Providence 6, #3 New Hampshire 5
Despite two late goals from the No. 3 ranked Wildcats, the Friars held strong to a 6-5 victory Saturday night at the Whittemore Center in Durham, N.H. With the win, the Friars avenge their Thursday night loss to UMass Lowell and improve to 10-9-3 (8-5-2) on the year. Suffering their fifth loss of the season, UNH falls to 14-5-2 (9-4-1).
Shane Luke of the Friars opened the scoring early on in the contest, netting his third goal of the season just 5:23 into the game. Ross Mauermann was credited with the assist to the only goal scored in the opening frame. Just 49 seconds into the second period, Brandon Taney extended Providence’s lead to two off assists from Luke and freshman Nick Saracino. Providence kept it rolling, following a pair of goals from Saracino and Derek Army to bring Tim Leaman’s squad to a 4-0 lead on the Wildcats midway through the contest.
In an effort to spark a comeback, John Henrion netted a shot past Jon Gillies (Calgary Flames) (37 Saves) to get New Hampshire on the scoreboard at the 10:52 mark of the second, but was quickly avenged by Army’s second goal of the game 1:09 later. After two UNH goals from Maxim Gaudreault and Dalton Speelman, Providence’s Kyle Murphy capped off the scoring for the Friars with his third goal of the year to make it 6-3. Murphy’s goal proved to be the game winner as the Friars held on to win 6-5.
#18 UMass Lowell 4, #9 Boston University 3
Four unanswered goals from the Riverhawks proved to be enough to defeat the Terriers 4-3 Saturday night at Agannis Arena in Boston. With the win, Lowell improves to 13-7-1 (7-6-1) and extends their streak to nine straight victories. The Terriers, who finish the weekend winless following a Friday night loss to Northeastern, falls to 12-9-0 (9-6-0) on the year.
After BU freshman Matt Lane’s goal 5:11 into the contest, UMass Lowell scored four straight including tallies from Joseph Pendenza, Chad Ruhwedel, Derek Arnold and Adam Chapie to go up 4-1 on the No. 9 Terriers.
With a comeback in sight, Evan Rodrigues scored his sixth goal of the season to make the score 4-2 with 13:33 left in the game. Senior captain Wade Megan (Florida Panthers) brought the Terriers to within one goal when he scored past Doug Carr (29 saves) midway through the third frame. Carr and the Riverhawks held strong through the rest of regulation to pull off the upset and bring home their ninth straight win.
Penn State 4, Vermont 2
After back to back first period goals from Taylor Holmstrom and David Glen, Penn State never looked back and skated to a 4-2 victory over Vermont Saturday night at the Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff following the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Philadelphia Flyers game in the Wells Fargo Center. With the loss, the Catamounts drop to 6-12-4 (3-8-4) on the season.
Carrying a 2-0 lead into the second period, the first year Nittany Lions extended their lead to three after a score from Justin Kirchhevel. Just 1:25 later, Catamount’s Roberth Polesello scored his fourth goal to make it 3-1 midway through the middle frame. Late in the third period, Penn State was provided with some insurance courtesy of Casey Bailey, who scored his eleventh goal of the season. With just 11 seconds remaining in the contest, Kyle Mountain scored his first goal of the season to cap the scoring and the game at 4-2, Penn State.