After playing two games last weekend, allowing just a single goal and coming away without a win, No. 10 Massachusetts made certain there was no deja vu.
Goaltender Filip Lindberg allowed just a single tally again this weekend, but his Minutemen team came away with a weekend sweep of sister school No. 10 UMass Lowell, winning on Saturday, 2-1.
Lindberg posted a shutout on Friday as UMass won the opener, 5-0.
The junior netminder stopped 28 of 29 shots on Saturday, including one of the ten-bell variety early on Reid Stefanson. He finished the weekend stopping 44 of 45 shots.
Goaltender appreciation tweet ?♂️?
?: @RichardTGagnon #NewMass | #Flagship ? pic.twitter.com/8HLczA8XB3
— UMass Hockey (@UMassHockey) January 31, 2021
After a scoreless first period, UMass got on the board not once, but twice in the middle stanza. Garrett Wait redirected Zac Jones shot from the left point just 46 seconds into the second. Then fourth-line center George Mika finished a rush by poking the rebound of Anthony Del Gaizo’s shot past UMass Lowell netminder Henry Welsch (29 saves), who took his first collegiate loss in net.
The River Hawks battled in the third, outshooting the club from Amherst, 10-5, and pulled within one at 4:04 when Lucas Condatta banked a seeing-eye shot past Lindberg for Lowell’s first goal of the weekend. But that was as close as things would get as the Minutemen defended well and had Lindberg to hold things down when needed.
No. 9 Omaha 5, No. 2 North Dakota 4
Despite holding multiple two-goal leads throughout the game, No. 9 Omaha had to battle to the final buzzer, in the end holding off No. 2 North Dakota, 5-4, to split the weekend series.
What was a bit of an Achilles heel on Friday – the Mavericks power play – was the difference-maker on Saturday as Omaha scored three times with the man advantage on a night with considerably less penalty minute than the previous.
Chase Primeau posted a goal and an assist for Omaha and Tyler Weiss added a trio of assists himself. Shane Pinto’s two-goal effort wasn’t enough for the Fighting Hawks.
?Never give #⃣1⃣7⃣ second chances.?#OmahaHKY | #EveryoneForOmaha pic.twitter.com/cHv0zVmp6S
— Omaha Video (@OmahaVID) January 31, 2021
Isaiah Seville, a night after being pulled, stopped 43 shots to earn the victory.
No. 19 AIC 3, Holy Cross 0
For the second straight game and third time in four games, No. 19 AIC blanked an opponent. The earned a 3-0 victory over Holy Cross to complete the weekend sweep.
Impressively, Saturday’s shutoutcame from goaltender Ryan McInchak, appearing in just his second career game. McInchak took over for Jake Kucharski on Friday, stopping 10 shots over two periods for a combined shutout.
A night later, it was all McInchak, stopping all 20 shots he faced in his first-career start.
Congrats to McInchak on his first career shutout! ?? pic.twitter.com/FPCk8yvWnQ
— AIC Hockey (@AIC_Hockey) January 30, 2021
All three AIC goals – from the sticks of Darwin Lakoduk, Julius Janhonen and Elijah Barriga – came in the middle stanza.
Barriga ?
(also, on the power play ?) pic.twitter.com/gHcPQhD0sV
— AIC Hockey (@AIC_Hockey) January 30, 2021
The Yellow Jackets improve to 11-1-0 in Atlantic Hockey and 13-3-0 overall. Only two teams in the nation have more wins than AIC.