With Thanksgiving break behind us, both the UMass Boston men and women’s hockey teams have made it through the first month of the hockey season. With still over two months remaining in the season, there is still plenty of time for both the men’s and women’s hockey teams to make a dent in the New England Hockey Conference. Let’s take a look at how the Beacons have fared as we inch closer to December.
The men’s hockey team has had a decent start to the season as they currently sit at 3–2–1 in the conference going into Thanksgiving, which is good enough for third place in the NEHC. This past week has been a rough one for the Beacons as they had a tough 8–4 loss against the second place Hobart College on Nov. 19, and a 5–2 loss against Elmira College on Nov. 20. Keeping the puck out of the net has been a tough task for the Beacons so far as they have yet to allow less than two goals in any game this season. Against Hobart, UMass Boston had a lead twice, before relinquishing control of the game. Against Elmira, UMass Boston had a 2–0 lead at the end of the first period before allowing five unanswered goals to end the game.
The Beacons had a chance to bounce back Friday to begin the Utica College Thanksgiving Showcase against SUNY Geneseo. The first period started out solid for UMass Boston as Alex Duncan scored the first goal of the game eight minutes, 26 seconds into the game. Unfortunately, Geneseo responded with a goal less than two minutes later to tie it. Geneseo would go on to fire home five unanswered goals and take home a 6–2 victory over the Beacons. With that loss, UMass Boston would fall to 4–4–1 on the season while still maintaining a 3–2–1 conference record. Day two of the Utica College Thanksgiving Showcase would take place on Saturday, Nov. 27.
The women’s hockey team currently sits at 3–3 on the season which is good enough for seventh place in the NEHC. UMass Boston is three games out of first place, which is currently held by the 6–0 Elmira College. On Nov. 19, the Beacons faced off against William Smith College in which they would win by a narrow score of 2–1. The Beacons struck first with a goal from Kelsey Ryan in the first period and the game winning goal was scored in the second period by Cailey Kozich. The Beacons would then have a tough turnaround as they would have to play the undefeated Elmira College on the second day of a back-to-back. The Beacons played exceptional defense through regulation; however, the only goal of the game was scored in sudden death by Emma Crocker of Elmira College.
The Beacons will begin the Codfish Bowl tournament on Saturday, Nov. 27 against Trine University, who have struggled all season and have just a 1–7 record. This will be a good opportunity for UMass Boston to bounce back after a hard-fought loss against Elmira College. If UMass Boston was able to go to overtime against the top team in the NEHC, then I expect UMass Boston to come out strong against Trine University. Make sure to check out the Beacons athletics website to find out the final results of the tournament.
Both the men’s and women’s hockey teams have a lot left to prove this season. Luckily, the season has just begun and there is still a lot of time for both teams to show what they are made of. It will be fun to see where both of these teams are come February.