Eagles dominate Minutemen at Mullins
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AMHERST - Things came unhinged in a hurry for the University of Massachusetts hockey team in the first period Friday night.
The No. 15 Minutemen spotted No. 14 Boston College a four-goal lead before the first intermission and stumbled to a 7-1 loss in front of a record-tying crowd of 8,389 at a sold out Mullins Center.
A hefty percentage of that audience was gone before the second intermission in the worst loss of the season for UMass. The game also was televised on NESN.
"That was a disappointing night," Minuteman coach Don "Toot" Cahoon said. "We worked real hard as a program to get where games become really significant and people come out and support us. To throw a goose up there is really disappointing."
Big crowds and Boston College have not been good for UMass as the Minutemen fell to 1-5-1 against their intrastate rivals with 7,000 or more fans in the Mullins Center.
Eagles coach Jerry York said he was stunned.
"It was one of those nights that everything we did resulted in a red light. It was surreal," York said. "It could have been a lot closer. Every shot we had went in the net. It happens once in a coach's lifetime that everything goes his way."
The loss left BC (15-8-2, 11-6-2 Hockey East) in sole possession of second place in the conference with 24 points.
UMass (16-11, 11-9 Hockey East) is now in a tie with Maine for third after the Black Bears beat first-place New Hampshire 3-2 Friday night. Maine (13-9-3, 10-6-2 Hockey East) has played two fewer games than the Minutemen.
"They were remarkably determined," Cahoon said. "The only way you're going to be able to compete with a team like that is to be remarkably determined yourself. We showed a real lack or commitment to that end.
"Kudos to BC for a real good performance," he added. "It was a real negative from our standpoint. We'll have to start over again."
The Eagles jumped ahead early when forward Brian Gibbons won the race to the right-wing corner and sent a perfect centering pass to Joe Whitney racing into the zone. The junior wing one-timed it past UMass goaltender Paul Dainton to give BC a 1-0 lead 4 minutes, 52 seconds into the game.
The Eagles doubled their edge off a faceoff with 6:40 remaining as Paul Carey beat Dainton through the slot to make it 2-0.
It only took 78 seconds for Boston College to strike again, Dainton came out of the net to play a shot by Gibbons, but sprawled unsuccessfully trying to smother the puck. Cam Atkinson centered the loose puck to Whitney, who fired his second goal of the period into the open net.
Jimmy Hayes made it 4-0 for the Eagles on a backhander with just over three minutes left in the period.
The Minutemen squandered a chance to gain some momentum at the end of the first as they could not convert in 90 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play.
Cahoon replaced Dainton with senior Dan Meyers to start the second period. Dainton (12 saves) has now given up 10 goals in his last four periods including a 6-2 loss at Boston University on Jan. 29.
Meyers (12 saves) did not exactly make a case to unseat his struggling teammate when he gave up three goals in second.
Boston College gave starting goalie John Muse (16 saves) the rest of the game off as freshman Parker Milner played the third period. The rookie could not finish off the shutout as James Marcou connected on a 4-on-4 for the final of 7-1.
The goal ended a streak of 13 straight goals by the Eagles, who beat Harvard 6-0 in the Beanpot Tournament semifinals on Monday.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. For more UMass coverage, including a UMass sports blog, go to http://www.gazettenet.com/blog/umass-sports.
