UMass hockey shuts out No. 4 Boston College
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AMHERST — University of Massachusetts coach Toot Cahoon’s decision to start rarely used freshman goalie Steve Mastalerz against No. 4 Boston College drew some surprised reactions when it was announced before the game.
But the netminder more than rewarded his coach's faith stopping 35 shots in a 4-0 shutout of the Eagles Friday at the Mullins Center.
Sophomore goalie Jeff Teglia was coming off a strong game against Vermont last week at Fenway Park and freshman Kevin Boyle had beaten BC earlier this season, but Cahoon chose Mastalerz.
"He was the best goalie in practice this week," Cahoon said. "That's usually a good indicator at that position. ... He handles the puck pretty well and BC being as quick as they are, if you have a goaltender who can play the puck you can get the puck by their forwards."
Mastalerz, who'd appeared in five previous games with three starts, said playing a team of BC's caliber wasn't intimidating.
"I try to prepare for every game the same," he said.
Mastalerz was particularly sharp with 12 saves in the scoreless first period. He stoned Pat Mullane on a breakaway with 7 minutes, 16 seconds left in the period to keep the Eagles off the board and the Minutemen in the game.
"Mastalerz gave us some huge saves throughout the game, but particularly early in the game when BC was carrying the play pretty significantly," he said. "He was up to it and that made a big difference allowing us to get through the first period unscathed. From the second period on we were a different team."
Mastalerz finished strong with 14 third-period stops.
"We owed a lot to Steve," sophomore defenseman Conor Allen said. "He kept us in the game."
UMass took a 1-0 lead 6:18 into the second period. Sprung by a pass from Mastalerz, Allen broke in on the right wing board and rifled a shot from above the faceoff circle past freshman goalie Brian Billett right after a Minuteman power play ended.
Peter DeAngelo extended the lead to 2-0 on UMass' first short-handed goal since Feb. 13, 2009. With Joel Hanley in the penalty box for elbowing, a stickless Danny Hobbs made a terrific effort to kick the puck out of the zone where DeAngelo collected it and fed Allen breaking down the right wing boards on a two-on-one with DeAngelo breaking to the net. The sophomore defenseman threaded a perfect pass to DeAngelo, who tapped it by Billett with 10:43 left in the second.
The short-handed goal is "huge for momentum," Allen said. "You're not going to get many of those on BC."
Forty-one seconds later, Hanley, who'd just come out of the box, and T.J. Syner replicated Allen and DeAngelo's act on another two-on-one. Hanley fed the puck from the right wing circle to Syner, who one-timed it by Billett for a 3-0 lead.
BC coach Jerry York lifted Billett (10 saves) for senior Chris Venti, who'd played in just four games in his career.
Venti allowed one goal, to Syner on a rebound, 9:30 into the third period.
"We got beat by a team tonight that was really opportunistic and forced some errors by our club," York said. "They broke us down and got odd man rushes and executed very well."
The Minutemen's penalty kill was particularly sharp. In addition to the short-handed goal, they killed six penalties and allowed just seven shots.
"We played with a lead the way I'm hoping this team can learn to play with a lead," Cahoon said. "We've worked really hard at that."
UMass (8-8-5, 4-6-4 Hockey East) has traditionally struggled in January when the students are away from campus, but in front of 5,823 fans the Minutemen won their third straight and stayed undefeated (6-0-3) at the Mullins Center. The win moved UMass past New Hampshire and into seventh place in Hockey East.
The Minutemen host Vermont next Friday at the Mullins Center. Vermont beat No. 11 UMass-Lowell 3-2 in overtime Friday.
NOTES - Mastalerz's second period assist was the last point by a UMass goalie since Jonathan Quick had one against Northeastern on Nov. 10, 2006. Quick, who plays for the Los Angeles Kings, was the first Minuteman ever named to an NHL All-Star game earlier this week. ... The Minutemen won the season series against BC (13-8-1, 9-5-1) for the first time since 2006-07.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.
