For Immediate Release
Contact Dave Geringer, Sports Information Director, (508) 990-9651  [log in to unmask]
Tuesday, December 4, 2007					

HOCKEY TEAM DOWNS RHODE ISLAND, 6-4 

NEW BEDFORD, MA– The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s hockey team scored four goals in the third period to defeat the University of Rhode Island’s American College Hockey Association club hockey team, 6-4,  in an exhibition game at the Stephan Hetland Memorial Arena Tuesday evening.

The Corsairs overcame a 3-2 deficit with three goals in the first 6:55 of the third period. Junior forward Chris Shore (West Haven, CT/Winchendon Academy) took a pass from sophomore center Matt Serino (Saugus, MA/Avon Old Farms) and scored his second breakaway goal of the game at 1:01 to tie the score. Senior forward Jeff Grant (Burlington, MA/Austin Prep) jammed home the rebound of a shot by freshman defenseman Mickey Dudley (Douglas, MA/Boston Jr. Bruins) at 4:29 to put the Corsairs ahead, and sophomore forward Paul Jerusik (Springfield, MA/Lawrence Academy) scored at 6:55 to make it 5-3. 

Kyle Krannich scored on a rebound at 10:22 to cut UMass Dartmouth’s lead to 5-4, but senior forward Paul Garabedian scored into an empty net with URI goaltender Andrew Lisi on the bench at 19:27 to seal the verdict. 

The Rams had drawn first blood, scoring the only goal of the first period. Corsair freshman goalie Collin Tracy (Medford, MA/Medford HS) Tracy stopped Nick Ennis’ shot from point blank range, but James Gaffney flipped home the rebound to put Rhode Island on top at 19:03.

Each team scored twice in the second period. Freshman forward Tim Hurst (Sylvania, OH/Columbus Jr. Bluejackets) snapped a shot past Lisi at 8:25 of the second period to tie the game at 1-1, but Matt Wodecki scored 45 seconds later to give the Rams a 2-1 lead. Shore broke in alone and slid home a shot to tie it 10:38, but Krannich scored the first of his two goals when he fired a shot from the slot over Tracy’s glove to give URI a 3-2 advantage at the 18:44 mark.

“It was good to win, we got a lot of our freshmen some collegiate hockey experience,” said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach John Rolli. “Chris Shore had an outstanding game. He scored a couple of goals on plays that he might be the only one who could have made. Our two power play goals in the third period were huge. Rhode Island is a good team, and this was their 22nd game of the season.”

The Corsairs, who converted two of four power play opportunities while killing four of five URI power plays, out shot the Rams, 40-18. Tracy made 14 saves, while Lisi made 34 stops.

The Corsairs’ record remained at 5-1-0 with the victory, which will not count in their overall record. Rhode Island dropped to 16-6-0 overall with the defeat.

UMass Dartmouth will return to action when they visit Wesleyan Friday evening, while URI will host Liberty this weekend.

UMASS DARTMOUTH HOCKEY

 Rhode Island (16-6-0) vs. UMass Dartmouth (5-1-0)
 Date: Dec 04, 2007  Location: New Bedford, MA       Arena: Hetland Ice Arena
 Attendance:166   Start time:7:30 pm   End time:9:35 pm   Total time:2:05

 Goals by Period       1  2  3  Tot
 ----------------------------------
 Rhode Island........  1  2  1 -  4
 UMass Dartmouth.....  0  2  4 -  6

   1st period - 1, URI, James Gaffney/9 (Nick Ennis/3, Stephen
Gaffney/6) 19:03. Penalties - Eric Quinlan, UMDM (hitting from behind)
3:09; Cory Pinheiro, URI (interference) 9:49.

   2nd period - 2, UMDM, Tim Hurst (Billy Rocha, Andrew Hillson) 8:25.
3, URI, Matt Wodecki/4 (Bobby Gauthier/3, Chris Fallago/1) 9:10. 4,
UMDM, Chris Shore (Paul Garabedian, Matt Serino) 10:38. 5, URI, Kyle
Krannich/9 (Anthony Rowella/7, James Lang/3) 18:44. Penalties - E.J.
Astarita, URI (roughing) 1:40; Rob Peterson, URI (interference) 15:00;
Kyle Haas, UMDM (holding) 17:46.

   3rd period - 6, UMDM, Chris Shore (Matt Serino) 1:01 (pp). 7, UMDM,
Jeff Grant (Pat Welch, Mickey Dudley) 4:29 (pp). 8, UMDM, Paul Jerusik
(Jason Stahl, Joseph Hill) 6:55. 9, URI, Kyle Krannich/9 (E.J.
Astarita/7, James Lang/4) 10:22 (pp). 10, UMDM, Paul Garabedian (Peter
Shelzi) 19:27 (empty net). Penalties - Andrew Lisi, URI (tripping)
:32; Nick Ennis, URI (charging) 4:10; Jonathan Finn, UMDM
(interference) 9:46; Jonathan Finn, UMDM (hooking) 12:40; Paul
Jerusik, UMDM (hooking) 14:29.

   Shots on goal - URI 6-8-4 18; UMDM 14-15-11 40.

   Power plays - URI 1 of 5; UMDM 2 of 4.

   Penalties - URI 5 (10 min); UMDM 5 (10 min).

   Goalies - URI, Andrew Lisi (59:28 minutes, 39 shots-34 saves) ,
EMPTY NET (00:32, 0-0); UMDM, Collin Tracy (60:00, 18-14).