Sorry I'm late in posting this, but I had one of those pesky
exam things this morning, and much like the student-athletes on our
hockey team, I am student-media after all.
 
        UMass improved to 9-6 on the season and 3-1 in the ECAC yesterday
afternoon by beating Princeton 3-1 down in Joysee.
        Princeton got on the board first on a Johnathan Kelley goal at
2:17, but UMass got the next three (by Brad Norton, Dan Juden and Blair
Wagar) to win it. UMass took the 3-1 lead at 5:09 of the second, when the
goaltenders took over.
        Brian Regan was the player of the day as he made 35 saves on 36
Princeton shots (18 of 18 in the second) to wrap up the win for UMass.
Erasmo "Searching for my lost shaker of" Saltarelli stopped 15 of 18 for
the Tigers, but was not really tested after UMass went up 3-1.
        A sign of just how much UMass has improved came when Norton
scored on a 50 foot slapper on the power play. It was the team's 21st
PPG of the season after having 20 all of last year. After netting just 20
goals, the team is clicking at 20 percent this year (well, 19.4%--close
enough).
        A quick Princeton note, I was very impressed by the steady play
of freshman Steve Shirreffs from Hotchkiss. What he did won't appear in a
stat sheet, but he was a major reason why Salterelli faced just 18 shots.
If not for his work in front of the net and in the neutral zone, this one
could have been ugly.
        A Baker Rink note, some rough stuff went on with 23 seconds to
play as Sal Manganaro and Michael Acosta were involved in some
extra-curricular activity in front of the Princeton bench, which led me
to notice the lack of a divider between the two side-by-side benches.
While most arenas either have the benches across the ice, or heavily
divided on one side, there is literally nothing to stop the teams from
going at one another. Had this been a more heated exchange, it might have
gotten real interesting. The benches are beside each other with only the
players' dicipline to prevent massive fights.
 
Leigh
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Congratulations to the Nebraska women's volleyball team, which became
only the second team outside of California or Hawaii to win an NCAA title
on Saturday evening at the Mullins Center. 7,364, the fifth largest crowd
ever for a title match, came through the snows to UMass for the game, and
certainly got their money's worth as the Huskers Hook(ed) 'em Horns in a
thriller.
 
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