The Minutemen take a three-goal lead in a shootout against Vermont

AMHERST — Apathy replaced desperation for the UMass field hockey team as it tried to snap a six-game losing streak when the Minutemen faced Vermont on Friday at the Mullins Center.

They earned a point with a 3-3 tie and a 2-1 shootout win, but it looked worse than a loss to UMass coach Greg Carvel.

“The best we played was when they got a five-minute Major and it was 3-2 and we actually played a little bit in a hurry and cared about the game,” Carvel said. “I was very disappointed with the lack of detail and control, bad puck decisions. It’s disrespectful.”

Vermont swept a 3-0 deficit in the third inning. Jens Richards converted the tiebreaker on a stick-side layup low against UMass goaltender Luke Pavicchi with 3 minutes to play and 57 seconds remaining.

Vermont finally tied it 1:55 into the third period when Finn Evan’s shot trickled past Pavicich and barely squeaked over the line before the net came off. Thomas Sinclair assisted the play.

The Catamounts cut UMass’ lead to one soon after. Defenseman Eric Gotz exited the game in the tunnel after a hard hit sent him into the boards, and Massimo Lombardi snuck the puck under Pavicich with 16:23 left.

“The message of this game, knowing we were at UMass against a juggernaut, was we wanted to be loose. We wanted to have some fun,” Vermont coach Todd Woodcroft said. – We played for free. There was no pressure on us.”

Pavicich kept the game tied in the final two minutes when he made a three-on-none save with his right pad after a neutral zone shift.

No one scored in five minutes of three-on-three overtime, sending the game to penalty kicks. Michael Cameron found the back of the net for UMass in a first-round shootout, and Cole O’Hara won it for the Minutemen in the third.

Joel Määttä scored for Vermont.

It goes into the NCAA record books as a tie.

UMass (10-13-4, 4-11-2 Hockey East) spent 17 minutes in the penalty box after being whistled for seven penalties.

“When you take seven penalties, there’s a reason for that. Guys didn’t come out and play with the integrity that was needed,” Carvel said.

The offense almost caught up with UMass in the third. Defenseman Ryan Ufko was initially whistled for interference in the corner with 14:06 remaining. The play was reviewed and he was fouled for a touch to the head and ejected, while the Minutemen faced a five-minute penalty.

UMass blew away a chance to keep their lead at this point.

The Minutemen started the second period in the middle of a big five-minute power play, but couldn’t get much out of it. However, the senior line of the minutemen got slack. After reaching the transition zone, Eric Faith bent a perfect pass to Reed Lebster across the ice in front of the net. Instead of shooting, he backhanded a pass to forward Cal Kiefiuk, who swung the puck back and forth quickly before slamming it into the net with 8:41 left in the second period. It was his second goal in as many games after scoring the winner against Providence last week in a 3-0 win for UMass.

“He’s warming up,” Carvel said. – We scored three goals. That should have been enough.”

Vermont (9-15-4, 4-12-2) celebrated as if it had broken the shutout 3:51 into the second period, but the puck bounced off the post and under UMass goaltender Luke Pavicich’s pad, where he kept it. Officials reviewed the goal call and quickly overturned it to restore the shutout.

Pavicich saved 28 shots.

UMass killed two penalties with 1:57 left in the third in the second.

The Minutemen survived three more Vermont power plays in the first period and still built a 2-0 lead after killing all three.

UMass forward Lucas Mercuri scored the first with an elbow 73 seconds into the game. Vermont called for a major penalty after a high hit, but a minor call was upheld, taking the Catamounts into a timeout before barely stopping.

The minutemen made it even worse. After Vermont mishandled the puck near its blue line and it floated into the neutral zone, Michael Cameron scrambled up the ice and scooped it up to break free, snapping a short wrist shot into the net with 2:40 left for a 1-0 lead.

“They kind of made a mistake, I got the puck and I got lucky,” Cameron said. “I looked up and saw the top right corner was open, and I tried to put it in there. Luckily, it went in.”

The remaining 34 seconds on Vermont’s power play went without incident.

Kenny Connors doubled UMass’ lead at 10:05 of the first period. Cole O’Hara caught Connors’ miss from under the goal line and turned it over the net. It hit Connors’ stick while he was facing away from the net. He dropped it behind him into the bottom corner for a 2-0 advantage.

It was his eighth goal of the season, leading Cameron.

“I don’t think anybody puts any stock in it. We’re all just trying to do everything we can to win every night,” Connors said. “If one of us puts it in the back of the net when we get the chance, that’s what we’re going to do.”

The teams will meet again on Saturday at 7:00 PM in UMass’ Pink the Rink for Cancer Awareness (NESN).

“The level was far away. We got what we deserved. We got upset by a team that I think was missing some players. I know what it’s like. It’s hard to beat,” Carvel said. “I don’t care. You go into the third period 3-0 and it’s 3-3 before regulation, you’ve got some things to deal with.”

Kyle Grabowski can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.