Hartford, Conn. - Senior goaltender Billy Faust (Altas Loma, Calif.) made 37 saves to lead the visiting University of Massachusetts-Boston Beacons to a 3-0 victory over the Trinity College Bantams in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championship Tournament this evening at Williams Rink in the Koeppel Community Sports Center.  Defending NCAA Champion Trinity closes its season with a 21-6-1 record, having won the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) title for a third time and reaching 20 wins for the third year in a row.  Mass.-Boston improves to 22-4-3 and will head to Western New York to face the Hobart College Statesmen in the NCAA Quarterfinals next Saturday.

"We battled hard, blocked a ton of shots, and our goalie made a bunch of great saves," said Beacon Head Coach Peter Belisle.  "Trinity has loads of offensive firepower and our goal coming in was to try and contain that.  I am very proud of the effort from our defensive corps."

Mass.-Boston got on the scoreboard first when freshman forward Mike Thomson (Reading, Mass.) controlled the puck in front of the Trinity net after a bad Bantam pass and shot quickly past Trinity sophomore goaltender Alex Morin (St. Hubert, Quebec) 7:42 into the first period. The Beacons finished the first period with a slight, 11-9 shooting edge but a 1-0 lead.

Trinity nearly tied it in the second period when first-year forward Mark Knowlton (Colorado Springs, Colo.) one-timed a backhand high and to the left of Beacon backstop but the senior straightened up and stopped it.  Midway through the second stanza, Morin made back-to-back saves, first to his right and then diving low to his left against, but Mass.-Boston kept the puck in its offensive end and took a 2-0 lead on shot from straight-on on by senior forward Derek Colucci (North Scituate, R.I.).  Freshman forward Garrison Sanipass (Northbrook, Ill.) assisted on the play.

Later in the second period, Beacon junior forward Zach Lindsay (Egg Harbor, N.J.) brought the puck through traffic in front of the net and slipped the puck through to Morin's right for a 3-0 Mass.-Boston lead with 5:40 left in 2nd frame.  Senior forward Frank DeAugustine (Pittsburgh, Pa.) nearly scored a fourth Beacon goal when his wrist shot off a faceoff sailed just high.  Trinity had some opportunities late in the second frame, as Faust stopped a shot from close on the left by a streaking Bantam senior captain Elie Vered (Ottawa, Ontario) after a perfect pass from the right corner by junior forward Ethan Holdaway (Glastonbury, Conn.).  Faust also saved the rebound bid by Trinity junior forward Brandon Cole (Anchorage, Alaska) and denied junior forward Ryan Cole (Anchorage, Alaska) on a wrap-around moments later to keep the home team scoreless through 40 minutes.

Trinity earned its first power play 6:35 into the third period and junior forward Sean Orlando (Ivyland, Pa.) almost scored on a redirect of but Faust was again able to poke the puck away.  Faust saved back-to-back Bantam shots on a rush by sophomores Tyler Whitney (Wakefield, Mass.) and Griffyn Martin (Southport, Conn.) with five minutes remaining, while Lindsay had a shot sail just wide moments later for the Beacons.  Trinity pulled Morin with just over two minutes left and managed to pepper Faust with 17 shots in the final period but to no avail.  The fourth Beacon goal was awarded to Colucci after he was tripped on his way to an empty Trinity net with 15 seconds on the clock.

The Beacons, making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament, win at Trinity for the second year in a row after a 5-3 victory in Hartford in 2014.  Morin finished with 25 saves for the Bantams, who outshot Mass.-Boston, 37-30.  Trinity was 0-for-2 on power plays, while the Beacons did not have a single chance with an extra skater.

"Aside from the first 10 minutes, I thought we played hard and played well, and came out of that early stretch with minimal bleeding down just the one goal," said Trinity Head Coach Matt Greason.  "This is going to be tough to get over but soon we will be able to celebrate what this senior class accomplished with back-to-back NCAA appearances for the first time in the program's history, a league championship, and a national championship.  The expectation for us now is to be among the best teams in the nation and compete for an NCAA title year in and year out."

Trinity Press Conference Video