KEENE, N.H. – In shades of one of their inaugural season's most memorable games a year ago, the Keene State College men's ice hockey team erased a three-goal deficit with a stirring comeback in the final 10 minutes of regulation to force overtime.  Only this time, they could not close it out, as New England College escaped with a 7-6 Little East win in the extra session despite being dominated on the stat sheet Friday night at Keene Ice.

Highlights
Postgame Interview (Coach Rodrigue)

For the second time in their last three games, KSC (5-13-0, 1-11-0 LEC) battled back from a multi-goal deficit in the final period to salvage a conference point, moving their point total to five.  But as head coach Bobby Rodrigue stated multiple times on the Owls Media Network postgame show, they are not in it for moral victories.

A calamitous start that saw the Owls allow three goals in 7:30 span in the opening period to fall behind 3-0 was ultimately too much to overcome as KSC dropped their ninth straight game, not having won since before the calendar year turned.  There have been many near misses in that span – with now three of the defeats coming in overtime and five by two goals or less (and one other by three when they led through two) – and time to gather momentum as the calendar is nearly to February is running out.

One of the biggest issues for KSC in their sophomore season as a program and first-ever in the Little East Conference has been stacking shift after shift to stifle the opponent as they roll their lines.  That again bit them on this night against a Pilgrims (6-13-0, 5-7-0 LEC) team that entered the night four points out of the final conference playoff spot in eighth place.  Declan House rifled in what seemed to be somewhat of a period-salvaging goal with 40 seconds left in the first to get the Owls back within 3-1, but Gunnar Sibley answered on the very next shift after NEC has already capitalized on transition chances several times earlier in the period including turning a 1-0 lead to 3-0 with two goals in 34 seconds.

Jack Brennan put the visitors up four goals (5-1) at 5:36 of the second period, but the Owls – who have now scored at least five goals in two of the last three games – got one back barely over two minutes later when midseason Utica University transfer Collin Patterson netted his first in a KSC sweater seven minutes into a power play chance.  It was one of three goals for the Owls' man-up unit, which finished 3-for-7 after entering the evening 10-for-64 on the season.

By the time the second period clock ticked down with KSC down 6-3, there was no evidence they would be able to sustain enough momentum to make a game of it.  After Patterson made it 5-2, New England College had tacked on another just 1:15 later when Serafin Hoerl made the most of a second chance on the same shift.  Luke Festa jammed in front of the net to eventually hit home the rebound of a Sean Hoffman shot to make it 6-3 with 1:51 left the period, but NEC drained down the opening 10 minutes of the third with the score unchanged, including killing off a very early Emil Elias roughing penalty.

Keene State then had another chance with a man advantage – this time two men up – as Egor Osipik was called for boarding and NEC a bench minor.  Thor Hansen made it 6-4 with 10 minutes to go as he moved to the middle just above the faceoffs dots and rifled one past Anthony Beaulieu.  Jack Lindholm added the first goal of his collegiate career just 1:58 later to suddenly make it a one-goal game with eight minutes left as the Owls had all the momentum.  KSC kept pushing and got another power play opportunity with 3:30 left as Graham Padgitt went off for slashing.  This time they scored just 24 seconds into the advantage as Peter Unger sent a beautiful pass to Marcus Chrisafideis on the other side of the goal to tie it 6-6.  The Owls nearly went ahead for the first time less than a minute later, but Beaulieu stopped Chrisafideis, who missed by inches.

KSC outshot NEC by a whopping 50-21 margin in regulation.

The Owls had to get defensive in the overtime as Chrisafideis was called for a trip.  Cameron Reardon made four saves as KSC killed off the Pilgrims' 4-on-3 power play and Chase Carney sold out for a block toward the end of the penalty time.  It was another transition goal with less than 30 seconds left that helped New England College escape, as Sibley rushed up the left side and into the zone.  His initial attempt on goal was jammed up by Hansen, but the puck came back to him, and he slid it over to Osipik on his right walking in, and he beat Reardon to his stick side to deny the Owls a memorable comeback.

Beaulieu made 40 saves in 59:21 for NEC, while Danny Miscavich stopped five in 5:17 after Beaulieu had an equipment malfunction.  Ethan Swanson made a pair of saves in 14:46 for KSC before being relieved by Reardon, who stopped 17.

Four different Owls registered multi-point nights, including Hansen with a goal and three assists and Unger with three assists.

Keene State is right back at it tomorrow night (Saturday, January 31) at 5:00 p.m. when they host in-state rival Plymouth State University (10-8-1, 7-4-1 LEC) for the first time ever at Keene Ice.