Ice Hockey Blanked by UMass Dartmouth
New Bedford, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's hockey team defeated visiting Framingham State, 6-0, in the final Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) regular season game for both teams at the Stephan Hetland Memorial Ice Arena Tuesday evening.
The Corsairs, who carried the play for much of the first period firing 19 shot but coming up empty, erupted for six goals in the middle period.
The first three were scored in a span of just under three minutes. First, Corsairs freshman Cody Gut (Chichester, NH) took the puck in front of the net and beat Framingham State goalie Todd Rowley (Billerica, Mass.), assisted by junior defenseman Matt Correia (Acushnet, Mass.) at 4:08. Just over a minute later at 5:19, junior forward Dan Dempsey (Norwell, Mass.) scored, assisted by senior forward Andrew Pontes (New Bedford, Mass.) and sophomore defenseman Nate Dupere (Fall River, Mass.). The third goal came at 7:04 via the power play. Corsairs sophomore forward Ryan Ruddock (Amesbury, Mass.) tallied a goal as Dempsey broke through and found Ruddock open, putting it home stick-side past Rowley.
UMass Dartmouth scored again on the power play at 12:52. Corsairs senior forward Mike Owens (South Boston, Mass.) slapped one from the circle that trickled past Rowley and put UMass Dartmouth up 4-0. Freshman defenseman Steve Ginand (Milford, Mass.) and Zach Hepler (Sarver, PA) drew the assists. Pontes pushed the lead to 5-0 just 37 seconds later notching his third goal of the season assisted by Ruddock and Dupere. The lead expanded to 6-0, as for the second time in the period the Corsairs would score a third goal in less than a three minute span when sophomore forward Greg Girtatos (Tyngsboro, Mass.) slid one by Rowley assisted by junior forward Dave McDonald (Wakefield, Mass.) at 15:27.
UMass Dartmouth outshot Fitchburg State in the second period, 25-10, and for the game, 49-26. Junior goaltender Ryan Williams (Milton, ON) made 26 saves for UMass Dartmouth recording his first shutout of the season. Rowley started in goal for the Rams and made 32 saves before he was replaced after the Corsairs' sixth goal. Dale Adams (Gardner, Mass.) finished up and made 13 stops.
UMass Dartmouth improved to 15-8-2 and 10-6-2 in the MASCAC with the victory while Framingham State fell to 5-15-4 and 3-12-3 in MASCAC play with the defeat. UMD will return to action when they host a first round playoff game at the Hetland Arena Saturday at 4:30 p.m. The Rams close the season on Thursday evening with a non-conference tilt against Southern New Hampshire with faceoff slated for 7:30 p.m.
Release courtesy of UMD Sports Information.