BOSTON, Mass. – The Keene State College men's ice hockey team scored twice in less than four minutes midway through the third period to tie the game and
Marcus Chrisafideis then scored the lone goal of the shootout as the Owls tied 2-2 with the University of Massachusetts-Boston before picking up the extra point in the Little East Conference Friday night at the Edward T. Barry Ice Rink.
The Owls (7-16-1, 3-13-1 LEC) are now 2-1-1 since snapping their grueling slide, and although it will not result in a postseason spot this season, they hope they are gaining late-season momentum as they head into their third season after Saturday's season finale at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. Since a disappointing 6-0 loss at Vermont State University Castleton on January 17 (which came one night after battling now first-place Norwich in a 3-1 loss on the road), seven of their last nine games – even during the skid – have been decided by two goals or less. KSC's four overtime games in conference play are tied with UMass-Boston (13-9-2, 8-7-2 LEC), who has beaten four of the top five in the standings at least once and taken points from all of them, for the most.
Perhaps the most satisfying aspect of tonight's result to open their final weekend is how it happened, as it looked like the Owls might be done after Dylan Robbins scored 7:19 into the third period to give his team a 2-0 lead. But Chrisafideis answered almost immediately seconds after UMB had a 2-on-1 chance, breaking up a pass just inside the Beacons' attacking blue line when Jakob Teply could not handle it to create a transition opportunity with
Peter Unger. Unger tapped it back to Chrisafideis in the neutral zone as the Owls sped up the ice, with the Owl junior and Westfield, Mass. native rifling a shot past Alex Koenig far post to make it 2-1 with 11:53 left. KSC tied it with a little more than eight minutes to go as
Luke Festa entered the zone and tried to move around a defender, eventually trying a centering pass that would not have found anyone but was tipped by Zander Lizotte and ended up perfectly finding the stick of
Sean McBride who picked the top right corner for his first of the season.
The Owls also have another huge contributor to thank for the comeback – goaltender
Ben Skelton, who made 48 saves including 20 across the third period and overtime to mostly squash the offense of a Beacons team that had scored four or more goals in more than half (12 of 23) their games entering the night. In the first meeting in Keene, UMB scored three times in the opening five minutes before the Owls steadied themselves but could not come back. Tonight, they could, and it came on a night where Skelton, the KSC sophomore netminder from Virginia, became the first goalie in program history to record 1,000 career saves. In 33 career games, he has a .914 save percentage and has been a key piece as the Owls aim to build their young program.
Skelton was a brick wall late, making five stops in the overtime and then keeping the Beacons stoned in overtime, making a stellar stop on Tyler Drummond's backdoor chance with 2:27 left and then denying Chris Repmann 30 seconds later. Unger had a chance to win it with less than 30 seconds to go after he split the defenders, but he could not slide it underneath Koenig. Skelton then gloved a shot from Jude Kurtas with four seconds left and Steven Spetz shot wide just ahead of the buzzer as the Owls recorded their first tie of the season and went to a shootout for just the second time in program history – the other coming in just their second game when they tied Castleton 1-1 on the road last year before winning the shootout.
The one-on-ones did not help the Beacons, either, as Skelton gobbled up shots by Kurtas, Jazz Krivtsov, and Drummond. Chrisafideis, who has three goals and three assists over his last seven games, was the first to have a chance to win it nine shots in and he sizzled one past Koenig's stick side into the top left corner to give the Owls two points in the league standings.
"That was really gritty," said KSC head coach Bobby Rodrigue. "It feels good to see the boys beat a good team. Hopefully they can continue their string of strong play tomorrow night."
The Owls close their second NCAA Division III season and first in a competitive LEC with a road game against UMass-Dartmouth tomorrow (Saturday, February 21) at 4:30 p.m.
