Hockey East roundup: UMass holds off late Union rally

Massachusetts 5, Union 4

The Minutemen held off the hosts’ two-goal rally in the final 1:15 to skate away from Messa Rink in Schenectady, N.Y., with a one-goal win. Union cut into two separate two-goal deficits in the second and third periods after Niko Rufo and Oliver Chau scored for the Minutemen, who also received power-play strikes from freshmen Mitchell Chaffee and George Mika. Brendan Taylor and Brett Supinski brought the Dutchmen within one in the final minutes, but Ryan Wischow’s 22-save performance was just enough for UMass.

New Hampshire 5, Colgate 0

The Wildcats improved to 3-0-0 to begin the regular season for the first time since 2012 as senior Daniel Tirone pitched a 23-save shutout at the Whittemore Center. Max Gildon bookended the scoring with his first two collegiate goals, posting UNH’s lone first-period goal at 12:04 before closing a four-goal second period that featured four different scorers. Shane Eiserman, Jason Salvaggio and Charlie Kelleher also scored goals for the hosts, while Kelleher had a three-point night.

UConn 6, American International 4

At MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass., the Huskies edged past their former Atlantic Hockey foes, overcoming a 3-0 deficit after one period by scoring three times in both the second and third frames. Sophomore Alexander Payusov posted the first hat trick of his collegiate career, scoring the last two of UConn’s three unanswered goals in the second, and then an insurance tally at 17:47 of the third. Darius Davidson put AIC ahead 4:06 into the third, but Wyatt Newpower, Karl El-Mir and Payusov all scored in the final 11 minutes to give UConn its second win of the season. Adam Huska stopped 17 of the 18 shots he faced in relief of Tanner Creel.

Omaha 4, UMass Lowell 2

The River Hawks had not lost back-to-back games to start a season in this century until last week against New Hampshire, and the losing streak grew to three at the hands of the Mavericks. Tyler Wall allowed four goals on nine shots and fell to 0-3 for his sophomore season for Lowell, but defensemen Tommy Panico and Tyler Mueller tallied power-play goals in the final three minutes of the second and third period, respectively, after Christoffer Hernberg provided relief in goal. Joel Messner scored twice and added an assist for UNO, which was visiting Tsongas Center for the first time ever.

Minnesota State 6, Boston University 3

Freshman Shane Bowers scored twice and classmate Brady Tkachuk assisted twice in the Agganis Arena series opener, but their sophomore goaltender Jake Oettinger was peppered with 45 shots en route to the Terriers’ first loss of the season. BU held 1-0 and 2-1 leads in the first period as Jordan Greenway scored at 8:10, but that was as close as it would come against a familiar foe, Connor LaCouvee, who made 32 saves against his former team. Daniel Brickley scored a goal and added three assists for the Mavericks.