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BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Garrett Devine netted a pair of 1st-period goals and Anthony Cinato tacked on two more early in the 2nd to fuel No.3 University of New England in a 6-3 triumph over sixth seed Nichols College in the first round of the 2024 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Men's Ice Hockey Championship at the Harold Alfond Forum on Wednesday night (Feb. 21).

Unbeaten in their last five, the Nor'easters (17-5-4) proceed into Saturday's semifinals and will travel to No.2 Endicott College for a 4:30 p.m. faceoff. [Championship Central]

Devine and Nathan Chickering, who later tallied a goal, each recorded a season-high three points in the match. Devine put his first transition blast on the board 4:29 into the contest with the help of Chickering [Watch], before Chickering and Mike Tersoni set up the next one at the 18:01 mark for a 2-0 lead [Watch]. Devine now has eight goals on the season, which is shared with two others as the second-highest total on the squad.

The Nor'easters kept rolling after the the break with Cinato stuffing home a couple just 73 seconds apart. The first from the left side [Watch] had assists credited to Dominic Murphy and Brock Paul, and a delicious feed through the crease from Murphy created the second at the right post [Watch].

The Bison (6-16-4) gradually found some rhythm and received scores from Quinn McCarthy (13:59) and Gabe Temple on the power play (17:28) to cut to the deficit to 4-2 by the 2nd intermission.

It remained a two-goal game until 11:18 of the 3rd frame, though, when Chickering made it 5-2 with assists from Chip Hamlett (his second) and Devine [Watch]. Tyler Healey added an empty-net goal for UNE to cap the offensive performance, finishing a pass from Logan DiScanio [Watch] right after Will Spitzer nearly curled in a full-ice clearance from the side of his own cage. 

Healey contributed two blocked shots defensively to aid the goaltending efforts of Billy Girard IV, who made 17 saves.

Nichols got one back from from Temple with 1:13 to go, but it was too little too late. Between the pipes for the visitors, Tyler Bost posted 30 stops.

Saturday's showdown with Endicott will be the fourth meeting of the season between the teams. All three so far have gone to overtime, and the Nor'easters leveled the series at 1-1-1 less than two weeks ago with a winner from Devine on home ice.