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BIDDEFORD, Maine – Jared Christy [CCC 3rd Team] scored the game-winning goal 3:34 into overtime to lift the top-seeded University of New England men's ice hockey team over No.2 Endicott, 3-2, to claim the 2022 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship on Saturday night in front of a sold-out crowd at the Harold Alfond Forum.
 
The Nor'easters (21-3-1) earn the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Championship. The 12-team field will be announced on Monday at 10 a.m.
 
Early in a UNE power play in overtime, Liam Darcy [CCC 1st Team] sent the puck towards the target from near the blue line and Christy redirected it in at the post to give the Nor'easters the victory. The winner was the fifth goal by Christy in the three games of the conference championship, and put a dent in Endicott's nation-leading 93.1 percent penalty kill [Watch]. Jake Fuss [CCC 1st Team] notched his second assist of the game on the play.
 
The Nor'easters needed a last-ditch effort just to get to the extra session, emptying the net to gain an extra attacker with 1:29 left to play regulation, trailing 2-1. Aaron Aragon sent the game into overtime, stuffing home the rebound off a shot by Austin Morgan [CCC 2nd Team] with 48.2 seconds left. [Watch]
 
The game was nearly scoreless through two periods until Mitch Shaheen put the Gulls in front with 1:08 on the clock in the second. The lead stood until the 10:08 mark of the third, when Justin Dixson found Chris Jones [CCC 3rd Team] racing to the net for a one-time backhanded goal to the top corner, tying the game at 1-1 [Watch]. Alex Sheehy also assisted on the tally.
 
Endicott grabbed the lead back with 4:06 remaining as Shaheen nudged the puck over the goal line around a sprawling Billy Girard IV after a shot by Ryan Willett hit the post. Willett was also credited with an assist on the first score for EC.
 
Shots favored the Nor'easters, 35-24, including a 6-0 margin in overtime. It was also UNE's first game without a penalty in well over seven years (2/3/15).

Girard [CCC 3rd Team] stopped 22 shots in the victory. Conor O'Brien [CCC Player/Goaltender of the Year] made 32 saves for the Gulls, who finish the season at 20-7-1 overall attempting to back up their 2020 league title.
 
UNE will enter the NCAA Tournament on an 11-game win streak, which matches the program record. The Nor'easters have twice been to the tournament, most recently advancing to the national quarterfinals in 2019, shortly after claiming their first CCC Championship crown.