UMASS DARTMOUTH DEFEATS WESTFIELD STATE, 5-4

NEW BEDFORD, MA-The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s hockey team defeated visiting Westfield State, 5-4, in an Eastern College Athletic Conference Northeast game at the Stephan Hetland Memorial Ice Arena Saturday.

Sophomore forward Billy Manning tallied the game-winning goal; his second of the game, at 2:58 of the third period, converting a rebound off a shot by freshman forward Giancarlo Capodanno (Mountainside, NJ/N.J. Rockets).  Sophomore defenseman Mickey Dudley (Douglas, MA/Boston Jr Bruins) also assisted on the play.  The goal gave UMD a crucial 5-3 advantage as Westfield State would close to 5-4, at 7:34, on their own power play goal.  Sophomore forward Dennis Zak (Dover, NJ/Cobourg Cougars) notched his second goal of the afternoon assisted by freshman forward Benni Schennach (Ehrwald, Austria/Springfield Jr Falcons) and senior center Jeff Chillson (Enfield, CT/Springfield Jr. Falcons).

Freshman forward Craig Cardone (Westford, MA/Westford Academy) had given the Corsairs a 1-0 lead when he scored on the rebound of a shot by Dudley.  Freshman forward Shawn Manning (Stoughton, MA/ Bridgewater Jr. Bandits) also assisted on the play. UMD took a 2-0 lead when junior forward Matt Serino (Saugus, MA/Avon Old Farms) jammed one home from right in front of the net. Senior forwards Nick Paquin (Warwick, RI/Winchendon Academy) and Chris Shore (West Haven, CT/Winchendon Academy) drew the assists.

 The Owls cut the lead to 2-1 on a power play goal when Chillson ripped a one-timer past UMD senior goaltender Jeff Green (Medway, MA/Valley Jr. Warriors) from straightaway inside the blue line.  UMD answered right back just 32 seconds later as Billy Manning beat Owl freshman goaltender Ian Wilson (Tulsa, OK/North Bay Skyhawks), assisted by sophomore forward Jason Stahl (Londonderry, NH/Valley Jr Warriors) and junior defenseman Chris Carpenter (Westford, MA/Berkshire School). Westfield State would not be outdone, retaliating in 23 seconds making it 3-2 when Zak came out of the corner with the puck, skated across and beat Green to the short side to cap the scoring in the first period. 

Paquin would again give UMD a two goal lead at 6:11 of the second period when he slid in a rebound off Wilson’s pad.  Dudley and Serino collected the assists.  However, the Owls would not go away as freshman forward Pat Nelson again trimmed the lead to a goal when he fired a rocket past the glove of Green at 16:30 making it 4-3.

“It was a great effort by our team,” said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach John Rolli. “We faced a high-scoring team that had scored 72 goals in 14 games, who came in well rested and hungry.  But we jumped out early and we bent, but we didn’t break. Westfield is a good new team in our league and for us to come out with a win was big.” 

The Corsairs outshot the Owls, 41-18. Green made 14 saves for UMass Dartmouth, while Owls’ starting goaltender Wilson stopped 26 and his replacement sophomore goalie Ray Monroe (Shrewsbury, MA/Springfield Jr Falcons) turned away 10. UMass Dartmouth converted on 2 of 7 power play chances and Westfield converted on 1 of 9. 

The Corsairs improved to 10-4-1 and 7-1-0 in the ECAC Northeast with the victory, while the Owls dropped to 9-3-3 and 6-2-2 with the defeat. UMass Dartmouth will return to action when they visit UMass Boston Tuesday evening, while Westfield State will host Assumption next Wednesday. 

				UMASS DARTMOUTH HOCKEY


Westfield State (9-3-3, 6-2-2 ECAC NE) vs. UMass Dartmouth (10-4-1,7-1-0 ECAC NE)
 Date: Jan 17, 2009  Location: New Bedford, MA       Arena: Hetland Ice Arena
 Attendance:171   Start time:4:30 pm   End time:6:40 pm   Total time:2:10

 Goals by Period       1  2  3  Tot
 ----------------------------------
 Westfield State.....  2  1  1 -  4
 UMass Dartmouth.....  3  1  1 -  5

   1st period - 1, UMDM, Craig Cardone/2 (Mickey Dudley/9, Shawn
Manning/6) 9:08. 2, UMDM, Matt Serino/4 (Nick Paquin/8, Chris Shore/6)
11:00. 3, WFSM, Jeff Chillson/7 (A.J. Shiverdecker/11, Dennis Zak/18)
17:56 (pp). 4, UMDM, Billy Manning/5 (Jason Stahl/6, Chris
Carpenter/4) 18:28. 5, WFSM, Dennis Zak/15 (Dave Ciminelli/4, Pat
Nelson/18) 18:51. Penalties - Chris Shore, UMDM (hooking) 14:11;
Graeme Bourne, UMDM (high sticking) 16:30.

   2nd period - 6, UMDM, Nick Paquin/2 (Mickey Dudley/10, Matt
Serino/4) 6:11. 7, WFSM, Pat Nelson/12 (Dennis Zak/19, Jeff
Chillson/18) 16:30. Penalties - Chris Shore, UMDM (tripping) :48;
Shawn Manning, UMDM (high sticking) 1:18; Chris Shore, UMDM (holding)
6:37; Jimmy Alexander, WFSM (checking from behind) 6:37; Dave
Ciminelli, WFSM (holding) 11:07; Mike Muolo, WFSM (slashing) 13:10;
Shawn Manning, UMDM (slashing) 17:10; Ted Battaglia, WFSM
(interference) 19:49.

   3rd period - 8, UMDM, Billy Manning/6 (Giancarlo Capodanno/5,
Mickey Dudley/11) 2:58 (pp). 9, WFSM, Dennis Zak/16 (Benni
Schennach/6, Jeff Chillson/19) 7:34 (pp). Penalties - Jason Stahl,
UMDM (hooking) :29; Matt Cattivera, WFSM (tripping) 2:41; Jeff Green,
UMDM (interference) 6:46; Chris Shore, UMDM (hooking) 7:07; A.J.
Shiverdecker, WFSM (interference) 7:10; Jon Madsen, WFSM
(interference) 10:05.

   Shots on goal - WFSM 9-4-5 18; UMDM 14-12-15 41.

   Power plays - WFSM 2 of 8; UMDM 1 of 6.

   Penalties - WFSM 7 (14 min); UMDM 9 (18 min).

   Goalies - WFSM, Ray Monroe (17:02 minutes, 10 shots-10 saves) , Ian
Wilson 4-3-1 (42:58, 31-26); UMDM, Jeff Green 6-2-0 (60:00, 18-14).