UMass couldn't dig itself out of a 3-0 hole against the Catamounts.
Brody Hoffman, pictured here against the Minutmen on Nov. 20, made 36 saves for Vermont in its 3-2 win over UMass on Saturday night in Burlington.
BURLINGTON, Vt. – Over the past week the University of Massachusetts hockey team proved it could take what coach John Micheletto calls “body blows.”
On Saturday, it couldn’t withstand an early punch in the mouth from Vermont.
The Catamounts prevented the visiting Minutemen from picking up their first weekend sweep in Hockey East this season, beating UMass 3-2 in front of 3,843 at Gutterson Fieldhouse.
Vermont jumped out to an early lead in the first, as a Matt White shot slipped past goalie Steve Mastalerz 3:23 into the game.
Kyle Reynolds doubled Vermont’s lead with 10:22 to go in the first period, just as UMass forward Kevin Czepiel’s tripping penalty was expiring. Vermont’s H.T. Lenz fired a shot on the rush that rebounded right to Reynolds, and Czepiel, who had just left the box, was a step or two behind to stop Reynolds from slapping it home for the 2-0 advantage.
The strong first-period play from Vermont, which had lost four in a row at home, and five straight overall — was no surprise to Micheletto.
“They were good, as is always going to be the case when you’ve dropped a number of games at home. Your pride’s been wounded and they obviously were fired up,” Micheletto said. “We were anticipating that they were going to throw the kitchen sink at us and they did.”
Vermont extended its lead with 5:21 to play in the second period, as Jacob Fallon took a centering pass from Robert Polesello on the power play, deked Mastalerz and gave the Catamounts a 3-0 advantage.
UMass showed its first real signs of life late in the second. Playing four-on-four after Darren Rowe and Nick Bruneteau took penalties 13 seconds part, Minutemen forward Michael Pereira beat Vermont goalie Brody Hoffman blocker side with 1:17 left in the second.
Trailing 3-1 to start the third period, the Minutemen had multiple opportunities to seize the momentum with three power plays in the frame’s first 10 minutes, but like it had all game long, the Minutemen’s power play unit was punchless against an über-aggressive Catamount penalty kill.
“We went through a stretch there where we gave up five or six power-play goals, and we just said, ‘Hey, let’s get more physical. Let’s be more aggressive minded up-ice and in zone,’” Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon said.
Despite watching the three man advantages go by the wayside, UMass still found itself in the game in the final moments.
With Mastalerz off the ice in favor of the extra attacker, Branden Gracel scored on a Darren Rowe rebound with 1:21 to go in regulation to pull UMass within one, but the Minutemen were unable to finish the comeback, despite outshooting the Catamounts 11-4.
Micheletto spoke to how difficult it can be to complete a road sweep, especially against a Vermont (7-13-4, 4-9-4) team that was in dire need of points, and got a solid performance from Hoffman, who recorded 36 saves.
“We talked about what it takes in order to do that, and how much energy you need to manufacture on night two when you’ve won in someone else’s barn on night one,” Micheletto said. “You’ve got to fend off the crowd, you’ve got to fend off their juice, and they did a good job and got goaltending when they needed it.”
UMass (9-12-2, 6-9-1) heads home and hosts Boston University at 7 p.m. Friday.