AMHERST, MA - The Amherst College men's ice hockey team blanked visiting ECAC East opponent UMass Boston 4-0 in its season opener Friday night. The Jeffs used goals from junior co-captain Beau Kretzman (Edina, MN), fellow junior Scott Aldrich (Wilmington, MA), and seniors Josh Hoffman (Rydal, PA) and Mike Kreger (Glenview, IL), while first-year netminder Dan Smith (Rochester, MN) earned his first career shutout with 34 saves.

Aldrich gave the Jeffs an early lead as he took a pass from junior Thierry Pauyo (Montreal, Quebec), beat the defense wide and fired a backhand wrister into the back of the net. Nearly six minutes later, Hoffman capitalized on a scrum in front of the net and punched home a goal to double the Jeffs' lead. Just under a minute into the second period, sophomore A.J. Greco (Williamsville, NY) found Kretzman behind the net, where he beat the keeper with a wrap around, pushing Amherst's lead to 3-0. Kreger capped the scoring off a nifty feed from junior defender Bill Jenkins (Edina, MN) late in the third period.

UMass Boston senior goalkeeper Craig Paster (Westwood, MA) tallied 40 saves in the loss as the Beacons fall to 0-1.

Amherst returns to action tomorrow at 3 p.m. against visiting ECAC East foe Babson College.