Box Score (Courtesy of UMass Boston Sports Information)
BOSTON -- Led by senior Jim Ennis' (Roslindale, Mass.) first collegiate hat trick, the University of Massachusetts Boston men's hockey team defeated the University of Southern Maine by the final score of 5-2 Saturday afternoon in the Clark Athletic Center Ice Arena.
The Beacons, who needed the two points to keep their postseason home ice dreams alive, improved to 12-8-3 overall and 8-7-1 in the ECAC East. Southern Maine fell to 9-10-4 overall, 7-7-2 in the conference.
Ennis put the Beacons on the scoreboard in the first period at the 8:59 mark, when he was able to sneak the puck past USM sophomore goaltender Braely Torris (Eckville, Alberta). Assisting on the play were junior Mike DeGrazia (Novi, Mich.) and senior Bryan Albert (Redlands, Calif.).
That trio would connect again less than 10 minutes later to give UMass Boston a 2-0 advantage before the first intermission. The opening period was fairly even with Southern Maine holding a slight advantage in shots (15-12).
After the break, things got a little crazy in the second with a slew of penalties being called throughout the period. At the midway point of the frame, the Huskies took advantage of one of their power-play chances as sophomore Jamie Osborne (Grand Lake, N.S.) made it just a one-goal game after driving home his fourth goal of the season.
However, four minutes later the Beacons took advantage of their man-up opportunity as junior Rob Florentino (West Roxbury, Mass.) scored his first of two goals in the contest. The junior defenseman made a great play in front of the goal to extend the Beacons lead back to two.
With less than two minutes to play in the second, Southern Maine got another key goal, this time from rookie Ryan Seward (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) to once again make it just a one-goal game. His tally was the seventh of the season for him and was assisted by senior Dan Rautenberg (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) and freshman Lorne Miller (Montreal, Quebec).
Ennis completed his hat trick at the 5:54 mark of the third period off of a DeGrazia pass. Florentino added some additional breathing room on the scoreboard six minutes later.
Between the pipes, Torris totaled 27 saves, while senior Kevin Bendel (Denville, N.J.) totaled 35 stops to earn his seventh win of the year. On the power play, Southern Maine was 1-for-6, while UMass Boston was 1-for-3 on the day.
Southern Maine will host New England College on Friday (7:00 p.m.) while UMass Boston will travel to Norwich University on Friday (7:00 p.m.).
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