AMHERST, MA – The 10^th-ranked Massachusetts men's hockey team used two third-period goals to hand Union College a 5-2 defeat at the Mullins Center Sunday afternoon. Union freshman netminder Corey Milan (Great Barrington, MA) made a career-high 50 saves in the loss, and senior Josh Coyle (Brooklyn, OH) scored his first goal of the season in his first appearance since November 3.

 

The Minutemen (6-3-4) capitalized early, scoring just 37 seconds into the game off a turnover behind the Union net. Brian Keane forced the puck away from a Union defender right behind the net before centering to Martin Nolet, whose shot ricocheted off the right post and over the left shoulder of Milan.

 

The Dutchmen (2-5-2) answered back to knot the game just over five minutes into the period with their first goal since November 3. As the penalty kill was nearing its end, Michael Beynon (Nepean, ON) fought for the puck along the boards just inside the Union zone, and sent a long pass up to Torren Delforte (Shortsville, NY) who carried it up the right before lifting the puck past Dan Meyers from the right circle one second after the penalty expired.

 

The two teams traded power-play scores in the latter half of the frame, first in favor of the Minutemen at 12:37 when Justin Braun one-timed a centering pass from Cory Quirk. The Dutchmen rallied again, netting their first power-play score in 12 chances. Coyle pushed in the goal with a two-man advantage at 18:32. Mike Schreiber (Sherwood Park, AB) fed Adam Presizniuk (Calgary, AB) low in the right circle before the freshman slid the puck across the crease to Coyle who was waiting on the doorstep for his first goal of the season.

 

UMass struck again early in the second period with a Quirk slapshot from high in the slot that slid through Milan's pads at 1:38, but the Dutchmen held off the 13-shot offense through the rest of the frame. Milan came up big saving a pair of quick shots from Keane with five minutes left in the stanza, first denying the freshman on a rush, and then trapping the ensuing shot of the rebound, registering a two-period total of 26 stops.

 

The Minutemen kept the offensive pressure going in the third, putting 26 shots on Union's freshman netminder. A pair of power-play goals 42 seconds apart midway through the final frame put the game in check for UMass.

 

Chase Langeraap deflected a Mike Kosta shot from the point at 8:48 with a two-man advantage, and Chris Davis poked in the puck just inside the post after a Mike Lecomte shot at 9:30. UMass scored goals on both power-play opportunities in the frame, finishing 3-for-4 on the night.

 

Milan finished with a career-high 50 saves in the game in which Union allowed the most shots since a 61-shot performance by Yale on March 4, 2006, a five-overtime game. Meyers stopped 27 saves in his second win of the season.

The Dutchmen will look to snap a seven-game winless streak on Friday, November 30 at Quinnipiac. Union will wrap up the ECAC Hockey weekend on Saturday, December 1 at Princeton.