In a crucial moment, Wildcats came through in win over UMass
Feb. 25—DURHAM — The goal probably seemed insignificant to everyone inside the Mullins Center besides Mike Souza and those alongside him on the bench.
Freshman center Marty Lavins scored for the University of New Hampshire men's hockey team with 2.4 seconds remaining in a 3-2 Hockey East loss at Massachusetts on Friday.
The goal, which came after UMass (17-10-3, 10-8-2 Hockey East) already scored an empty-netter, was symbolic of who the Wildcats are, Souza said.
"I'd like to think that's our identity as a program for a long time and over the history of our program is a team that's going to play you right until the buzzer sounds," said the sixth-year UNH coach. "It's a commitment to always playing the game the right way and that's what we preach."
In front of 6,085 fans at the Whittemore Center on Saturday, in a game Souza and UMass coach Greg Carvel agreed the Minutemen were the better team, UNH earned a crucial 3-2 overtime win by hanging around long enough to create some late opportunities.
UNH (17-12-1, 10-9-1) is in sixth place — two points behind UMass — in the Hockey East standings.
The top five teams in Hockey East will receive a bye to the quarterfinals while those seeded sixth through eighth will host opening-round games in the league tournament.
UNH forced overtime Saturday with 2:09 remaining in regulation, when junior captain and Bedford resident Alex Gagne, a defensemen, jumped up in the offensive zone and scored his first goal of the season by redirecting Nikolai Jenson's blast from the right point.
Carvel unsuccessfully challenged the goal for goaltender interference but was adamant after the game that contact was made with his goalie, Michael Hrabal, in the crease.
"I think it just speaks to our group and how, when we play desperate, we play hard and forecheck hard, good things happen," UNH left wing Liam Devlin said of Gagne's goal.
Devlin then ripped the game-winning goal from the right circle 1:13 into the three-on-three overtime to secure UNH the extra league point.
The Minutemen held UNH's top line of Devlin, center Cy LeClerc and Ryan Conmy silent all weekend, until LeClerc's secondary assist on Gagne's goal and Devlin's game-winning tally.
UNH's third line, consisting of Robert Cronin, J.P. Turner and Harrison Blaisdell, was the most consistent line on the weekend, Souza said.
Cronin scored off an assist from Turner to knot the score at 1-1 in the second period of Friday's loss to the Minutemen. Turner opened the game's scoring Saturday by redirecting a Brendan Fitzgerald blast from the high slot in front of Hrabal (23 saves).
Cronin had the secondary assist on Turner's fourth goal of the season.
"I think the Blaisdell, Cronin, Turner line had been playing really well all weekend and we tried to use them as a standard for every other line," Devlin said. "Showing how to be successful — get pucks low behind their D (defensemen) and take them to the net — the hard, gritty goals."
Carvel and Souza also agreed on another point regarding the weekend series: that UNH junior goaltender Jakob Hellsten was outstanding.
After an 18-save performance on Friday, Hellsten made 25 saves for the Wildcats on Saturday. The University of North Dakota transfer stopped 12 shots in the opening period, turned away two UMass shorthanded breakaway chances and made several saves from point-blank range.
Cole O'Hara scored both of UMass's goals on Saturday.
O'Hara scored a second-period power-play goal to pull UMass even at 1-1 after teammate Aydar Suniev fired a wide shot from the right circle. The shot hit O'Hara in the legs and he then collected the puck before firing a quick shot by Hellsten in front. O'Hara's third-period goal that gave the Minutemen a 2-1 lead came on a turnaround shot from the slot through traffic.
"He gives you an added sense of confidence on the bench," Souza said of Hellsten. "One of those nights where you just don't let the game get away from you and then made a couple plays at the end of the game."
The glaring troubles for UNH out of the weekend were its power play and continuing struggle to win away from the Whittemore Center.
The Wildcats went a combined 0-for-9 on the power play with 14 shots on goal on those chances against UMass.
UNH went 3-for-7 on the man advantage in its home series sweep of rival Maine the prior weekend. The Wildcats entered that series 3-for-23 on the power play over its previous four weekends.
UNH is 5-9-0 on the road this year and is on a three-game road losing skid entering its series with Hockey East-leading Boston College (25-5-1, 17-3-1), which was unanimously ranked the top team in the country last week.
The Wildcats host BC on Friday night (7) before playing the Eagles at Conte Forum on Sunday (5 p.m.). The then-No. 1 Eagles defeated UNH, 6-1, at Conte Forum on Feb. 9.
One area Souza does not have to worry about entering the weekend is his team's compete level.
"There's a lot of belief," said Souza. "... That's kind of what you hope that you get when you recruit a team."
