AMHERST – Case McCarthy waited, stick raised high and nothing but open ice around him.
UMass’ three players on the ice for overtime were more focused on his Boston University teammate Domenick Fensore behind the net. Fensore slid a pass ahead of the Minutemen, and McCarthy clapped it past Matt Murray to beat No. 8 UMass 4-3 at the Mullins Center on Saturday night. The one-timer ended a teeter totter game with a bang.
“We gave up possession of the puck too easily in the zone and gave them too much space,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said.
Both games on the weekend went to overtime. UMass (6-3-1, 4-1-1 Hockey East) won Friday night in a shootout, and the Terriers (4-7-1, 3-4-1) opened Saturday’s trip to Amherst determined to avoid a similar entanglement.
WHAT A WAY TO END THE WEEKEND! pic.twitter.com/Nd7HzIhT23
— BU Men’s Hockey (@TerrierHockey) November 14, 2021
Jay O’Brien scored 18 minutes, 1 second into the game from Fensore on a deep shot near the left circle. Wilmer Skoog doubled the Terriers lead halfway through the second on the power play, deflecting in an O’Brien shot from a similar position as his first goal for a 2-0 lead. BU capitalized on a Matt Kessel tripping penalty, removing one of the Minutemen’s best defensemen from the equation.
“Our compete wasn’t there. I don’t know if we were ready to play. I felt like we chased our game a lot in our D zone,” UMass captain Bobby Trivigno said. “We’re gonna outwork this team, and we did that for the second and third period. When you start a game like that and give them some life, you’re going to be chasing the game a lot.”
Kessel helped the Minutemen pull closer 1:12 later. He fluttered a perfectly weighted shot from the blue line to cut the Minutemen’s deficit to 2-1 from Ryan Lautenbach and Ryan Ufko.
Ufko wasn’t done, either. UMass went on the power play with 1:20 left in the second after BU’s Jamie Armstrong was whistled for tripping. Ufko and Scott Morrow, two freshman defensemen selected in the summer’s NHL draft, worked the puck from the blue line down below the goal. Morrow picked Trivigno out on the other side of the net, and he slammed in a game-tying power play goal with 33 seconds left in the second.
“He’s a spark plug,” Carvel said. “He finds a way to win battles and scores a big goal on a nice play by Morrow. He’s the energizer bunny.”
Ufko fed off that energy in the third. UMass went down a man after Colin Felix was sent to the box for cross-checking 4:41 into the third. Trivigno pounced on a loose puck exiting the defensive zone and shrugged off Fesore to earn a delayed penalty. With the puck sliding toward UMass’ zone, Ufko snatched it and beat BU goalie Drew Commesso with a heel drag in front of the net. Trivigno was mirroring him the whole way down calling for a pass, but Ufko did it himself for his first collegiate goal.
“I hoped that would have been the game winner. That’s quite a goal to score in this type of game,” Carvel said.
It gave Ufko three points, a career high. He’s registered multiple points in each of the past three games.
.@RyanUfko is on the board @PredsNHL
Check out the freshman’s first collegiate goal that gave us a 3-2 lead!#NewMass #Flagship 🚩 pic.twitter.com/Kol3b1vloa
— UMass Hockey (@UMassHockey) November 14, 2021
“It’s what every college hockey player wants, you want to score your first goal,” Ufko said. “It felt really good but would have been a lot better if the outcome was different. But it was a good experience and I’ll always remember it.”
The Minutemen had to rely on their defensemen more to generate offense after losing three of their top four forwards to injury in recent weeks. Josh Lopina was already out, and Cal Kiefiuk was injured Friday night. Eric Faith left early Saturday. UMass had to slide Ty Farmer into the forward rotation.
“Guys are gonna get opportunities to step up and play that haven’t been playing,” Trivigno said. “The guys that don’t usually put the puck in the net definitely have to contributed offensively. We’ve never relied on one person to score. We need some more guys to step up and be willing to take the opportunity in front of them.”
UMass’ lead lasted just 78 seconds. Ty Gallagher popped a rebound back in after the puck wound its way behind Murray, who finished with 25 saves. Dylan Peterson and Tobert Mastrosimone picked up assists on the play.
“We weren’t really too worried on the bench. We were playing a good game and wanted to stick with it,” BU coach Albie O’Connell said. “They really had a hard push in that second period when they got very physical. We were confident in our bench that we were going to score at some point.”
The Minutemen controlled possession in the early portion of overtime and put four shots on Commesso. They couldn’t win a faceoff in BU’s zone after an icing call, and the Terriers capitalized to win the game.
“Every team we play, they’re going to give us their best. Hockey East champions, national champions, everyone wants a piece of us,” Trivigno said. “I thought we played fine in the second and third, but it’s just the first that sets you back and then you’re chasing the rest of the game. Going forward, teams are going to be very juiced, and we’ve got to match that, exceed it and take over the game.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.