The UMass Boston men’s hockey team lost a tough game last Saturday afternoon. The Beacons fell 3-1 to UMass Dartmouth and are now 0-3 for the season.

UMass Dartmouth came out of the box strong from the start. They managed twice as many shots on net as UMB in the first and drew first blood. They scored a power play goal at the 9:20 mark. Assistant captain Casey Reasonover was in the box for interference when Scott Trahan got one past UMB goalie Jeff Riley.

Riley, despite the loss, is showing signs of improvement with each start. A sophomore who played sparingly last year in net, he has played every second in net this year. Despite a couple of tough losses to begin the year, he is bringing up that save percentage with every game.

After the UMass Dartmouth scored, things became a bit more physical on the ice, but it was not until the second period that things really got nasty. UMass Dartmouth may have dominated the first period but the second period belonged to no one. UMD scored again, the eventual game winner, but UMB registered their best offensive period in the second also.

Ryan O’Connell scored his goal and was put in the box in the space of five seconds. This hitting from behind minor was the opening sign on hitting season, a season that lasted for the better part of the period.

Although neither team scored for the remainder of the second half (mainly due to solid play from Jeff Riley, and his Dartmouth counterpart Kevin McGowan) both had plenty of opportunities. All the penalties committed (5 in total) led to some interesting match ups. There were some 5-on-5s and a 5-on-4s in Boston’s favor but the Beacons could not get one past McGowan.

The third period saw the return of law and order in the rink. Cooler heads must have prevailed because the tit for tat stuff disappeared and the dominance of the Dartmouth team re-emerged. They were all over the Beacons’ defense. Around the 15:00 mark UMass Boston got a shot and Luke Niemiec, a freshman forward made it count. Mikey O’Sullivan had an assist on the play.

Unfortunately that was as close as UMB would get, as Patrick Lovett got one past Jeff Riley only a minute and a half later. UMass played the last two minutes of the game on a thrilling but ultimately frustrating power play as Dartmouth held on and won the game. The final note of the game was a sour one as Jim Martin of the Dartmouth squad hit a UMB player from behind as time expired.