Statistics

BIDDEFORD, Maine -- In a battle of top-10 squads, No.8 Curry College never trailed and picked up a 3-1 Conference of New England (CNE) men's ice hockey result over No.7 University of New England at the Harold Alfond Forum on Friday night (Dec. 5).

With the win, the Colonels (6-2-0, 4-1-0 CNE) level the season series with the Nor'easters (7-2-0, 5-1-0), heading into Saturday's regular-season rubber-match in Massachusetts. Both sides now have a victory on the road, as UNE opened the league slate with a 5-1 triumph at Curry in early November.

Gage Dill scored the first of his two goals just past the midway mark of the 1st period to get the visitors on the board, threading the near-side top corner from the bottom of the right circle after a feed out wide in transition by Karim Gayfullin.

That margin lasted until the 4:19 mark of the 2nd, when Jacob Pellerin pocketed his fourth goal of the year with a snap from the left circle to tie things for the hosts [Watch]. Drew Olivieri made the cross-ice pass to Pellerin, after Dominic Murphy freed the puck from a double-team along the right wall.

But Curry managed to find the go-ahead score less than four minutes later as Ryan Prewitt put home a rebound on the right side. Shane Carr had collected the puck cutting through the middle and spun at the bottom of the left circle to send it towards the target for the initial pad save.

Despite three full power play chances the rest of the way, the Nor'easters could not get another one by Colonels netminder Cam Smith, who totaled 21 saves. Nicolas Lariviere contributed three blocked shots. Dill added an empty-net goal with 1:44 remaining to all but seal the outcome, immediately off of a neutral-zone faceoff win by Gayfullin.

Harrison Chesney had 31 stops for UNE, including three of the point-blank variety [Watch / Watch / Watch]. UNE also erased five more opponent power plays to improve to 30-for-30 in penalty kill situations.