Nov. 25, 2005

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AMHERST, Mass - The University of Massachusetts (4-7-0, 2-5-0 Hockey East) toppled No. 3 Colorado College (11-3-1, 6-1-1 WCHA) 4-3 on Friday night, giving the Minutemen their third-consecutive win against a ranked opponent. UMass entered the game coming off wins over then-No. 14 Boston University and No. 5 Vermont before picking up the win in front 3,613 fans at the Mullins Center.

UMass received goals from Chris Capraro, Kevin Jarman, Cory Quirk, and Stephen Werner to pull out its first-ever win over a Western Collegiate Hockey Association team.

Defensively, netminder Gabe Winer had one of the strongest performances of his career, stopping a season-high 42 saves - the most since his 51 saves at then-No. 1 Boston College (11/12/04). Winer ranks third all-time in program history with 2,158 career saves in 99 games.

The Minutemen return to action tomorrow night when they face No. 13 Denver at the Mullins Center. Denver fell to Boston University on Friday night by the score of 1-0 in the Agganis Center.

The Tigers got on the board first, with a seemingly innocent shot from then blueline by Brett Sterling. Linemate Joey Crabb assisted on the goal at 4:29 that put CC up 1-0. The second Colorado goal came under five minutes later with UMass' Scott Crowder in the box for hooking. Crabb recorded his second point of the night with the breakaway tally, assisted by Brian Salcido.

The Minutemen chipped away at their two-goal deficit with Werner's fourth goal of the season at 13:08. Capraro fed the puck to Werner, who tipped it out of midair and past Matt Zaba for the 2-1 score. Chris Davis also assisted on the goal. The senior captain currently leads his team in scoring with 11 points, and has registered a point in eight of 10 games played.

Jarman knotted it a two apiece with his first goal of the season at 14:54. Jamie Solon passed the puck to Jarman at the bottom of the circle, who one-timed it past Zaba for the equalizer. Quirk also assisted on the tally, which closed out the scoring in the first.

The line of Jarman-Quirk-Solon continued their strong play with another UMass goal 6:01 into the second period. Solon started the go-ahead play with a shot on net that rebounded out to the far corner. Jarman retrieved the puck and brought it to the front of the CC net, shooting it once before Quirk corralled the rebound and slipped it past Zaba for the one-goal lead.

Through two, shots were 27-19 in favor of the visiting teams. The Minutemen were called for three penalties, while CC was handed four (converting on one of two power play opportunities).

The Massachusetts power play came to life at 4:11 of the third to make it 4-2, with Capraro connecting for his second goal of the season, assisted by Werner and Topher Bevis. That trio combined for UMass' last PP goal, just 5:32 into the Nov. 12 game vs. No. 14 Boston University.

Colorado College had excellent opportunities to close the gap in the final stanza with 1:21 of 5-on-3 hockey, but the Massachusetts penalty kill came through, consistently clearing the puck to preserve the two-goal lead.

CC brought it back to within one with just over five minutes remaining in the game when Lee Sweatt took the feed from Brett Sterling and put the puck home for his first goal of the season.

The Tigers pulled their goalie for the extra attacker with 25 seconds to play, then calling a timeout to organize. Sweatt nearly equalized the game with a wrister that hit the right side pipe, caromed up and slid over the crossbar and looped into the corner. CC thought they had scored the game-tying goal, but the officials huddled and decided the puck never crossed the goal line.

The game ended just as it began with a CC shot and a Winer save giving the Minutemen and Winer the win.