Men’s Hockey Ties UMass Boston, 4-4

BOSTON – Suffolk men's hockey picked up its first NEHC point of the season after skating to a 4-4 draw against UMass Boston Friday night at Edward T. Barry Ice Rink.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 4 | UMass Boston 4
RECORDS: Suffolk (3-6-1, 0-4-1 NEHC) | UMass Boston (4-4-1, 2-2-1 NEHC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
A pair of late power play goals came for the blue-and-gold with 33 seconds left in the first frame to send Suffolk into the first intermission up two. Rams rookies were responsible for the frenzy as Devin Lowe started things off. 

Ryan Donnelly's shot from the point met Nolan Egbert's pad, but Devin Lowe was there to pick up the pieces and put the puck away at the 19:27 minute mark.  

Nick Lachaine had a had a hand in the first goal of the game before he netted the second one himself. From behind the next, Lowe centered a pass to a cutting Lachaine, who quickly shot and scored 19 seconds later.  

UMass Boston sliced the deficit in half at the 13:33 minute mark and leveled the playing field 2:45 later.  

The tied score did not remain long as Joseph Mortillaro countered on the power play for the blue-and-gold 45 seconds later to regain the edge for the visitors. On a two-on-one in transition Brian Brooks slipped a feed through a Beacons to Mortillaro who fired a one-time past Nolan Egbert's right shoulder. 

Another late score came for the Rams with 42 seconds to go before the second intermission. On its fourth man-up opportunity of the night, Henry Bishop found the back of the net from the top of the right face-off dot. Bishops first career goal was set-up by Brooks and Billy Roche who worked the puck around the zone on the power play.  

UMB made things interesting five minutes into the third period when Jeffrey Skinner scored on the fast break to cut the gap to one, 4-3, with just under 15 minutes remaining in regulation. 

As time was dwindling, the Beacons kept pressuring Cal Wilcox, peppering the freshman gloves over-and-over again. Another transition attempt came off Nick Albano's stick, but it met Wilcox's pads. Nolan Redler secured the rebound and put it away to even the conference clash at 4-all with 2:04 left on the clock.  

Both defenses backed up their goaltenders to force the extra session. Wilcox kept the blue-and-gold in the contest in OT with three crucial saves that secured the Rams first league point of the year. 

NETMINDER NOTES

• Wilcox scoped up 49 saves. 
• Egbert made 27 stops.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Lachaine and Lowe each recorded two points on the night with identical split stat lines of one goal and one assist. 
• Brooks set-up two strikes to finish with a pair of points. 
• Bishop and Mortillaro rounded out the Rams' goal scorers with one each. 
• Donnelly and Roche both handed out one helper. 
• The Beacons commanded the shots, 53-31. 
• Suffolk won the face-off dot battle, 39-36.  

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk and UMass Boston played in overtime for the first time in program history. 
• The Rams and Beacons skated to a stalemate for the first time in the all-time series. 
• Suffolk moved to 0-2-1 in OT games this season. 
• The blue-and-gold skated to a draw for the first time since tying Johnson & Wales, 2-2, Feb. 8, 2018. 
• Bishop and Lowe each scored the first goal of their collegiate career. 
• Lachaine, Lowe, Mortillaro, and Roche produced points in back-to-back games. 
• Donnelly registered the first point of his collegiate career. 
• Brooks matched a personal-best two assists. 
• Wilcox notched a career-high 49 saves. 
• Lachaine dished out his first assist in his collegiate career to finish with a personal-high two points. 
• Lowe matched a career-high two points. 
  

POST-GAME PIC
  

COMING UP
Suffolk heads to Babson tomorrow, Saturday, Dec. 7 for a 4 p.m. conference clash.