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BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Billy Girard IV matched a season-high with 36 saves to backstop the 2-0 victory for the University of New England against Salve Regina University as the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) men's ice hockey regular season concluded at the Harold Alfond Forum on Friday night (Feb. 16).

With the result, the Nor'easters (16-5-4, 10-4-4 CCC) jumped the Seahawks (15-8-2, 10-6-2) in seed line for the upcoming league championship. The three points from the finale made the teams even at 34 apiece in the standings, and UNE went 2-0-1 versus SRU during the year for the tiebreaker.

The third-seeded Nor'easters will now entertain sixth seed Nichols College in the first round on Wednesday at 7 p.m. [Championship Page]

Salve Regina, boasting the nation's 8th-rated scoring offense coming into the match (3.96), had the edge in shots each period but could not solve the Girard and the UNE defense. On top of several key stops by the senior netminder [Watch 1 / 2 / 3], the Nor'easters blocked an additional 16 chances from reaching the target, including a team-leading three from Garrett Devine. The hosts entered the day with the 10th-best scoring defense (2.00); the shutout was just the first of the season, though.

The game nearly reached the 2nd intermission scoreless, however a miscue by the Seahawks with 32 seconds left allowed the puck to slip across the goal line. The last five players to touch it were from the visiting squad, but the credit landed with UNE's Dominic Murphy [Watch].

The Nor'easters did get one of their own doing just over four minutes into the 3rd period for some breathing room. Chip Hamlett collected a turnover forced by Devine in the defensive zone and dished it to Mike Tersoni to start the transition push. A give-and-go with Devine had it back with Tersoni on the left wing and his centering feed found Hamlett crashing the right post for the defenseman's second goal of the year [Watch].

Salve Regina pulled goalie Cayden Bailey with 4:17 remaining to try and get back into it, and soon had 67 seconds of a 6-on-4, but UNE held strong. The Seahawks skated with one extra after the hosts returned to full strength, but then a whistle on SRU removed the advantage and Bailey had to re-enter the crease for the final 1:20. He wound up with 28 stops.
 

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Anthony Cinato, Logan DiScanio, Dawson Ellis, Aidan Hosein, Brock Paul