Ice Hockey Falls In OT

BOX SCORE
NEW BEDFORD, MA-Sophomore forward Billy Manning scored 3:05 into sudden-death overtime to give the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's hockey team a 2-1 victory over visiting Becker, in an Eastern College Athletic Conference game at the Stephan Hetland Memorial Ice Arena Wednesday evening.

 Manning cut in front of the net and slid the puck past Becker goalie Tony Stoehr after the Corsairs won a face-off in the offensive zone. Freshman forward Giancarlo Capodanno (Mountainside, NJ/N.J. Rockets) and sophomore forward Jason Stahl (Londonderry, NH/Valley Jr. Warriors) drew the assists.

"Little things are big in games like this," said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach John Rolli. "The offensive zone face-off that we won was huge. We won the conference championship last year on a similar play, and a play like that can easily be the deciding factor."

 The Corsairs had taken a 1-0 lead when they broke a scoreless tie with two seconds left in the second period. Junior forward Matt Berard (Calgary, AB/Berkshire School) slid home a rebound after Stoehr stopped a shot from the right point by sophomore defenseman Adam Horgan (Clayton, NC/Jersey Hitmen). Sophomore defenseman Mickey Dudley (Douglas, MA/Boston Jr. Bruins) also assisted on the play. The Hawks tied it at 15:51 of the third period when Jared Kersner fired a rebound high into the net past UMD junior goalie Jon Dryjowicz-Burek (Ludlow, MA/Springfield Jr. Falcons).

"It was a great game," said UMass Dartmouth Head Coach John Rolli. "It was a great effort by a game Becker team. On the other hand, we gave up the tying goal with less than five minutes left and we hung in there and came back and won the game."

The Corsairs outshot Becker, 37-34. Dryjowicz-Burek made 31 saves for the Corsairs, who converted neither of their two power play chances while killing all four chances for the Hawks. Stoehr made 35 saves for Becker.

 The Corsairs improved to 2-0-0 and 2-0-0 in ECAC Northeast play with the victory, while the Hawks fell to 1-2-0 and 0-1-0 with the defeat. UMass Dartmouth will return to action when they host Utica Saturday. Becker will host Johnson & Wales Saturday.

UMass Dartmouth Sports Information