Statistics

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The No.15 University of New England men's ice hockey team scored double-digit goals for the second time this season with a 10-4 victory over SUNY Cortland in the Middlebury Holiday Classic on Saturday afternoon at Chip Kenyon Arena.
 
The Nor'easters (8-3) will play Manhattanville in the championship tomorrow at 5 p.m. The Valiants earned a spot in the title game with a 4-3 victory over host Middlebury.
 
UNE took control of the game early with three goals in the first period. Logan DiScanio got on the board first with help from Anthony Sciucco 5:37 into the game. Mike Tersoni added his first of two on the day with 3:16 left in the period to extend the Nor'easter advantage, and Jayden Price scored a goal in the final minute of frame.
 
Aidan Curran and Garrett Devine added to lead with goals to start the second period as UNE took a 5-0 cushion at the 13:20 mark. Domenic Settimo put SUNY Cortland (6-5-1) on the board with a power play goal with 10:56 to play in the period, and Sutter Donegan soon trimmed the deficit to 5-2.
 
The teams traded goals over the final 2:23 of the second. Daniel Winslow scored for the UNE before Settimo added one more for the Red Dragons with 38 seconds left in the period. Then with just one second remaining, Ryan Kuzmich scored his first of two goals to give the Nor'easters a 7-3 lead at intermission.
 
UNE's three goals in the third period were all by previous scorers -- Price, Kuzmich, and Tersoni. SUNY Cortland got one back on a score by Jake Ballagh with 13:28 to play in the game, making it 8-4 at the time. 
 
A total of 15 different Nor'easters recorded a point in the game and eight had more than one. Kuzmich registered a four-point effort to lead the way. Jake Fuss assisted on three of the final four tallies to join Price and Tersoni with three points. Chip Hamlett, Chad Merrell, and Noah Szretter each contributed two assists in the victory.
 
Shots favored UNE 45-35 on the day. Billy Girard IV made 31 saves for the Nor'easters, while three goaltenders saw action for SUNY Cortland. Luca Durante took the loss with 16 saves and five goals allowed.