Maine Hockey Journal

Daley lifts UMass-Boston past UNE in NEHC semifinal

Captain Albee Daley scored three goals to help give top-seeded and nationally-ranked University of Massachusetts Boston a 6-3 win over the University of New England in a New England Hockey Conference semifinal Saturday night at Beacons Ice Arena.

UMass Boston (20-4-3) — ranked 10th in the United States College Hockey Online poll and ninth in the D3Hockey.com national poll — advance to the championship game next Saturday when they will host Babson College. The Nor’easters, who set a school single-season record for victories, end their campaign with a 14-10-3 mark.

The game was the final NEHC contest for the Nor’easters, who will commence play in the Commonwealth Coast Conference beginning with the 2016-17 season.

John Bonno, Andrew Crawford and Drew Gannon also scored for the Beacons, who built up a 48-28 bulge in shots on goal over the 60 minutes. Garrison Sanipass chipped in two assists.

For UNE, Armand Uomoleale, Ryan Quinn and Brady Fleurent did the scoring. Trevor Fleurent and Dylan Bengston each had a two-point evening with a pair of assists.

The Nor’easters opened the scoring midway through the first period while on the power play when Uomoleale’s notched his 12th goal of the season. UMass Boston would strike for a pair of goals (Bonno, Daley) in the final 3:28 of the period to lead 2-1 heading into the first intermission.

The second period went back-and-forth before the Beacons scored the final two goals of the frame to lead 5-3 after two. Quinn got UNE back even 2:59 in before Crawford and Gannon sandwiched goals around a tally by Brady Fleurent. Daley would scored a key short-handed goal at 16:53 to provide UMass Boston with a two-goal cushion.

UNE was unable to slice into its two-goal deficit before pulling goaltender Connor Maloney in favor of an extra skater with 2:56 on the clock. Despite peppering UMass Boston netminder Billy Faust, the Nor’easters failed to get any closer before Daley completed his hat-trick with an empty net goal with six seconds remaining.

Faust had 25 saves to register the victory, while Maloney turned aside 42 shots for UNE.

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