For Immediate Release
Contact Dave Geringer, Sports Information Director, (508) 990-9651  [log in to unmask]
Saturday, March 11, 2006					

UMASS DARTMOUTH FALLS AT MIDDLEBURY IN NCAAS

MIDDLEBURY, VT– The top-seeded NCAA Division III team in the nation was a little bit too much for the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s hockey team in their NCAA Division III quarter-final playoff game at the Chip Kenyon ’85 Arena Saturday night.

Middlebury got two power play goals from Eric LaFreniere and  21 saves from goaltender Ross Cherry and went on to defeat the Corsairs, 3-1. The loss ended a 21-game winning streak, the second longest in UMass Dartmouth history. 

For the first time in four games, UMD did not score first. The Panthers drew first blood, scoring a power play goal to take a 1-0 lead at 10:33 of the first period. Junior defenseman Paul Carr (Springfield, MA/Springfield Cathedral HS) was in the penalty box when Eric LaFreniere sent a shot from the slot past UMD freshman goaltender Jon Dryjowicz-Burek (Ludlow, MA/ Springfield Jr. Falcons). John Sales and Brent Shirreffs assisted on the play.

UMass Dartmouth had their best chance to tie the score later in the period when sophomore forward Paul Garabedian (Belmont, MA/Belmont HS) got the puck all alone in front of Middlebury goaltender Ross Cherry, but Cherry made the save. Dryjowicz-Burek returned the favor four minutes later, stopping the Panthers’ Mickey Gilchrist with a glove save on his shorthanded chance from 15 feet away. 

Middlebury took a 2-0 lead less than a minute into the second period. Seconds after Cherry made a big save from close range on the Corsairs’ junior forward Kyle McCullough (Danvers, MA/Boston Jr. Blackhawks), Jamie McKenna of the Panthers took a long pass, broke in and scored to make it 2-0. Sales and Tom Maldonado drew assists.

LaFreniere’s second power play goal of the game made it 3-0 at 9:49 of the third period. He converted passes from Sales and Shirreffs for the Panthers’ second power play goal of the game.

McCullough broke Cherry’s shutout bid with a power play goal at 18:23of the third period. Senior forward Eric Frank (Waltham, MA/Traverse City Enforcers) and sophomore forward Jeff Grant (Burlington, MA/Austin Prep) assisted. 

”They’re the number one team in the nation for a reason,” said Frank. “We play well when we have the lead, packing it in and playing great defense, and it’s tough coming back against a team that does the same thing. 

“They’re a very good team,” said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach John Rolli. “We out shot them in the first period and they got a power play goal. I thought the key goal was their goal in the second period. We were on top of them with a couple of good chances, and then they came right back and bang, the puck was in our net. We did prove that we could play at the national level. They’re the top team in the nation, but we had our chances and we were right there.”

Middlebury out shot UMass Dartmouth, 31-22. Dryjowicz-Burek made 28 saves.

The loss was the first for the Corsairs since a 3-2 defeat at Tufts last December 7th. UMass Dartmouth saw their season end with an overall record of 24-6-0. Middlebury improved to 24-2-2 and advanced to the NCAA Division III Frozen Four at Elmira, where they will play a semi-final game next Saturday afternoon.

UMASS DARTMOUTH HOCKEY


BOX SCORE

UMass Dartmouth       			0	0	1-1
Middlebury					1	1	1-3

FIRST PERIOD

1, MID – Eric LaFreniere (John Sales, Brent Shirreffs) 10:33 PPG

SECOND PERIOD

2, MID – Jamie McKenna (John Sales, Tom Maldonado) :54

THIRD PERIOD
3, MID – Eric LaFreniere (John Sales, Brent Shirreffs) 9:49 PPG
4, UMD – Kyle McCullough (Eric Frank, Jeff Grant) 18:23 PPG


SHOTS: MID- 31; UMD -22.
SAVES: MID– Ross Cherry, 21. UMD –Jon Dryjowicz-Burek, 28.
PENALTIES/MINUTES: MID – 4/8; UMD – 4/8.
POWER-PLAY GOALS/OPPORTUNITIES: MID- 2/4. UMD – 1/4.