The University of Massachusetts Boston men’s ice hockey team dropped two games last weekend, losing on Friday to Tufts University, 6-5, and then the next day to Connecticut College, 6-2. The Beacons record stands at 2-19 as of February 12.

Although the Beacons did not come up with the win against Tufts, the game was perhaps one of the better efforts this year. Senior Stephen Chin scored a pair of goals, while teammates Aaron Olsen, Brian Sullivan, and Michael Ciarletta each had a goal as well.

One bright spot for the Beacons was the low number of shots that Craig Paster had to face. UMB has had difficulty keeping their opponents from registering a high total.

It was little consolation since six of the 21 Tufts shots found the back of the net.

The Connecticut College game was not as closely contested. Sullivan did score the first goal of the game at 10:07 on the power play. Connecticut College, however, scored five unanswered goals on their way to a relatively easy win.

Ciarletta scored on the man advantage in the third period, his fifth goal of the year. Freshman UMB goaltender Sean Bertoni made 31saves in the loss.

The team will take on Skidmore College (a team the Beacons lost to earlier in the season, 4-1, in the championship game of the 2003 Codfish Bowl) on Friday, February 13 at 7pm. Then, men’s ice hockey will be one of four UMB teams (both basketball and ice hockey squads) to play at the Clark Athletic Center in a Beacon extravaganza on Valentine’s Day. The men’s ice hockey team will play against Castleton State at 3pm.