Olsen's Hat Trick Lifts Connecticut to 5-3 Win Over Bentley

February 7, 2004

Courtesy of Bentley Sports Information Department

Contact: Cam Robinson 781-891-2417

WATERTOWN, Mass. --- The University of Connecticut survived a late Bentley College run and the Huskies' Tim Olsen (Vadnais Heights, Va.) potted a trio of goals en route to a 4-3 win in Atlantic Hockey action Saturday night.

Connecticut swept the weekend series with the Falcons and moved into seventh place in the league standings with a 4-9-3 conference record and a 7-14-5 overall record. The loss was the fourth in a row for Bentley who fell to 5-15-4 overall and 3-10-4 in league play.

The Huskies posted a 3-0 lead in the opening period with Olsen, Matt Scherer (Seattle, Wash.), and Beau McLaughin (Virginia Beach, Va.) each tallying goals. Scherer, who also had a pair of helpers, opened the scoring when he converted on a two-on-one with teammate Chris Uber (Ithaca, N.Y.). The two skated in on net and Uber spun and delivered a back door pass that Scherer buried.

Olsen, the Huskies' leading scorer, doubled the visitors lead when Uber once again delivered a perfect pass that Olsen one-timed from the slot into the net.

Not done there, UConn's James Martin put the finishing touches on a high-scoring period when he turned a Bentley turnover into a snap shot that found the upper right hand corner of the net.

Bentley was able to get one back when sophomore defensemen Josh Chase (Big Rapids, Mich./Big Rapids HS) collected a pass from freshman Patrick Dineen (Bohemia, N.Y./ ) and zipped a shot through traffic and into the net to cut the lead to 3-1 at the end of one.

The Falcons cut lead to one in the middle of the second period on freshman Carmen Posteraro's (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic HS) eighth goal of the season. The rookie forward pounced on a rebound shot taken by teammate Kyle Larman (Canton, Mich./Canton-Plymouth HS) that was initially saved by UConn goalie Scott Tomes (Windham, N.H.). The puck trickled through Tomes' pads and Posteraro knocked it into the net.

Bentley was able to close the gap to a single score again at 12:27 when sophomore Brett Murphy (Kaledonia, Mich./Kentwood HS) knocked home a rebound off of teammate Brendan McCartin's (Camp Hill, Pa./ Cedar Cliff HS) shot.

That would be as close as the Falcons would come, as Olsen added an empty-netter for the hat trick and Tomes made 13 of his 30 saves in the final frame to preserve the win. Bentley goalie Geordan Murphy (Matawan, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) made 27 saves.

Bentley will be in action Friday, February 13 at Quinnipiac in the first game of a home-and-home series with the Bobcats.

At Watertown, Mass.

CONNECTICUT 5, BENTLEY 3

Connecticut (7-14-5, 4-9-3 AHA) 3 0 2 -- 5

Bentley (5-15-4, 3-10-4 AHA) 1 1 1 -- 1

1st Period: C, Matt Scherer (Chris Uber, Tim Olsen) 5:29; Olsen (Uber, James Martin) 11:23; C, Beau McLaughin (unassisted) 13:33; B, Josh Chase (Patrick Dineen, Brendan McCartin) 16:30.

2nd Period: B, Carmen Posteraro (Kyle Larman, Ryan Mayhew) 9:30

3rd Period: C, Olsen (Matt Scherer, Uber) 1:48; B, Brett Murphy (Brendan McCartin, Paul Markarian) 12:27; C, Olsen (Scherer, Brian Burns) 19:23

Saves: B, Geordan Murphy 27; C, Scott Tomes 30

Shots: B 33, C 32

Penalties: B 5/10, C 9/18

Power Play: B 1/6, C 1/3