UMass up after 2

Hockey
Jeremy Rice

UMass 2, UNH 1

The Minutemen jumped out to a 2-0 lead before Mike Radja's second period goal closed the gap, but the Mass Attack looks like the sharper team tonight in the Mullins Center.

UMass broke a 98 minute, 47 second scoreless streak at 1:17 with David Leaderer's second goal of the season. P.J. Fenton sent a cross-ice pass in the neutral zone that found a speedy Chris Davis. Davis carried the pucked into the offensive zone and sent a shot at Brian Foster, who let the rebound trickle to his right in the crease, where Leaderer poked it home for the 1-0 lead.

Freshman Michael Lecomte made it a two-goal game with a smart play on a loose puck. Fenton again was the second assist on the play, digging the puck out of the corner. Marcou gathered it at the right face off circle and quickly fed Lecomte in the slot. Lecomte one-timed it over Foster's right shoulder.

Radja's goal brought the Wildcats back within striking distance at 16:24. The UNH assistant captain fought off nearly every Minuteman on the ice as he skated from behind the goal line to the right of the net, carried the puck across the crease and backhanded the shot past UMass goalie Paul Dainton.

Fenton is now 20th all-time at UMass with 44 career assists.

Six total players were given two-minute minor penalties at 17:28 for hitting after the whistle, as a scuffle broke out in front of the UNH net. Lecomte, Alex Berry and James Marcou for UMass, and Jamie Fritsch, Peter LeBlanc and James van Riemsdyk for UNH.

UMass was outshot 18-12 in the second period.

More From the Press Box after the third period ...