Statistics

CANTON, Mass. -- Three goals in a span of 6:02 during the early portion of the 2nd period vaulted No.7 University of New England past No.8 Curry College on the way to a 4-2 Conference of New England (CNE) men's ice hockey victory on Saturday night (Dec. 6) at Canton Ice House.

UNE's second road win over the Colonels gives the Nor'easters (8-2, 6-1 CNE) the season head-to-head on last year's league champions, as the teams will not square off for the rest of the regular season. Curry drops to 6-3 (4-2) with the setback. In program history, UNE is 14-6-4 in ranked vs. ranked matchups away from home.

A Gage Dill goal in the middle of the 1st gave the hosts the edge, but despite being out-shot by a 14-5 margin during the initial 20 minutes, UNE was still only behind by one. That all changed shortly after the intermission, started by a Nick Marino tally right off a faceoff win by Juraj Elias with 2:22 elapsed in the 2nd.

Ike Keller registered the first of his three points with a feed from behind the cage that set up a slot one-timer by Seth Murch for a 2-1 advantage just 54 seconds later. Then it was Keller's turn to find the back of the net at the 8:24 mark, finishing in transition off a pass from Dominic Murphy. Drew Olivieri also assisted on both goals to make it 3-1; Murphy and Olivieri, who entered the day ranked third and fifth in the country for assists/game, are now tied for the team lead with 12 assists and 17 points.

The Colonels did get one back just before the period expired, as Manny Cabral snuck one through with 3.9 ticks on the clock.

Harrison Chesney made 15 of his 38 stops in the 3rd period, though, to maintain the cushion for the visitors. Curry pulled the goalie for an extra skater with 2:24 left and kept the pressure on until Keller chipped it just out of the zone in front of Mike Tersoni, who deposited the empty-netter with 66 seconds remaining for some valuable insurance.

The goals by Marino, Murch, and Tersoni were the first of the season for each (Murch is a rookie defenseman). Tersoni also had a team-best four blocked shots to help out Chesney on the back end.

The Nor'easters killed off another three Colonels power plays on the evening, and have now cleared all 33 penalties during the campaign without conceding a score to an opponent.

UNE will take an almost four-week pause from competition and get back at it on January 2 at the inaugural Lobster Pot Tournament, taking place in Falmouth. The Nor'easters and Colby College (currently receiving votes in the national poll) are paired in the opener, before No.13 Bowdoin College and the University of Southern Maine square off. The next day, on Saturday, the winners and losers will meet.