UMass hockey edges Bentley in overtime thriller

AMHERST — Sometimes, you win games you shouldn’t.

The No. 11 UMass hockey team pulled off an ugly, 5-4 overtime win against Bentley at the Mullins Center on Saturday, salvaging a weekend split after falling to Hockey East foe Northeastern on Friday.

Sophomore defenseman Francesco Dell’Elce scored the deciding goal, ripping a wrist shot past the glove of Falcons goalie Easton Hesse (29 saves), as the Minutemen won the run-and-gun affair against a rested and determined Bentley (0-3-0) bunch.

“Our team’s off,” UMass head coach Greg Carvel said. “I really liked the team that played here against Northern Michigan, but this weekend, we weren’t as good. We got to figure some things out, but the team found a way to win.”

A six-goal first period signified each team’s struggles in their own zone, but the Minutemen’s shortcomings on defense lasted the entire game as all four Bentley strikes were the result of UMass breakdowns.

Given the amount of returners on the Minutemen blue line this season (four of six), Carvel would like to see his D-corps play a more simplistic style that can be relied upon game after game.

“I told them after the end of the second period, I said, ‘I don’t need you guys to win us the game, I need you not to lose it,'” Carvel said. “They need to defend. They need to be the strength of the team and they’re unpredictable [right now]. They’re good players and so they want to make the difference, but they need to realize making the difference by not letting the other team score. Just move pucks quickly. We’re disjointed and I’ll take all the blame for that.”

Friday’s wild first period began with a power play goal from Falcons forward Stephen Castagna, one minute, 56 seconds into the outing. UMass senior captain Owen Murray was sent to the penalty box for a holding infraction less than a minute into action and Bentley quickly broke through on a cross-crease strike from Castagna.

The Minutemen grabbed the equalizer at 4:29 of the frame on junior forward Bo Cosman’s second in as many games. The Georgia native shoveled home a loose rebound after freshman Vaclav Nestrasil’s intial shot was stopped to tie it, 1-1.

Nestrasil then netted his team-leading fifth goal of the season on a similar net-front situation about two minutes later. UMass smelled blood in the water after Hesse stopped a couple of scoring bids from Jack Musa and Jack Galanek, but the 6-foot-6 Czechian wouldn’t be denied, flicking in the go-ahead marker at 6:39.

Dylan Cook quickly evened the score up at 2-2 for the Falcons less than a minute later on a shot from just inside the attacking blue line that Minutemen goalie Michael Hrabal (23 saves) wasn’t able to stop after taking contact from his own defenseman.

A brief break from the goals during the middle portion of the period was short lived when Castagna found the back of the net again at 16:48. UMass failed to win a puck battle in the neutral zone, then Castagna and Cook got behind Minutemen defenseman Landon Nycz for a 2-on-1 that Castagna buried to put Bentley back out front, 3-2.

UMass freshman Lukas Klecka delivered one last twist during the opening 20 minutes with a power-play redirection at 18:05, bringing the score to 3-3.

Midway through the second period, the Falcons scored their fourth of the game off a breakaway tally from Jimmy Doyle. Bentley’s goalscorer stole the puck from Dell’Elce at the offensive blue line after the Minutemen defenseman made one too many moves, and was off to the races against Hrabal. Doyle’s goal at 8:09 also counted as the first of his career.

UMass didn’t respond until almost a full period-length later as sophomore defenseman Larry Keenan beat Hesse blocker side from the right faceoff dot off the rush. Keenan’s first of the season made it 4-4 with more than half the third to play.

Neither team found twine the remainder of the third, sending Saturday’s showdown to 3-on-3 overtime.

Following the Falcons winning the initial faceoff, they didn’t earn any grade-A looks on Hrabal in OT. The Minutemen eventually gained possession in their own zone, skated up ice and Galanek hit Dell’Elce with a pass up high and the Colorado Avalanche draft pick put a little extra mustard on his release on the game-winning goal 1:08 into overtime.

“[Galanek] won a huge battle for us there, he was all alone in the o-zone,” Dell’Elce said. “I just came off the bench, saw some space so just tried to attack [Hesse’s] heels and put it on net.”

Friday’s 5-4 result was the same score as last year’s meeting between the two schools in Boston, except UMass didn’t need overtime on the road.

Galanek garnered two primary assists for the Minutemen in the victory for the Hopkinton native’s first collegiate multi-point game. Nestrasil (goal, two assists), Keenan (goal, assist) and Nick VanTassell (two assists) also slotted two points or more.

Galanek, a center, finished with the best faceoff percentage of all UMass skaters too, claiming 48% of his draws.

“I think it’s been very up and down,” Galanek said. “Been a little too streaky, I’d like to get more consistent. I give credit to Coach [Tom Upton], he’s been helping all the centers a lot after every faceoff, giving us drills to work on faceoffs, so I think that’s helped a lot.”

The Minutemen power play remains a work in progress as they went 1-for-6 while tossing nine shots toward Hesse while up a man.

UMass (4-1-0) will make its longest road trip of the season next week when it flies out to Nebraska for a set with Omaha.