The #13 UMass Minutemen scored a pair of powerplay goals on Friday night, and would blank the #6 Maine Black Bears 4-0 in the finale of a two game men’s Hockey East series at the Mullins Center in Amerst, Massachusetts. Maine ends up with a split of the series, while having their four game win streak snapped and also dropping their first conference game.
After the Black Bears really controlled things on Thursday night, outshooting the Minutemen 54-16 in rolling to a 6-2 win, it wasn’t the same story on Friday. The Minutemen got all they needed when Francesco Dell’Elce scored on the powerplay at 10:29 of the first period. Daniel Jenčko also scored on the extra man at 9:15 of the second. Maine just couldn’t find the net despite 38 shots, as UMass goaltender Jackson Irving was there to close it down. Lucas Olvestad also scored for the hosts, while Jenčko added his second tally in the third period into an empty net.
Jenčko had his two goals, Dell’Elce had one goal and one assist, and Nick VanTassell added two helpers in the win for UMass. Irving made 38 saves, picking up his first shutout this year and the second of his career. Playing for an injured Michael Hrabal, Irving hadn’t played since January 18 of last season before Thursday night. The Minutemen went 2-7 on the powerplay in improving their record to 7-4 and 1-2 in Hockey East. Justin Poirier had seven shots on goal in the loss, including narrowly missing his 10th goal of the season late in the game. Albin Boija made 31 stops in net. The Black Bears went 0-5 on their extra man opportunities. Maine is now 6-3-1 overall and 3-1-0 in league play. They will return home to Orono to battle Vermont at the Alfond Arena next Friday and Saturday night. Faceoff time on Friday is 7 p.m., while Saturday is slated for a 7:30 start time.
