Men's Hockey Falls 6-5 to Sacred Heart in Wild First Game of AHA
Quarterfinal Series
Box Score - PDF
Box Score - HTML MILFORD, Conn. (March 7, 2008) - The University of
Connecticut made a valiant comeback from a 3-0 deficit, but dropped
its opening game of the best-of-three Atlantic Hockey Association
quarterfinals 6-5 to Sacred Heart on Friday. Matt Pedemonti
(Enfield, Conn.) scored two goals for the Huskies. UConn falls to
12-20-3 on the season, while the Pioneers improve to 15-17-3. The
first period was played evenly with both teams recording nine shots on net.
Beau Erickson (Hinton, Iowa) made a couple of nice saves at the 11:50 mark
when he stopped Dave Berube from the right face-off circle, and then kicked
saved the rebound shot by Scott Marchesi. The game remained scoreless until
Alexandre Parent was able to get behind the Husky defense and beat Erickson high
at the 15:47 mark , to give the Pioneers a 1-0 lead at intermission.
The second period was a tale of two halves. Sacred Heart went up 2-0 on the
power play when UConn failed to convert a three-on-one break. The Pioneers took
it down the ice and Marchesi scored at the 5:06 mark. They made it 3-0 when
Connecticut turned it over and Parent went in on a breakaway. Erickson made the
initial save, but the puck trickled in at the 10:30 mark and things looked bleak
for the Huskies. UConn did not give in however as Brendan Olinyk
(Wisconsin Rapids, Wisc.) put UConn on the board at the 13:09 mark on a
five-on-three power play off a rebound of a Chris Ochoa (Santa Monica,
Calif.) shot. Only four minutes later, Matt Pedemonti cut the deficit to
3-2 when he caught a Nick Schneider (Maplewood, Minn.) shot right in
front of the net and beat Pioneer goalie Stefan Drew to his left for a power
play goal. Matt Miller (Bayonne, N.J.) completed the second period
comeback when he received a Jason Krispel (Cypress, Calif.) pass in the
right front circle and shot it in at the 18:12 mark for his first career goal.
All told, UConn scored three goals in a span of 5:03 to end the second period
tied at three. The Huskies out shot the Pioneers 18-7 in the period. The
Pioneers retook the lead six minutes into the third shorthanded after their
clearing attempt went in front of the net and bounced over Miller's stick. It
bounced to Erik Boisvert, who beat Erickson high to give Sacred Heart the 4-3
lead. UConn tied it up one minute later, when Jeff Sapieha (Calgary,
Alberta) took a Olinyk pass and beat Drew to his right to tie the game at four.
The scoring spree continued at the 8:41 mark when Bear Trapp scored from the
left face-off circle on the power play to make it 5-4. Connecticut continued
to press from there trying to score the equalizer. Krispel had a shot at the
15:05 mark from right in front of the net that Pioneer goalie Stefan Drew was
able to glove. Sacred Heart then was able to make the score 6-4, 33 seconds
later when Dave Jarman scored off after controlling a face-off in the Huskies'
zone. After pulling the goalie, Pedemonti scored his second of the game when he
shot the puck in unassisted in a scrum in front of the net. The Huskies kept
Erickson out of the net but were unable to get another shot on net and Sacred
Heart escaped with the 6-5 win. For the game UConn out shot the Pioneers
35-25. Andrew Olson (Alexandria, Minn.) led the team with five shots. It
was a penalty filled game with 23 total penalties called, 10 on the Huskies.
Game two of the best-of-three AHA Quarterfinal series is Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
in Milford, Conn. The Huskies must win to tie the series and continue their
season. If UConn is able to pull it out the two teams will play a deciding game
three on Sunday, also at 7:05 p.m. in Milford, Conn. |
