Statistics

BIDDEFORD, Maine -- The No.8 University of New England men's ice hockey team received goals from Nick Marino and Nathan Chickering and 26 saves out of Harrison Chesney to secure a hard-fought 2-1 Conference of New England (CNE) win against No.7 Endicott College at the Harold Alfond Forum on Saturday evening (Jan. 17).

With the triumph, the Nor'easters (11-5-0, 8-3-0 CNE [24 points]) split the regular-season series with the Gulls (12-2-1, 7-2-1 [23]) and jump past Endicott in the league standings. Things are very tight at the top as the second half of the conference slate begins, with four teams separated by just two points (25-23), and fifth place all the way back at 13.

Timely goaltending and defensive physicality won the night between two of the top-10 scoring offenses in Division III, as the contest only saw a total of 48 shots find the targets and went scoreless for over 38 minutes. Marino ended that with 1:45 left in the 2nd, pouncing on a loose puck in transition and batting a one-time backhand under EC goalie Peter Sterling [Watch]. Kevin O'Keefe entered the zone and left it to Marino for a centering pass to a streaking Mike Tersoni. When Tersoni was bumped down, Marino curled in to fire off his second goal of the season.

Moments later, six penalties were entered in the log, with the net result being a couple of minutes of 4-on-4 action that would carry over into the 3rd stanza. Once UNE's was cleared from the board, the Nor'easters began the remainder of a five-minute major power-play, and only needed 17 seconds to cash in and make it 2-0 (1:25 elapsed in the 3rd). Drew Olivieri won a battle along the boards and flipped it into the middle where an attempt by Ryan Hadland was blocked, but Chickering crashed the net-front to flip a backhand off the right post [Watch]. All of Chickering's seven goals this year have come in the last 10 games.

The hosts did not make it easy on themselves, though, and really put the nation's best penalty kill unit to the test down the stretch. Starting with 11:08 on the clock, the Nor'easters spent all but 19 seconds of the ensuing 7:23 with at least one player in the box, in a string of minor infractions (11 ticks of 5-on-3). UNE survived all the way until Endicott pulled Sterling to create a 6-on-4, and the puck found Noah Gibbs in the slot for a tally with 3:45 left. After erasing an incredible 54 consecutive power-play situations for opponents in 2025-26, the goal put the first blemish on the PK scorecard. With the Nor'easters nudged down to 98.2 percent efficiency, the Division III season record stands at 96.8 percent (Hobart College, 2023-24). In 2024-25, UNE boasted the second-rated penalty kill in the country at 89.0 percent -- the best mark in program history.

The Gulls removed Sterling again for the final 1:21, seeking the equalizer, but Chesney came up with three saves, and blocked shots by both Chickering and Seth Murch [Watch] were enough to seal the victory. It was UNE's first win of the season when scoring less than three times, and the Nor'easters have now converted all 11 instances when holding a scoreboard advantage through 40 minutes of work.

Chesney was kept busy in the middle frame -- facing nearly half of Endicott's shots -- and came up with several clutch denials to keep things level at the time [Watch / Watch / Watch]. Murch smothered another hard one-timer, in support [Watch].

Sterling finished with 19 stops for the visitors, who saw their nine-game winning streak snapped with their first road setback.

Out of the 27 all-time meetings between the programs, 24 have included at least one nationally-ranked team and 15 have occurred with both slotted in the USCHO.com poll. The higher-ranked side in the rivalry holds a 9-11-4 record.

Each of final nine outings for the Nor'easters are against teams currently in the bottom portion of the CNE standings. First up is Nichols College, which comes into the Forum on Friday (7 p.m.) for UNE's 10th Annual Teddy Bear Toss Game.