HENNIKER, N.H. – New England College scored two goals in 38 seconds to go from down one to up one and then added another with 2:23 left in the second period to take a 3-1 lead in an eventual 5-3 victory over the Keene State College men's ice hockey team in a Little East Conference game at Lee Clement Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The Owls (4-4-0, 1-4-0 LEC) led 1-0 at the first intermission thanks to a
Kyle Gonzalez goal with 2:02 left in the opening period, but were then outshot 15-5 in the second as the game changed drastically. KSC had 1:01 of carryover power play time to begin the second with a chance to add to the lead, only to manage one shot that went wide by
Shane Mazur. The Pilgrims (3-4-0, 2-4-0 LEC), who defeated Western Connecticut State University 2-1 on Friday night, began to take over following a 4-on-4 that saw Graham Hassan off for slashing and
Declan House off for hitting after the whistle. KSC goalie
Ben Skelton made six saves over the next six minutes to keep it 1-0, but Casey Sturm tied it halfway through the period off passes from Dylan Duckson and Hassan. Duckson then scored his own 38 seconds later to suddenly put the Pilgrims ahead, and that line burned the Owls again with 2:23 left in the period when Hassan made it 3-1.
Thor Hansen brought KSC back within one off feeds from defensemen
Kaleb MacAulay and
Declan House halfway through the third period and
Marcus Chrisafideis had a chance 32 seconds later that was stopped by Anthony Beaulieu. The Owls then allowed a backbreaking response goal by Egor Osipik just 31 seconds after Chrisafideis' chance to fall behind by two again. Jack Herron added an empty net goal with 1:21 to go before Hansen fired one in with 30 seconds left for his second career multi-goal game.
The Owls dominated the third period, outshooting NEC 19-7, but head coach Bobby Rodrigue knows every point in the conference standings is important.
"These are the struggles of a young team learning how to compete in a very competitive conference," he said. "The boys need to find consistency and stay bought in, which can be hard. It is part of growing and I know we will get there but that is a team we certainly should have beaten. Squandering those points will prove costly."
NEC entered with a 1-4-0 LEC record and had scored three goals in their last four games, going 1-3.
The Owls will host King's College (Pa.) (0-5-1, 0-5-1 MAC) in their final game before a month-long holiday break on Friday, December 5 at 4:00 p.m.
