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UMass men’s hockey rallies to upset Minnesota in overtime in NCAA tournament
Dans Locmelis, a 2022 Bruins draft pick, set up the winning goal when he carried the puck into the zone over to the right circle before sending a backhand across to a cutting Aydar Suniev at the doorstep.
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Aydar Suniev’s goal 4:49 into overtime sent the UMass men’s hockey team to a 5-4 win over Minnesota and to Saturday’s regional final in Fargo, N.D., where they will face Western Michigan at 6:30 p.m. with a berth in the Frozen Four on the line.
Dans Locmelis, a 2022 Bruins draft pick, set up the winning goal when he carried the puck into the zone over to the right circle before sending a backhand across to a cutting Suniev at the doorstep.
The sophomore knocked it in for his second of the night to give UMass its first tournament win since capturing the 2021 national championship.
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“When we play to our identity, we always get what we deserve,” said Suniev. “That was the key to our success tonight.”
Next up is a top-seeded Western Michigan squad that avoided an upset with a 2-1 win in double overtime over Minnesota State in the first matchup on Thursday. That game delayed the start of the UMass-Minnesota tilt 75 minutes, to 9:45 p.m. EDT Suniev’s winner came at 12:33 a.m. EDT
The Minutemen trailed 3-1 entering the third period, but pulled even on a pair of goals 95 seconds apart.
Suniev got the comeback started with his goal 7:14 into third, flipping a wrister past Liam Souliere (32 saves) to pull the Minutemen to within 3-2. Freshman Daniel Jenčko, playing in his first game since getting injured against Maine March 7, was able to win a puck battle behind the net and send it out front, where Suniev took care of the rest.
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UMass was able to pull even 1:35 later. After an equipment issue forced Souliere to head to the bench at 8:45, sophomore Nathan Airey came in to play net. It took the Minutemen just four seconds to strike when Owen Murray sent the puck to the front, where both Jenčko and Locmelis appeared to re-direct it in at 11:11. Jencko was credited with the goal.
The Minutemen took the lead nearly four minutes later when Francesco Dell’elce sent the puck toward Joey Musa in the slot, but Minnesota’s Jimmy Clark tipped it past Souliere at 15:07.
“Throughout the whole year, we’ve been a third period team,” said Dell’elce, who was credited with the goal. “I think that’s one of our strengths, so we have the right mindset in that room, no matter what the score is, we’re going to come out and play our brand of hockey, and it worked tonight.”
Jimmy Snuggerud kept Minnesota’s season alive, albeit briefly, when his shot from the slot eluded traffic in front of the net and beat Michael Hrabal (25 saves) five-hole to tie it at 4-4 at 16:24, and send the game to overtime.
It was not a strong start for UMass, as the Gophers got on the board first, courtesy of Snuggerud’s power play goal at 14:14 of the first period. Sam Rinzel found Snuggerud for the one-timer.
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Larry Keenan answered for UMass 20 seconds later when his wrister from the top of the left circle beat Souliere glove side for the equalizer. It was the freshman’s fourth goal of the season
Brody Lamb’s snipe off the face off beat Hrabal short side at 18:49 and sent the Gophers into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead.
Minnesota’s lead grew to 3-1 when Jimmy Clark was able to send a pass from the left corner out front to Connor Kurth, who was cutting to the net and flipped a backhander in past Hrabal at 14:07 of the second period. It appeared to be a good omen for the Gophers, who were 16-1 in games in which they led after two periods.
But the Minutemen rallied for the win as Hockey East opened the tournament with a pair of victories over Big Ten teams, with Boston University handling Ohio State, 8-3. The Big Ten found itself down to one team, as No. 2 overall seed Michigan State was upset by Cornell, 4-3. Only Penn State remains. The Nittany Lions will face Maine on Friday.
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