For Immediate Release
Contact Dave Geringer, Sports Information Director, (508) 990-9651  [log in to unmask]
Saturday, March 3, 2007				 

UMASS DARTMOUTH DEFEATS WENTWORTH, 4-3,  IN ECAC NE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

NEW BEDFORD, MA–It took the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s hockey team nearly 37 minutes to take the lead for the first time in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Northeast championship game against the Wentworth Institute of Technology at the Stephan Hetland Memorial Arena Saturday.

Junior forward Paul Garabedian (Belmont, MA, Belmont HS) slipped a rebound past Wentworth goaltender Justin Marriott with 3:26 remaining in the third period to give the Corsairs the lead for the first time, and it stood up as UMass Dartmouth held on for a 4-3 victory before a near-capacity crowd of 1637.

Garabedian’s goal broke a 3-3 tie that had existed since sophomore forward Nick Paquin (Warwick, RI/Winchendon Academy) scored on the rebound of freshman forward Matt Serino’s (Saugus, MA/Avon Old Farms) shot to deadlock the game at 3:06 of the third period. Freshman forward Doug Martin (Trumbull, CT/Fairfield Prep) had staked Wentworth to its final lead of the day when he re-directed home a pass from freshman forward Michael O’Brien (Royersford, PA/Philadelphia-AJHL) just 49 seconds before Paquin’s goal.

The Leopards drew first blood, scoring on their first shot of the game, 2:51 into the first period. After a Corsair penalty, senior forward Ryan Singer (Kamloops, BC/Alberni Valley-BCHL) won the face off in the UMass Dartmouth zone and fed sophomore defenseman Joey Sides (Sun Valley ID/Avon Old Farms in the slot. Sides fired home a wrist shot to make it 1-0.
 
The Corsairs tied it on a power play of their own. Senior defenseman Paul Carr (Springfield, MA/Cathedral HS) fired home a slap shot from the right point after junior forward Jeff Grant (Burlington, MA/Austin Prep) won the face off in the Wentworth end. Grant and senior forward Kyle McCullough (Danvers, MA/Boston Jr. Blackhawks) drew assists.

Wentworth scored first again in the second period. Sophomore defenseman Dillon Rioux (Rocklin, CA/Texarkana-NAHL) fired a shot from the slot that was stopped by sophomore goaltender Jeff Green (Medway, MA/Valley Jr. Warriors). Junior forward Jeff Oddleifson (North Vancouver, BC/Prince George-BCHL) picked up the rebound and scored, giving the Leopards a 2-1 lead at 11:05. 

Freshman forward Pat Welch (Dorchester, MA/Pomfret HS) tied the score nearly five minutes later, when his wrist shot from a sharp angle caromed into the net off Marriott. Garabedian drew the lone assist at 15:56.
The game was played at a furious pace, with both goaltenders coming up with big saves all afternoon. Green was named the Most Outstanding Player.
“It was as good a collegiate hockey game as you are going to see,” said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach John Rolli. “I thought that the key for us was to maintain our poise. We were behind three times in this game, and we just kept coming back. Jeff Green did a very good job. That’s how you have to play in a game of this magnitude. We can’t say enough about being able to play in our rink in front of our home crowd. Now, we will wait to hear from the NCAA, and see who and where we play next.”
The Corsairs out shot WIT, 37-36. Green and Marriott each made 33 saves.
With the victory, the Corsairs improved to 25-2-1 and earned the ECAC Northeast’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championships. The NCAA will release the pairing Sunday night. 


UMASS DARTMOUTH HOCKEY

 Wentworth (16-8-3) vs. UMass Dartmouth (24-2-1)
 Date: Mar 03, 2007  Location: New Bedford, MA       Arena: Hetland Ice Arena
 Attendance:1637   Start time:4:30 pm   End time:6:42 pm   Total time:2:12
 Goals by Period       1  2  3  Tot
 ----------------------------------
 Wentworth...........  1  1  1 -  3
 UMass Dartmouth.....  1  1  2 -  4

   1st period - 1, WIT1, Joey Sides/8 (Ryan Singer/21, Dave
Lewandowski/23) 2:51 (pp). 2, UMDM, Paul Carr/5 (Jeff Grant/29, Kyle
McCullough/31) 15:34 (pp). Penalties - Jon Finn, UMDM (broken stick)
2:44; Russ Hanson, WIT1 (slashing) 8:12; Stephen Owens, WIT1 (hooking)
15:25.

   2nd period - 3, WIT1, Jeff Oddleifson/5 (Dillon Rioux/9) 11:05. 4,
UMDM, Pat Welch/3 (Paul Garabedian/11) 15:56. Penalties - Rob Pagani,
WIT1 (hooking) 12:59; Doug Martin, WIT1 (roughing) 16:40; Eric
Quinlan, UMDM (holding) 16:40.

   3rd period - 5, WIT1, Doug Martin/4 (Michael O'Brien/8, Stephen
Owens/11) 2:12. 6, UMDM, Nick Paquin/9 (Matt Serino/7) 3:01. 7, UMDM,
Paul Garabedian/10 (Billy Carroll/3, Pat Welch/7) 16:24. Penalties -
Michael O'Brien, WIT1 (hitting from behind) 6:30.

   Shots on goal - WIT1 11-14-11 36; UMDM 16-12-9 37.

   Power plays - WIT1 1 of 1; UMDM 1 of 4.

   Penalties - WIT1 5 (10 min); UMDM 2 (4 min).

   Goalies - WIT1, Justin Marriott 14-7-2 (59:17 minutes, 37 shots-33
saves) , EMPTY NET (00:43, 0-0); UMDM, Jeff Green 25-2-1 (60:00,
36-33).

   Penalty shots - None.

 A-1637  T-2:12
 ECAC Northeast Championship Game