Murray, UMass blank River Hawks

Niko Hildenbrand scored two goals, including an empty-netter with 44 seconds to play, as UMass blanked UMass-Lowell, 3-0, in Amherst last night.

With the win, the Minutemen improved to 13-16-2 overall and 7-12-2 in Hockey East.

The defeat marked the third in the last four games for the River Hawks, who dropped to 16-14 and 10-10.

Matt Murray earned his third shutout of the season with 30 saves.

Vermont 2, New Hampshire 2 — Marcus Vela netted a power-play goal with 2:34 to play in the third period as the Wildcats salvaged a tie in Durham, N.H.

Down 1-0 after the second intermission, Vermont (9-15-6, 6-95 Hockey East) grabbed the lead with goals from Max Kaufman and Jarrid Privitera.

But Vela, who also notched an assist Ara Nazarian’s goal in the first period, sent the game into overtime for New Hampshire (1014-5, 5-10-4), which only has one win in its last 15 games.

Quinnipiac 3, Brown 0 — Joe O’Connor’s first goal of the season was all the visiting Bobcats needed to knock off the Bears in an ECAC Hockey game in Providence,

Brandon Fortunato and Kevin Duane also lit the lamp for Quinnipiac (12-14-4, 7-9-2).

Brown (6-15-4, 5-12-1) only mustered 22 shots, as Bobcats goalie Andrew Shortridge turned each one away for his 10th win of the season.

Mercyhurst 4, Holy Cross 0 — The visiting Crusaders put 34 shots on net but were still shut out by the Lakers in Erie, Pa.

The win capped a weekend sweep for Mercyhurst (15-10-4, 127-4 Atlantic Hockey).

The loss marked the third in a row for Holy Cross (12-13-7, 11-96) and fifth out of the last seven outings.

Union 2, Dartmouth 1 — Liam Morgan potted the game-winner with 7:34 to play as the host Dutchmen dropped the Big Green in Schenectady, N.Y.

Union (18-13-1, 13-5-0 ECAC Hockey) held a 1-0 lead before Dartmouth’s Tim Shoup knotted it up 1:16 into the third period.

But the Indians (10-13-2, 8-9-1) could not force an extra frame despite 35 shots on net, as Union goalie Jake Kupsky won his eighth game of the season.

Endicott 4, University of New England 4 — In a battle of two of Division 3’s top 10 teams, the host Gulls blew a 4-1 third-period lead as University of New England rallied for the tie in Beverly.

After Ross Olsson’s 16th goal of the season and third of the game with 5:58 to play in the second period, No. 8 Endicott (17-5-3, 13-4-1) looked to have this Commonwealth Coast Conference tilt in hand.

But after a Liam Neuman shorthanded goal 7:46 into the third period, Ryan Bloom scored two more, the second with 4:40 to play in the frame, to send it into overtime.

The Gulls put five shots on net in the extra period but could not get one past University of New England (18-4-3, 11-4-3) goalie Tate Sproxton, who finished with 45 saves.

Women

Harvard 5, RPI 2 — Kat Hughes had two goals and an assist, while Becca Gilmore added a goal and two assists as the host Crimson improved to 11-13-2 overall and 9-9-2 in ECAC Hockey.

Beth Larcom earned her 10th win between the pipes with 34 saves.

Northeastern 4, Merrimack 3— The visiting Huskies rallied from a 3-0 second-period deficit to down the Warriors in North Andover.

The Huskies (14-14-3, 10-10-2 Hockey East) scored twice in the last three minutes, with Matti Hartman notching the game-winner with 2:09 left.