Icecats 5, UMass 1

The University of New Hampshire hockey avenged its only Hockey East loss of the season, beating the University of Massachusetts, 5-1, behind goals from five different scorers and another solid night from Kevin Regan at a packed Whittemore Center arena. 

UNH broke the ice with 8:08 to go in the first near the end of their first power play of the period. Trevor Smith was skating through the middle, half a step ahead of the defender, when Matt Fornataro tipped ahead Chris Muray's outlet pass and sent him in on a semi-breakaway. With a couple of quick dekes as he reached the top of the crease, Smith tucked the puck home.

Eighty-seven seconds later, UNH's refurbished first line made a mark. Peter LeBlanc was on his butt as he chased Brett Hemingway's rebound after a 2-on-1 bid, but because he didn't deflect the puck into the net by intentionally using his leg, it counted as his first collegiate goal.

Chris Capraro narrowed the gap with 11:47 left in the second, depositing a rebound during a power play, and while that gave the Minutemen momentum for the next six minutes, they couldn't expand the edge before Bobby Butler got the goal back for UNH.

Taking a home run pass from Murray, he ripped a wrister through Quick after a pretty toe drag, and less than three minutes later Fornataro made it a 4-1 edge by blasting a backhanded into the twine after a transitional rush that started with Regan robbing Capraro with his right pad.

Brad Flaishans finished the scoring with a point blast 2:45 into the third.

GAME NOTES

•  Kevin Regan is in the net for New Hampshire, opposed by Massachusetts' Jon Quick.
• Gilford's Alan Thompson is making his season debut for the Wildcats.
• First-line center Jacob Micflikier is out of tonight's game with a shoulder injury. As a result freshman Peter LeBlanc is playing left wing on the first line while Josh Ciocco slides over to center.
• Regan made eight saves in the opening period, including three that bailed out big gaffes by Craig Switzer. First Switzer fell down, leading to a point-blank shot, then he failed to rap the rubber around the boards and UMass got two quality chances from the turnover. Regan saved both, but the series did result in a Brad Flaishans penalty.