UMass hockey settles for 4-4 tie with Harvard Friday
AMHERST — The University of Massachusetts faced off against nonconference foe Harvard Friday night at the Mullins Center, in what turned out to be a thrilling 4-4 tie.
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The Minutemen (4-7-4), who are unbeaten at home, took a quick 1-0 lead on a goal by Conor Sheary just a 1 minute, 39 seconds into the first period. A Crimson turnover in the neutral zone lead to a two-on-one rush as T.J. Syner bated the defender and passed the puck across the slot to a wide open Sheary, who had the whole net to shoot at. Sheary positioned his body perfectly to catch the pass and fire over goalie Steve Michalek's left shoulder.
"We started off the game really well which is good since we haven't really been doing that lately," Sheary said. "Yeah it's definitely nice to see us scoring goals again. The shot totals were way higher than the last few games. Playing in our own rink obviously helps."
The Minutemen, who lost their last three games and only scored a total of three goals in those setbacks, were relieved to see the goal production Friday, but disappointed in letting up four goals.
"We got mixed reviews but we'll take the tie," UMass coach Toot Cahoon said. "There were quite a few positives - the competitiveness, the resiliency, the big penalty kills in the crucial situations. But then obviously there was our disciplinary issues."
The Minutemen took the lead four separate times and each time the Crimson (3-3-3) responded with a goal. Each Crimson goal, however, was followed almost immediately with a Minutemen tally.
The Crimson's first goal came 7:34 into the second period of a five-on-three power play. After Minuteman goalie Kevin Boyle stopped three initial shots, the fourth shot produced a rebound right to Marshall Everson, who scored his first of two goals for the Crimson to tie the game at 1-1.
UMass answered quickly as Colin Shea scored from Patrick Kiley at 8:46 to give the Minutemen a 2-1 lead.
Harvard tied the game again at 14:33 of the second when Alex Killorn beat Boyle on the power play. But the Minutemen responded 30 seconds later as Danny Hobbs scored his second goal of the season on a shot from the point that trickled in and gave UMass a 3-2 edge.
Everson's second goal came on the power play at 7:26 of the third period and tied the score 3-3. But UMass came right back and took a 4-3 lead.
The fourth goal came on a rush into the offensive zone with impressive puck movement. As four Minutemen entered the zone, each player advanced the puck beautifully around the defense to the next player. Four quick passes turned into a goal by Steven Guzzo. Michael Pereira and Danny Hobbs were credited with the assists.
The difference for the Minutemen in Friday night's game as opposed to the three games before was their breakout transition from their own defensive zone.
"I think we were a lot cleaner coming out of the zone," Cahoon said. "And that's the whole key to us getting some shots and scoring goals, because then you can move the puck through the middle of the rink then you can sustain a forecheck."
The teams became more physical as the game progressed into the third period. Troy Power had a few big hits for the Minutemen, who surrendered the tying goal to Tommy O'Regan at 12:04.
UMass had a chance just nine seconds into overtime when Sheary crashed the net hard, trying to tip in a pass from Syner. Sheary, however, ran over Michalek and drew a roughing penalty.
During the power play, Boyle recorded three of his five overtime saves to kill the Harvard advantage. This gave the Minutemen momentum that generated some opportunities but no goals.
