{"id":30816,"date":"2022-03-25T21:21:16","date_gmt":"2022-03-26T01:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=30816"},"modified":"2022-03-25T22:33:01","modified_gmt":"2022-03-26T02:33:01","slug":"ncaa-tournament-minnesota-comes-back-takes-down-umass-in-ot-in-regional-semis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2022\/03\/25\/ncaa-tournament-minnesota-comes-back-takes-down-umass-in-ot-in-regional-semis\/","title":{"rendered":"NCAA Tournament: Minnesota comes back, takes down UMass in OT in regional semis"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Patrick Donnelly<\/em><\/p>\n

WORCESTER, Mass. —\u00a0 Ben Meyers scored with 6:43 remaining in overtime, and the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers won 4-3 against defending national champion University of Massachusetts Minutemen in the Northeast Regional semifinal at the DCU Center on Friday.<\/p>\n

The senior co-captain scored on a give-and-go play with freshman forward Aaron Huglen to the right of the UMass net. The Golden Gophers came back from two two-goal deficits.<\/p>\n

“Huglen’s a really smart player. I thought he played great all game, but then obviously to set up that play at the end was just a great play by him,” Meyers said. “I thought our line played pretty well tonight.”<\/p>\n

Junior defenseman Ryan Johnson and freshman forwards Tristan Broz and Matthew Knies each scored for No. 5\/6 Minnesota (25-12-1), and junior goaltender Justen Close made 20 saves. Meyers also had an assist.<\/p>\n

“We walked in and knew exactly what we were getting,” Minnesota coach Bob Motzko said. “I thought we grew in the game, and I’m really proud of our group because we battled. We battled tonight. The only way to beat UMass is you got to match that grit. We like a little prettier hockey, but we better learn to win games like that. We’re growing as team.”<\/p>\n

Junior forward Reed Lebster scored twice, and senior forward and former Golden Gopher Garrett Wait also scored. Graduate goaltender Matt Murray made 20 saves for the No. 10\/9 Minutemen (22-13-2). Junior forward Cal Kiefiuk and freshman defenseman Ryan Ufko each had two assists.<\/p>\n

“In games like this, the difference makers make the difference. … Their difference makers were the difference,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said. “I don’t feel like we lost momentum in the game. If you would have asked me just how our team played, would I be happy with it? 100 percent. I thought we played a really good. A really good hockey game, and played well enough to deserve to find a way to win.”<\/p>\n

Lebster put UMass ahead 1-0 at at 14:09 in the first. The Minutemen went to work on a lengthy delayed penalty, and Kiefiuk found Lebster in the slot, whose one-timer on a rolling puck fluttered past a screened Close.<\/p>\n

Even though UMass scored on the delayed penalty, Johnson still went to the box for cross-checking before Wait made it 2-0 on the ensuing power play at 15:05. Close saved Ufko’s shot one-timer from the point, and the rebound went in off Wait’s skate.<\/p>\n

“Obviously it was ideal [to get off to that start],” UMass senior forward Anthony Del Gaizo said. “We were super opportunistic and got a head 2-0 there. It was exactly what we wanted to do.”<\/p>\n

Johnson got the Golden Gophers on the board with 1:58 remaining in the first. Murray saved his one-timer before the rebound bounced off UMass senior defender Colin Felix and in.<\/p>\n

Lebster got his second of the game 1:24 into the second with a wrist shot to the left of the crease after collecting a loose puck.<\/p>\n

“This program never quits, regardless of the circumstances,” UMass senior captain Bobby Trivigno said. “I was proud of our effort. I don’t think there’s ever a night where our effort’s not there, and I think tonight was one of those nights where our effort was there.”<\/p>\n

Broz cut it to 3-2 with 2:51 left in the second. Junior forward Jaxon Nelson nudged the puck to the slot, and Broz redirected it by Murray.<\/p>\n

“Good teams are resilient, and they’re a good team,” Trivigno said. “They gave us a push, and they just battled. We were battling too.”<\/p>\n

Knies tied it 3-3 on the power play at 13:17 of the third with a snap shot to the top right corner from the left face-off circle.<\/p>\n

“We have momentum [on the power play] right now,” Knies said. “I think we’re just building off of it. We have four other players that are very skilled, very talented that give me the puck and put me in that dangerous area. So, it’s been easy on me, but you know, really riding on momentum. And we’re trying to take that next game.”<\/p>\n

Carvel was impressed by the Toronto Maple Leafs prospect’s power play strike.<\/p>\n

“That goal that Knies scored, it’s ridiculous,” Carvel said. “He looked like Auston Matthews. He grabs the puck and drops it into the top shelf. What do you do?”<\/p>\n

Minnesota will face Western Michigan at 4 p.m. in the Northeast Regional final on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Patrick Donnelly WORCESTER, Mass. —\u00a0 Ben Meyers scored with 6:43 remaining in overtime, and the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers won 4-3 against defending national champion University of Massachusetts Minutemen in the Northeast Regional semifinal at the DCU Center on Friday. The senior co-captain scored on a give-and-go play with freshman forward Aaron Huglen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17459,"featured_media":30817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1026,1028,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30816"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17459"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30816"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30826,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30816\/revisions\/30826"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}