January 28,
2006
Contact: Daniel O'Reilly
Phone: (802) 654-2929
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Saint Michael's College
men's ice hockey team (6-8-4, 3-6-4 ECAC East) skated to a
2-2 tie with New England College (11-5-2, 6-5-2 ECAC East),
Saturday afternoon at Cairns Arena.
For the Pilgrims, who are ranked 11th in the most recent
uscho.com Division III Poll, junior Paul Ruta (Pickering,
Ontario/Ajax-Pickering Panthers) and senior Torr
Persson (Fjaras, Sweden/Kungsbacka Kings) each scored,
while junior Scott Gray (Pickering, Ontario/Markam
Waxers) stopped 34 shots in net.
For the Purple Knights, senior Alex Watts
(Cheshire,
Conn./Berkshire
School) and junior Jared
Silver (Montreal,
Quebec/Tabor
Academy) both tallied a goal and
an assist and junior Erik Smith made 34 saves.
New England outshot Saint Michael's 15-8 during the opening
20 minutes, but it was the home team that entered the first
intermission with the lead. The Purple Knights skated five-on-three
for 51 seconds early in the period, but were unable to capitalize
on the power play until after the first penalty expired.
Watts took a shot on net that caused
Gray to commit to the ice, allowing
Silver to gather the rebound and skate to the
other side for a wrap-around goal at the 3:59 mark.
Saint Michael's went 0-2 with a man advantage in the second frame,
but New England needed just 32 seconds worth of power play time to
even the score, taking advantage of the Purple Knights' only
penalty of the period. Skating into the left corner of the
offensive zone, senior Jeremy Koning (Chatham,
Ontario/Chatham Jr. Maroons) turned and fired a one-timing
pass to Persson, who was skating out in front of
the net, and was then able to slap the puck past
Smith to knot the score at one.
Saint Michael's went ahead with 11:49 remaining in regulation, when
senior David Mullins
(Montreal,
Quebec/Governor Dummer) took a
shot on net that was initially saved, but came loose behind
Gray where Watts was waiting to
light the lamp. The lead was short lived, however, as sophomore
Evan Erdmann
(Columbus,
Ind./Markham
Waxers) and senior Saingbey Woodtor
(Chicago,
Ill./Boston Jr. Bruins) helped
Ruta score the game tying goal just 1:28
later.
The Pilgrims killed a five minute Purple Knight power play that
overlapped the end of the third period and overtime, and were
outshot 6-0 in the extra frame, but Saint Michael's, who could not
get the puck to bounce its way, came up just short of earning its
first win in five all-time meetings with New England.
Saint Michael's travels to Southern New Hampshire University
on Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. face-off, while New England will host
Framingham State on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
