores prior to the Hobbs tally. The Mass Attack received goals from five different skaters, while Paul Dainton made 33 saves to backstop the Minutemen to their first road win of the season. The teams will complete the home-and-home series tomorrow night at 7 PM from the Mullins Center.
Massachusetts had ten players in the scoring column on Friday while Hobbs, T.J. Syner and Michael Pereira each recorded multi-point nights. The Minutemen held a 40-37 edge in shots for the game, including a season-high 19 shots in the second period. Lowell was 0-for-3 on the power play and the Mass Attack went 1-for-3 on the man advantage, scoring a power play goal for the fourth straight game.
Lowell put the Minutemen in a 1-0 hole early in the first period on a goal from Riley Whitmore just 28 seconds into the frame, but Massachusetts responded with two goals in under two minutes for a 2-1 edge heading into intermission. Off the opening faceoff, David Vallorani fed Patrick Cey with a pass in the slot. Cey's shot was initially stopped by Dainton, but Whitmore scooped up the loose puck and buried it for his tenth goal of the season.
The River Hawks continued to pressure the UMass defense following the goal, crashing the net and generating more scoring chances, but the Minutemen cashed in with 7:15 to go in the period when Chase Langeraap scored his fourth goal of the season off a nice neutral zone pass from Peter DeAngelo. Transitioning from the UMass zone, Kevin Czepiel dished to DeAngelo near center ice, who then made a nifty drop pass to Langeraap racing towards the opposing goal line. Langeraap sped around a Lowell defender and carefully snuck a low shot on goal that got past Boulanger.
Michael Lecomte gave the Minutemen their first lead of the night during four-on-four play just 1:40 after Langeraap's tally. With the puck in the Massachusetts zone, Ryan Blair tried to pass across the blue line to his partner, but the pass kicked off the skate of Maury Edwards and into the neutral zone. Pereira sprinted after the loose puck and skated down the left side of the ice before spotting Lecomte atop the crease for a quick one-timer past Boulanger for his second goal of the season.
Branden Gracel made it 3-1 Minutemen just eight seconds into the second period when he buried a rebound for his third goal of the season. Danny Hobbs controlled the puck and made his way through the Lowell defense before firing a hard shot on goal that took Boulanger to the left of the cage. The puck squirted out in front and onto the stick of Gracel, who finished off the play before Boulanger could recover.
Pereira gave UMass a 4-1 lead five minutes later with the Minutemen on the power play on a deflection from the top of the crease. Conor Sheary passed over to Darren Rowe at the point, who sent a low slap shot through a slew of bodies, where Pereira got a stick on the puck and past Boulanger for his eighth goal of the year. Massachusetts looked to add an additional goal during another man advantage later in the frame, but Joseph Pendenza picked the pocket of a UMass defenseman during a breakout and fired a shot that beat Dainton short side for his sixth goal of the season.
The River Hawks quickly knotted the game at four during the first ten minutes of the third period, as Shayne Thompson made it 4-3 UMass seven minutes into the frame when he cleaned up in front of the net off a rebound. Chris Ickert skated in from the point and down the right side of the Minuteman zone. Ickert got a UMass defenseman sprawled across the ice before throwing a backhander on goal. Dainton made the first save, but Thompson was there to nail home the rebound. Lowell knotted the score three minutes later when Maury Edwards fired a wrist shot from the UMass goal line that somehow ricocheted off the crossbar and past Dainton for his third goal of the year.
It wasn't until the final minute of regulation that Hobbs scored the game-winner off a shot that deflected off the skate of a Lowell defender and past Boulanger. Syner began the transition play off a pass from Joel Hanley, and found Hobbs on the left side of the ice. Hobbs used his body position to edge closer to the goal before putting a shot towards the net that fooled the River Hawk goaltender on the deflection off a Lowell defenseman.
