DURHAM, N.H. – Junior Benton Maass (Elk River, Minn.) scored a career-best two goals for the Wildcats as the University of New Hampshire men's hockey team defeated Vermont 6-3 at the Whittemore Center on Friday night.
With the win, the Wildcats improve to 14-11-2 (8-8-1 HEA), while the Catamounts fall to 3-19-4 (0-14-2 HEA).
UP NEXT:
The Wildcats and the Catamounts will conclude their two game series on Saturday, Feb. 8 at the Whittemore Center for 80's Night presented by Eastern Propane and Oil. The first 1,000 fans will receive a UNH fanny pack. Individual game tickets with affordable options that start as low as $9 and a convenient six-ticket flexible miniplan can be purchased for the season by calling the Whittemore Center Box Office at (603) 862-4000 or by visiting UNHWildcats.com. Score: New Hampshire 6, Vermont 3 Records: UNH (14-11-2, 8-8-1 HEA), Vermont (3-19-4, 0-14-2 HEA) Location: Durham, N.H. (Whittemore Center) Date: Friday, Feb. 7, 2020 Time: 7 p.m. Attendance: 3,809
FEATURED PHOTOS:The first 1,000 fans received trading cards (Photo by Meghan Murphy)A chuck-a-puck competition was held (Photo by Meghan Murphy)Money raised from chuck-a-puck and the prize wheel went to heart health awareness. (Photo by Meghan Murphy)The national anthem was performed by the Nottingham School (Photo by Meghan Murphy) Amesbury Youth Hockey (Photo by Meghan Murphy) Amesbury Youth Hockey (Photo by Meghan Murphy)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Sophomore Joseph Cipollone (Purchase, N.Y.) scored his first goal of the season at 3:11 in the first period to give UNH an early 1-0 lead. After a scramble in the front of the goal, Cipollone was able to pick up the loose puck and bury it to the top left side of the net.
UVM tied the game after Max Kaufman scored at 10:20. Kaufman wristed a shot to the stick side, tying the game 1-1.
Maass scored a shorthanded goal at 12:30 in the first period. Maass stepped into the top of the slot and fired the puck to the upper stick side giving UNH a 2-1 lead.
Benton Maass (Photo by Meghan Murphy)
Shortly thereafter, junior goaltender Mike Robinson (Bedford, N.H.) stopped a breakaway shot by Ace Cowans to keep the 'Cats on top.
William Lemay scored 19:06 into the second to tie the game 2-2. Alex Esposito sent the puck to Lemay at the right post and he one timed it to the back of the net.
Sophomore Angus Crookshank (North Vancover, B.C) scored at 5:40 to give UNH a 3-2 lead. Crookshank picked up a loose puck and buried it to regain the lead for the 'Cats.
Junior Patrick Grasso (Ankeny, Iowa) extended the UNH lead to 4-2 off a power play goal at 7:45. Grasso wristed a shot to the upper glove side.
Maass netted his second goal of the game at 13:14 in the third to give UNH a 5-2 lead. Maass one timed the puck from the slot off a pass from sophomore Filip Engarås (Stolkholm, Sweden) to extend the 'Cats lead.
Andrew Lucas scored at 14:59 to make the score 5-3 in the third.
Then Engarås buried an empty net goal at 19:03 to cap off the Wildcats win.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
UVM outshot UNH, 26-25.
Robinson had 23 saves while Stefanos Lekkas had 19.
The Wildcats went 1-5 on the power play while the Catamounts went 0-3.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE Joseph Cipollone (Photo by Meghan Murphy)
Cipollone scored his first goal of the season. The sophomore now has two points this season and three career points at UNH.
Maass' first goal was the first shorthanded goal of the season for the 'Cats.
Blackburn posted three assists for the third time in his career.
Herrmann tallied two assists for his first career multi-point game.
Freshman Joe Hankinson (Hopkins, Minn.) posted an assist for his first collegiate point.
UNH is 9-3-1 at the Whittemore Center this season.
A power outage led to the teams having to adapt to playing with no running time on the video board. It also canceled the TV broadcast on NESNplus.
Lucas Herrmann (Photo by Meghan Murphy)
STAY CONNECTED
There are numerous ways to stay connected with the UNH men's hockey team. Follow the Wildcats on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
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