Department of athletics, physical education and recreation
|
|
UConn Claims NECHA Title with 6-1 Win Over MIT
March 4, 2008
NASHUA, N.H. - The University of Connecticut used a late six-goal outburst to overpower MIT and claim a 6-1 victory in the NorthEast Collegiate Hockey Association (NECHA) Conference A Championship on Sunday afternoon at the Conway Arena in Nashua, N.H. The Engineers' bid to attain the conference crown was thwarted for a second straight season, as the Cardinal and Gray fell to Bryant University in the title game last year. MIT, the NECHA Conference A East Division regular season champions, finished with an impressive overall record of 14-5-1, remarkably improving upon the team's 13-6-1 record from a year ago. The Huskies, who won the NECHA Conference A West Division regular season title, went 16-7-1 over the course of the campaign. Sunday's championship game opened as if it would be a tight contest throughout, with neither team managing to find the back of the net in the first 20 minutes. However, UConn broke the deadlock early in the second period and never looked back, scoring six straight goals over the ensuing 30 minutes. Jake Hawvermale opened the floodgates at the 15:55 mark, finishing with help from Chris Earle and Dan Roche, before scoring his second on the power-play just over five minutes later, again receiving an assist from Earle, this time along with John Stockler. It was 3-0 to the Huskies with 2:27 remaining in the middle stanza, as Hawvermale turned provider along with Charlie Luther to assist Stockler's tally. Any thoughts of a third period comeback for MIT were dashed just 37 seconds after the break, as Ryan McLaughlin took a feed from T.J. Seifert and finished to make it 4-0 in favor of UConn. Stockler added a fifth, unassisted at the 10:14 mark, before Kevin Donovan rounded out the Huskies' scoring with 5:55 on the clock. Assists on Donovan's goal were credited to Brendan Stanley and Matt Nardone. The Engineers did receive a late consolation strike from junior Ryan Ballentine, who scored with help from fellow junior Nick LaBounty and graduate student Nicholas Maietta. Ballentine (14 goals, 27 assists) and LaBounty (23 goals, 18 assists) tied for the team lead in points with 41, which was a career-high for both. Freshman goaltender Stephen Yablonski played all 60 minutes in net for MIT, taking the first playoff loss of his young intercollegiate career after earning the wins in both the quarterfinal and semifinal. The Mount Sinai, N.Y., native finished his rookie season with an impressive goals-against-average of 2.33. Jon Anderson played between the pipes for UConn, shutting out the Engineers until the 4:21 mark of the third period. |
