MacKinnon scores twice, Purple Knights cruise to third straight win

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Contact: Tony Bonvechio - Phone: (802) 654-2929

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Saint Michael's College men's hockey team (3-0-0, 2-0-0 ECAC East, 1-0-0 NE-10) won a back-and-forth Northeast-10 Conference opener 5-3 over Assumption at Cairns Arena on Tuesday. The victory gives the Purple Knights their first 3-0 start since the 2004-05 season, and their third straight game with at least five goals.

Junior Reave MacKinnon (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Winnipeg Saints) scored the first goal and the game winner to lift Saint Michael's over the then-first place Greyhounds (5-3-0, 2-1-0 NE-10). Senior Alex Higgins (Phoenix, Ariz./Kent School) widened the gap in the 11^th minute with in his first goal of the season on a power play, assisted by sophomore Justin Castagna (Los Alamitos, Calif./Los Angeles Kings) and senior Matt Rigtrup (Montclair, N.J./Pickering Panthers).

A boarding penalty on sophomore Morgan Bell (Revelstoke, B.C./Saint Alberts Saints) set up Assumption sophomore Kyle Zobler (Millbury, Mass./New Hampton Prep) for the power play goal to make it 2-1 with four minutes to go in the first period, but Bell got revenge with a thunderous slap shot from the left side immediately after senior Nick Sheehan (Potsdam, N.Y./Cornwall Colts) won a penalty-induced face off. Greyhounds junior Pat O'Kane (Hollis, N.H./Williston-Northampton) notched his first of two goals just 40 seconds later to make it a 3-2 game after one period.

Kane struck again in the fourth minute of the second period, tying things up off an assist from senior Marc Labb (Longmeadow, Mass./Vermont Academy). MacKinnon would have none of it, however, as he stroked the game-winner with a mighty slap shot from the blue line after freshman Nic McIntyre (Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Que./Kent School) and sophomore Dan Evarts (Hinesburg, Vt./Green Mountain Glades) swung the puck around in power play formation. Sophomore Alex Davidson (South Burlington, Vt./Saint Paul's School) added an insurance goal in the 15^th minute of the second period with a sneaky shot amid a scrum in front of the net.

Sophomore Mike Dizgun (Kirkland, Que./OCN Blizzard) earned his second win of the season in net for Saint Michael's and made 29 saves. Assumption junior Nick Blanchette (Stuart, Fla./Worcester Academy) stopped 12 shots in the first period before being lifted for freshman Bobby Bowden (Springfield, Mass./Williston-Northampton), who made 15 saves over two periods.

The Purple Knights return to action at Hamilton for an Eastern College Athletic Conference contest on Dec. 3 at 7 p.m.

GAME SUMMARY

Assumption       2 1 0  -3

Saint Michael's 3 2 0  -5

First Period: 1. STM, MacKinnon (Sheehan, Earle), 5:06. 2. STM, Higgins (Castagna, Rigtrup), 11:56. 3. ASM, Zobler (Larsen), 15:57. 4. STM, Bell (Sheehan), 17:25. 5. ASM, O'Kane (Glanzman, Fitzgibbons) 18:06.

Second Period: 6. ASM, O'Kane (Labb), 4:44. 7. STM, MacKinnon (Evarts, McIntyre) 9:22.  

Third Period: None.

Shots on Goal: ASM (16 – 5 – 11 – 32), STM (15 – 9 – 8 – 32)

Saves: ASM, Blanchette (20:00), 12 saves; Bowden (39:34), 15 saves. STM, Dizgun (60:00), 29 saves.  

                                                                             -PURPLEKNIGHTS-