Dutchmen advance to East Regional final (with video)

Box Score

by Ryan Fay

Max Novak and Matt Hatch scored two goals apiece to lift top-ranked Union to a 5-2 win over Vermont in an NCAA Tournament East Regional semifinal Friday at the Webster Bank Arena.

The victory advances Union (29-6-4) to the East Regional final at 3 p.m. Saturday against either Quinnipiac or Providence.

Hatch opened the scoring with an unassisted shorthanded goal at 4:15 of the first period, 48 seconds into a slashing penalty on Novak. Hatch flew down the right wing, skated in close on Vermont goalie Brody Hoffman and deposited the puck into the back of the net.

Chris McCarthy brought Vermont (20-15-3) even at 13:18, but Novak responded with a power play goal just over a minute later. Daniel Carr fired a slap shot from the right point that Hoffman stopped, but Kevin Sullivan grabbed the rebound and made a cross ice pass to Novak, who lifted a backhander from one knee into the net.

Novak tallied his second power play goal of the game to make it 3-1 at 14:22 of the second. He made a centering pass to Carr, but was credited with the score after replays showed the puck was deflected in by Vermont's Yvan Pattyn.

Mat Bodie put Union up 4-1 at 11:25 of the third. With Union on a four-on-one rush, Sullivan made a centering feed to Bodie, who fired a shot from the low slot that banked off the post and went in.

McCarthy picked up his second goal of the game at 13:19 to make it 4-2, but Hatch's second of the game, an empty-netter at 17:17, secured the win.

Union finished the game 2-for-7 on power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.

Union goaltender Colin Stevens, a Niskayuna native, recorded 23 saves in his first NCAA Tournament start.

Sullivan finished with a game-high three assists.

The Dutchmen are unbeaten in their last 14 games (13-0-1).

Carr sets record

With an assist on Novak's first period power play goal, Carr set a new single-season team record for points. The assist was his 46th point of the season, breaking the record of 45 set in 2009-2010 by Mario Valery-Trabucco.

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