Statistics

BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Drew Olivieri posted a career-high four points, including the first and last goals of the contest, to lead the No.12 University of New England men's ice hockey team past Wentworth Institute of Technology, 5-3, in Conference of New England (CNE) action at the Harold Alfond Forum on Saturday night (Jan. 25). The Nor'easters completed the hard-fought weekend sweep of WIT, after a one-goal win the day before.

UNE's fifth straight victory did not come without a little drama, as the Leopards clawed out of a four-goal deficit to within one (4-3) the middle of the 3rd period, but Olivieri collected a WIT turnover and delivered a backhand under the bar from a seemingly impossible angle with 2:19 remaining to provide some breathing room for the hosts [Watch]. Olivieri -- who upped his team-leading assist total to 17 in the game -- now has six of his nine tallies during the current win streak.
 
The Nor'easters (12-5-1, 8-3-0 CNE) remain in third place in the conference standings with 25 points, as both Curry College (28) and Endicott College (26) have matched UNE with three league wins in regulation over the past eight days.

Olivieri opened the scoring 5:12 into the match, putting in a weak-side rebound [Watch]. Ryan Kuzmich then netted his squad-high 14th goal, tipping in a shot from the point by Jacob Pellerin [Watch]. Kuzmich has scores in six of his last seven outings, amounting to nine total, and Pellerin's nine assists on the year place him only behind the top line of forwards on the team.

Just 58 ticks into the 2nd stanza, Jayden Price got onto the score sheet for the second consecutive night, stuffing one in at the right post to make it 3-0 [Watch]. That margin held deep into the period (19:31), when Dominic Murphy settled a rebound off of his own shot and lifted a backhand over the goalie's right pad [Watch]. It was Murphy's fifth power play marker of the season, out of his 11 overall, and UNE's seventh goal on the advantage over the last four contests. The Nor'easters have converted half of their chances in that span, raising the year's average from 20.5 to 28.3 percent (15-for-53).

Stefan Carney was at 20 saves approaching the midway point of the 3rd, with a pair of key stops along the way [Watch 8, Watch 16]. But then Wentworth found the back of the net three times in 3:10 -- off the sticks of Ian Worthley, George Weiner, and Nikolas Sombrowski -- to make things interesting over the final eight minutes.

However, two more stops by Carney [Watch 21, Watch 22], on either side of Olivieri's insurance goal, were enough to finish off the result for the hosts. Carney is now 5-2-1 in his rookie campaign.

Supporting the Nor'easter offense with other assists were Kuzmich (also now with a helper in six of the last seven), Anthony Sciucco, Noah Szretter, Nathan Chickering, and Kevin O'Keefe.

For the Leopards (5-11-2, 3-7-1), Jack McGovern made 32 saves.

UNE stays at home and will face Nichols College on Friday (7 p.m.).