For Immediate Release
Contact Dave Geringer, Sports Information Director, (508) 990-9651  [log in to unmask]
Tuesday, February 20, 2007				 

UMASS DARTMOUTH DEFEATS NICHOLS, 6-3

NEW BEDFORD, MA–The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s hockey team scored three times in each of the final two periods to defeat visiting Nichols, 6-3, in the final Eastern College Athletic Conference Northeast hockey game of the regular season at the Stephen Hetland Memorial Arena Tuesday night.
Six different Corsairs scored goals as UMass Dartmouth clinched first place and the top seed in the ECAC Northeast post-season tournament.
Senior forward Jim Foley (Brockton, MA/Catholic Memorial HS) scored a power play goal at 1:43 of the second period to break a scoreless tie. After Ryan Gervais tied it the Bison at 5:38, freshman forward Billy Carroll (Duxbury, MA/Brighton Academy) gave the Corsairs the lead for good when he scored at 9:59. Sophomore forward Chris Shore’s (West Haven, CT/Winchendon Academy) goal at 18:59 of the second period made it 3-1 after two periods.

Junior forward Jeff Grant (Burlington, MA/Austin Prep) scored an unassisted goal at 3:15 of the third period. After Anthony Monte’s goal for Nichols made it 4-2 at 11:31 of the third period, freshman forward Pat Welch (Dorchester, MA/Pomfret) and junior forward Paul Garabedian (Belmont, MA/Belmont HS) scored twice in a span of just over two minutes late in the third period to make it 6-2. Jeff Bieber scored the final goal of the game for the Bison with 16 seconds remaining.

The Corsairs out shot Nichols, 53-22. Sophomore goaltender Jeff Green (Medway, MA/Valley Jr. Warriors) made 19 saves for UMD, while Fink made 47 saves for the Bison. 
With the victory, the Corsairs improved to 22-2-1 and 14-1-0 in conference play, marking the third year in a row that they have lost only a single game during the conference schedule. Nichols dropped to 13-10-2 and 8-6-1 in ECAC Northeast play. The Corsairs advance to the first round of the ECAC Northeast playoffs, and will host Salve Regina at 4:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon at the Hetland Memorial Arena. The Bison, who finished seventh in the final standings, will open playoff action at second-seeded Curry Saturday at 4:35 p.m.

UMASS DARTMOUTH HOCKEY

 
 UMass Dartmouth (22-2-1, 14-1-0) vs. Nichols (13-10-2, 8-6-1)
 Date: Feb 17, 2007  Location: New Bedford, MA  Arena: Hetland Memorial Arena
 Attendance:217   Start time: 7:30 pm   End time: 9:35 pm   Total time:2:05
 Goals by Period       1  2  3  Tot
 ----------------------------------
 Nichols		     0  1  2-   3
 UMass Dartmouth.....  0  3  3 -  6
 
   1st period – None.

   2nd period - 1, UMDM, Jim Foley (Jeff Grant, Kyle McCullough) PPG 1:43, 2, NC, Ryan Gervais (Anthony Monte, Colby Jones) 5:38, 3, UMDM, Billy Carroll (Paul Garabedian, Eric Quinlan) 9:59, 4, UMDM, Chris Shore (Peter Lindner, Tyler Vrolyk) 18:43.

   3rd period - 5, UMDM, Jeff Grant (unassisted) 3:15, 6, NC, Anthony Monte (Jeff Bieber) 11:31, 7, UMDM, Pat Welch(Paul Garabedian, Billy Carroll) 12:48, 8, UMDM, Paul Garabedian (Francis Gunn) PPG 15:54, 9, NC, Jeff Bieber (Jason Arrighie) 19:44.

   Shots on goal - UMDM 15-16-22 53; NC 8-5-9 22.

   Power plays - UMDM 2 of 7; NC 0 of 5.

   Penalties - UMDM 5 (21 min); NC 10 (47 min).

   Goalies - UMDM, Jeff Green 60:00 minutes, 22 shots-19
saves); NC, Keith Fink (60:00, 53-47).

   A-240  T-2:05