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Castagna Snaps Tie, Lifts St. Michael's Past University of New England, 4-1

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Created on Saturday, 28 January 2012 05:07

Written by George Commo

Purple Knights snap a four-game losing streak

Courtesy St. Michael's Sports Information

SOUTH BURLINGTON - Junior Justin Castagna (Los Alamitos, Calif./Los Angeles Kings) snapped a tie late in the second period, and the Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team added a pair of empty-net markers en route to a 4-1 victory against the University of New England on Friday in Cairns Arena.

The Purple Knights, who snapped a four-game losing streak, improved to 4-10-2 overall and 2-8-1 in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East. The Nor'easters are now 3-11-2 and 1-10.

Junior Eric McGuirk (Rehoboth, Mass./Bridgewater Bandits) made a season-high 31 saves in his second start, and his first career start at home, while picking up his first college win. Classmate Josh Geary (Wellesley, Mass./Phillips Andover Academy) scored twice, and senior Brady Earle (Columbia, Md./The Gunnery) potted a marker. Freshman Mark Higgins (Plainville, Mass./Bridgewater Bandits) had two assists.

Junior Brent Bourgeois (New Haven, Vt./Kanata Stallions) tallied a tying marker in the second period for the visitors, while sophomore Ian Edwards (Linden, Mich./Southern Maine) made 33 stops.

The Purple Knights held a narrow 14-12 advantage in shots on goal during the opening period but drew considerable more scoring chances, sending at least another dozen attempts wide. Edwards posted many of his saves on dangerous Saint Michael's opportunities, including sliding to stop Earle's point-blank blast 4:40 into the game, which left a partially open net, but the goalie recovered to deny Higgins' follow-up bid. With seven minutes remaining, McGuirk made one of his tougher saves of the period, thwarting a 2-on-1 rush with a stop.

Edwards kept Saint Michael's off the board by stopping a flurry of tries during a 5-on-3 Purple Knight advantage early in the second, including while sprawling and reaching behind his head to stop a puck along the ice, but Geary ended the sequence by picking a corner at 1:02 to give his squad the lead.

McGuirk made a blocker save with 7:15 left during a Nor'easter power play before stopping another shot with six minutes left, but the defense was unable to clear the rebound, and Bourgeois knocked home the man-advantage marker at 13:40. Just 1:46 later, a Purple Knight shot from the left side was redirected, forcing Edwards out of position, and Castagna netted the winning tally on a vacated right side of the net during a power play.

Following Edwards making a difficult stick save three minutes into the final period, a teammate hit the post near the 6:30 mark while trying to knot the contest. Less than 90 seconds later, McGuirk made a stop during a Nor'easter 3-on-1 rush before turning in a glove stop on Bourgeois' blast from the slot with 2:55 remaining, keeping his team ahead by one. Earle and Geary tacked on empty-net markers during the final 1:09.

Saint Michael's caps a two-game home weekend tomorrow against the University of Southern Maine at 4 p.m.