University of Connecticut Athletics
UMass Lowell Advances To Championship of Toyota Hockey Classic
12/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Dec. 29, 2011
STORRS, Conn. - Behind a two-goal performance from Stephen Pendenza, the No. 17 UMass Lowell River Hawks earned a convincing 7-2 victory over RPI in the first game of the 19th annual Toyota UConn Hockey Classic at Freitas Ice Forum.
UMass Lowell advances to the championship on Friday at 7:15 p.m. and will face the winner of the UConn vs. Army contest to be played at 7:15 tonight.
UMass Lowell opened the game up with a 3-0 first-period rush on the Engineers. Joseph Pendenza finished from in front just 43 seconds into the contest.
The two teams exchanged chances in the middle of the period before the River Hawks added two goals in a 2:37 span. Stephen Buco made it 2-0 at 11:01 before David Vallorani notched a short-handed goal with a brilliant individual effort at 13:38. Vallorani took a pass at his own blue line from Riley Wetmore and outraced a defenseman in the neutral zone before deking his way around the last defenseman and finishing past RPI goaltender Scott Diebold.
RPI cut the gap to two with a power-play goal from Ryan Haggerty 4:35 into the second period. Haggerty stuffed home a rebound on the left door step with assists going to C.J. Lee and Brock Higgs.
The two-goal deficit would last just 30 seconds as UMass Lowell's Scott Wilson buried his seventh goal of the season at 5:05. Michael Budd made it 5-1 at 10:50 when he scored from the high slot for his fourth tally of the year.
RPI added a second goal at 16:46 to make it 5-2. After a turnover in the UMass Lowell defensive zone, Zach Schroeder one-timed a shot into the top-right corner off a feed from C.J. Lee. UMass Lowell added a power-play goal with 10 seconds remaining off the stick of Pedenza to close out the scoring.
UMass Lowell goaltender Doug Carr finished with 23 stops while Scott Diebold stopped 17 shots for RPI.
