KEENE, N.H. – Sean Gray and Thor Hansen each scored in the opening 15 minutes before Chase Carney and Peter Unger added two more in the opening 7:57 of the second period as the Keene State College men's ice hockey team finished off a season home-and-home sweep of Southern New Hampshire University, winning 4-2 at Keene Ice on Tuesday night.

The win is the third straight for the Owls (10-10-1), who have scored 17 goals during the streak while also improving to 6-3-0 at Keene Ice in their first ever Division III campaign.  Since trailing St. Anselm College 5-2 in an eventual thrilling 6-5 overtime win last Tuesday, KSC has outscored their opponents 15-3.  The Penmen (10-12-1) dropped their second straight contest after winning four of their previous five, and their third period comeback came up well short after they fell behind 4-0 in the opening 28 minutes.

KSC opened the scoring a little over seven minutes in with their fourth line, as after establishing the attacking zone, Mike Collett slid a perfect centering feed to Sean Gray who was alone to fire a shot past Sean Guerin who had no chance to make a save.  The goal came just minutes after a flurry of action by the Owls, with Guerin making three saves and the SNHU defense blocking four others.  Making his first career start, KSC goalie Ethan Swanson made 13 stops in the opening period to keep the Penmen off the board including eight after the Owls scored first.

Keene State doubled the lead with Hansen's third goal in the last two games at 15:46 of the opening period as the freshman roofed a shot following a juicy rebound on Corey Tumenas' initial attempt.  Another follow-up chance just 1:02 into the second period helped the Owls widen their lead even further, as Carney hopped on a loose puck after Guerin could not corral Peter Unger's initial shot from the right faceoff dot to make it 3-0.  It marked Carney's sixth goal in the past seven games to go along with three helpers in the last two.  On the season, the Lynnfield, Mass. native who was the first ever KSC hockey commit has 11 goals, 12 assists, and a team-best plus-15 rating.  His linemates Marcus Chrisafideis and Unger each have plus-10 ratings, with the trio having combined for 36 goals and 36 assists.

On this night, it was the Owls' depth that proved itself – though it was again the top line that helped make it 4-0 with 12:03 left in the second period as Chrisafideis fired on Guerin who made the save, but it hit him in the left shoulder and allowed Unger who was right there to gather and pot the rebound by utilizing a back pass that banged off Guerin's pads and in.

Southern New Hampshire breathed life into their attack by scoring just 50 seconds into the third period to make it 4-1 through Coleman Nee, with the tally coming after Guerin made three saves in the opening 31 seconds out of the locker room as KSC looked to make it 5-0.  Bryan McLachlan added a power play goal with 6:43 left to trim Southern New Hampshire's deficit to 4-2, but the Owls stifled their attack from there, including a power play opportunity with 3:12 left where the visitors also pulled Guerin to make it 6-on-4.  Ryan Pomposelli, who scored in the teams' first meeting (a 3-2 overtime win for the Owls in Hooksett) hit the post with a little over a minute left in a shot that could have made it interesting, but KSC finished 5-0-0 against members of the Northeast-10 Conference this season.

Unger and Carney each tallied a goal and an assist to pace the Owl offense.  Swanson polished off his first career win with 37 saves.

Guerin made 39 saves in 57:50 in the losing effort.

KSC is off until Senior Day and the home season finale on Saturday, February 15 against Worcester State University (9-8-1, 6-5-1 MASCAC) at 5:00 p.m.  SNHU plays consecutive games at Franklin Pierce University (1-22-1, 1-15-0 Northeast-10) this Friday and Saturday, February 7 and 8 at 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., respectively.