AMHERST - Branden Gracel's beautiful game-winning goal early in the third period gave the University of Massachusetts hockey team a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Yale on Wednesday as the Minutemen stayed undefeated at the Mullins Center.

UMass coach Toot Cahoon expected his team to come out with intensity and speed, but that wasn't the case as the Minutemen (5-7-4) took three penalties in the first 10 minutes of play and gave up a power play goal to Gus Young just 5 minutes in.

"After watching the first 10 minutes I thought that we were in big trouble tonight," Cahoon said. "We were really unorganized and out of sync. We survived those first 10 minutes. They got a power play goal and we killed off another power play. Then I thought we started to pick up the play in the rest of the period and even had chances to tie up the score."

The Minutemen's two good first period chances came off a hit post by Patrick Kiley 13 minutes into the game. Two minutes later, Conor Sheary intercepted a Bulldog defenseman's pass for a breakaway chance but got stoned by goaltender Jeff Malcolm, who made 30 saves for the Bulldogs.

Peter DeAngelo scored the tying goal 7:36 into the second period when Kevin Czepiel sprang DeAngelo on a two-on-one opportunity with Rocco Carzo breaking toward goal. DeAngelo decided to hold the puck as the defender took away the passing lane.

"I took a shot right under his (left) arm," DeAngelo said, "I was trying to go far, far post in case there was a rebound for Rocco to get, and it went in, so we're lucky about that."

Besides his goal scoring shift, DeAngelo also had a few other strong shifts maintaining puck control in the offensive zone, as well as a nifty spinning no-look backhand pass to a wide-open Carzo in front of the net, but Malcolm made the save.

After allowing the early goal, freshman goaltender Kevin Boyle settled down and took control of the game for the Minutemen, making 26 saves. His play seemed to calm the nerves of the rest of the Minutemen according to Cahoon.

"I thought we had a number of great scoring chances," Cahoon said, "And then it was a question about whether this kid (Malcolm) was going to stone us all night, and he certainly came close to doing that. Until Gracel broke the ice with an incredible rush and individual play."

Entering the third period with a score of 1-1, Gracel took matters into his own hands halfway through the period. He gathered the puck along the boards of his own zone. He sprinted up the boards beating the first Bulldog player up the ice. Next, he snuck under a check of a second back-checking Yale forward to get into the offensive zone before slithering under yet another defenseman's hit attempt. Gracel then took the puck on an angle toward goal and backhanded a shot past Malcolm.

"I was really determined on that play," Gracel said, "I saw the puck and had some good speed going, so I just drove wide and took it toward the net."

The Minutemen were able to hold tonight's one goal lead late in the third period as opposed to their last game against Harvard where they gave up a late game-tying goal. After the Bulldogs pulled Malcolm with a minute left in play, T.J. Syner scored an empty-net goal to cap the victory for the Minutemen.

UMass is off for finals and Christmas and won't play again until Dec. 29 when it faces Cornell at 7 p.m. in the Florida Everblades College Classic in Estero, Fla.

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