Hockey Team Defeats Nichols, 5-3, Clinches Automatic Bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament
3/8/2008

NEW BEDFORD, MA- Freshman forward Joe Hill (Newburyport, MA/Valley Jr. Warriors) scored twice, including the game-winning goal in the waning seconds of the third period and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's hockey team went on to defeat visiting Nichols, 5-3, in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Northeast Tournament Championship game at the Hetland Arena Saturday afternoon. The victory gave the Corsairs an automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Division III Ice Hockey tournament.

Hill scored on a wild scramble in front of the goal, knocking the puck in from the crease giving the Corsairs a 4-3 advantage with just 14.9 seconds left in regulation.  Senior forward Paul Garabedian (Belmont, MA/Belmont HS) and senior forward Jeff Grant (Burlington, MA/Austin Prep) assisted on the game-winner. 

Hill was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

"What can you say more about the freshman Joe Hill," said Corsair Head Coach John Rolli. "Two goals and the game’s MOP.  I thought that game had OT written all over it.”

The Corsairs (18-8-1) jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Hill tallied his first goal of the opening period, stuffing in a rebound off a shot from Garabedian at 18:01.

Nichols (20-7-1) would answer back in the second as junior forward Anthony Monte would sandwich a pair of goals around a goal from Corsair sophomore forward Billy Manning (Stoughton, MA/Jr. Bandits), who took a beautiful feed from sophomore defenseman Paul Moran (Rockville Centre, NY/Jr. Bulldogs) at 5:49.  Monte’s first goal came via the power play and was assisted by freshman forward Will Munson and junior defenseman Jeff Bieber at 1:54.  His second came at 9:20 and was also assisted by Bieber.

UMass Dartmouth would take the lead in the third on a backhand power play goal by junior forward Chris Shore (West Haven CT/Winchendon Academy) from junior forward Nick Paquin (Warwick, RI/Winchendon Academy) and sophomore forward Matt Serino (Saugus, MA/Avon Old Farms) at 4:17.

The Bison responded just over two minutes later to tie the game, 3-3, when Munson tipped a pass from freshman defenseman Patrick Biron through the legs of Corsair junior goalie Jeff Green (Medway, MA/Valley Jr. Warriors).

The rest of the third period played nip and tuck between both teams until Hill’s heroics.

Shore would add an empty netter rounding out the scoring en route to the victory.

"Nichols played outstanding," said Rolli. "They were just as deserving.  We just got the bounce of the puck at the end.” 

Tournament pairings for the 2008 NCAA Division III Ice Hockey tournament will be announced on Sunday night.


Nichols (20-7-1) vs. UMass Dartmouth (18-8-1)
 Date: Mar 06, 2008  Location: New Bedford, MA       Arena: Hetland Ice Arena
 Attendance:1533   Start time:4:30 pm   End time:6:40 pm   Total time:2:10
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 Goals by Period       1  2  3  Tot
 ----------------------------------
 Nichols.............  0  2  1 -  3
 UMass Dartmouth.....  1  1  3 -  5

   1st period - 1, UMDM, Joseph Hill/14 (Paul Garabedian/14) 18:01.
Penalties - Zeke Costello, NICM (checking from behind) 4:06; Patrick
Biron, NICM (hooking) 8:46; Jeff Bieber, NICM (hooking) 9:54; Ryan
Gervais, NICM (roughing) 19:17; Jeff Grant, UMDM (roughing) 19:47;
Jonathan Finn, UMDM (hooking) 20:00.

   2nd period - 2, NICM, Anthony Monte/21 (Will Munson/22, Jeff
Bieber/15) 1:54 (pp). 3, UMDM, Billy Manning/5 (Paul Moran/7) 5:49. 4,
NICM, Anthony Monte/22 (Jeff Bieber/16) 9:20. Penalties - Jeff Grant,
UMDM (slashing) 6:33.

   3rd period - 5, UMDM, Chris Shore/8 (Nick Paquin/8, Graeme
Bourne/5) 4:17 (pp). 6, NICM, Will Munson/9 (Patrick Biron/2) 6:56. 7,
UMDM, Joseph Hill/14 (Paul Garabedian/15, Jeff Grant/21) 19:44. 8,
UMDM, Chris Shore/9 19:55 (empty net). Penalties - Matt Roberts, NICM
(boarding) 3:14; Patrick Biron, NICM (holding) 15:57.

   Shots on goal - NICM 5-11-13 29; UMDM 10-11-11 32.

   Power plays - NICM 1 of 2; UMDM 1 of 5.

   Penalties - NICM 6 (12 min); UMDM 3 (6 min).

   Goalies - NICM, Keith Fink 17-7-1 (59:55 minutes, 31 shots-27
saves) , EMPTY NET (00:05, 0-0); UMDM, Jeff Green 17-8-1 (60:00,
29-26).