UMass beats UNH, 3-2; rematch Saturday night in Durham
Feb. 23—Samuli Niinisaari scored two goals, including a clincher with 1:48 remaining into an empty net, helping the UMass hockey team past UNH 3-2 in a key Hockey East game Friday night in Amherst, Mass.
UNH's Marty Lavins scored with 2.4 seconds remaining for the final margin.
UMass, ranked 14th nationally, improved to 10-7-1, 17-9-3 overall. UNH, ranked 16th, dropped to 9-9-1 and 16-12-1 overall. The Minutemen leapfrogged Providence for fourth place in the conference with 31 points while UNH stands in sixth place with 28 points.
The teams play again Saturday night (7 p.m.) at the Whittemore Center in Durham.
UNH fell behind 1-0 on Niinisaari's first-period strike. Robert Cronin's goal at 4:23 of the second period tied the game at 1-1, but UMass' Jack Musa untied it with a goal with 1:51 left in the second.
UNH goalie Jakob Hellsten made 18 saves, to 30 for UMass' Michael Hrabal.
Dartmouth 5, RPI 1
The Coopers led the way in Troy, New York, as Auburn's Cooper Flinton scored two goals and added two assists to propel the Big Green to the ECAC victory. Meanwhile, goalie Cooper Black made 26 saves as Dartmouth improved to 8-9-9 overall 6-6-7 (sixth, 28 points) in the league.
