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Men's Hockey: Geary's Goal Lifts Saint Michael's Over Southern Maine

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Created on Sunday, 29 January 2012 02:31

Written by George Commo

Purple Knights Complete Four Point Weekend with 3-2 Win

Courtesy St. Michael's Sports Information

SOUTH BURLINGTON - Junior captain Josh Geary (Wellesley, Mass./Phillips Andover Academy) tallied late in the second period and the Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team fended off the University of Southern Maine the rest of the way for a 3-2 victory on Saturday, in an Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) East contest at Cairns Arena. The Purple Knights improve to 5-10-2 overall and 3-8-1 in the ECAC East, while Southern Maine drops to 6-9-4 and 4-6-2.

Freshman Mark Higgins (Plainville, Mass./Bridgewater Bandits) tallied one goal and one assist, while senior Brady Earle (Columbia, Md./The Gunnery) also found the back of the net. Freshman A.J. Pieprzak (Barrie, Ontario/Ridley College) added two helpers and junior Mike Dizgun (Kirkland, Quebec/OCN Blizzard) finished with 33 saves, including 10 during the final stanza.

Freshman Sam Guimond (Portland, Maine/Portland Jr. Pirates) and junior David Nies (Brookline, Mass./Northern Cyclones) found the back of the net for the Huskies, while sophomore Braely Torris (Eckville, Alberta/Drayton Valley Thunder) made 23 stops.

The Huskies were able to jump to a 1-0 lead 1:49 into the first period when Guimond put one home, but the Purple Knights quickly responded when Higgins hammered one past Torris at 3:35. Earle gave Saint Michael's a 2-1 edge on the power play at the 7:54 mark when he fired a blistering slap-shot, as he was falling down, to the top right corner of the net.

Southern Maine knotted the game at two after Nies was able to convert a power play opportunity at 5:29 of the second period. The two teams battled the rest of the period until just over five minutes remained, when Geary was able to tally and give the Purple Knights the lead for good at 14:29.

Dizgun and the rest of the Purple Knights ensured that the Huskies would not be able to tie the game as they held Southern Maine without a shot for over 15 minutes. However, once the Huskies were able to get one past the defense they continued to pressure, throwing 10 shots on net in the remaining five minutes. Dizgun came up big at 5:12, when he made a sprawling save on Guimond, who was wide open in the slot.

The Purple Knights return to action on Tuesday, for an Northeast-10 Conference match-up, when they host Franklin Pierce at 7 p.m.