Purple Knights surrender two-goal lead in second loss of tournament
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Contact: Tony Bonvechio - Phone: (802) 654-2929
Box Score: http://www.smcathletics.com/sports/mice/2010-11/files/mmorstm.htm.
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Saint Michael's College men's hockey team (4-5-0, 2-3-0 ECAC East, 2-0-0 NE-10) lost its second contest and final game of the Saint Michael's Holiday Classic, falling 4-2 to Morrisville State University at Cairns Arena on Sunday. The Purple Knights held an early 2-0 lead, but the Mustangs worked four unanswered goals and stifled the Saint Michael's offense to break even for the tournament.
For Saint Michael's, sophomore Josh Geary (Wellesley, Mass./Phillips Andover Academy) struck first with a put back shot on the left side off freshman Kevin Lampron's (Dorchester, Mass./Bridgewater Bandits) rebound in the 13th minute. Senior Alex Higgins (Phoenix, Ariz./Kent School), who received All-Tournament honors, also assisted on the play. Four minutes later with the Purple Knights a man down, senior Fran Briand (South Burlington, Vt./Loomis Chaffee School) stole the puck at the blue line, blazed past center ice and passed to freshman Colby MacDonald (Byfield, Mass./The Gunnery School), who hit Briand with a perfect pass to set up the give-and-go shorthanded goal.
The Mustangs would take over from there, however, and junior Geoff Matzel (Chittenango, N.Y./National Sports Academy) took advantage of a costly Purple Knight mistake to ignite the Morrisville rally. Saint Michael's goalie Mike Dizgun (Kirkland, Que./OCN Blizzard) gathered a backward pass and tried to swing the puck off the boards behind the net, but the puck took a bad bounce and left Dizgun out of position, allowing Matzel to swoop in and flush an easy goal on an open net.
Matzel drew blood again 47 second into the second period, cleaning up after freshman Curtis Renaud (Carlisle, Ontario/Trenton Golden Hawks) on a saved breakaway shot. Later in the period, sophomore Tyler Swan (Barrie, Ontario/Potsdam State University) used a well-screened slap shot by freshman Daniel Morello (Vaughan, Ontario/Vaughan Vipers) and hopped on the loose rebound before Dizgun could track down the puck.
Junior Jonathan Cristini (Mississauga, Ontario/Neumann University) then one-timed a pass from behind the net for the lone goal of the third period, giving the Mustangs a two-goal edge with 12 minutes to play.
Dizgun made 27 saves before being pulled in the final seconds for an empty net, and Morrisville freshman goalie Colin Breen (Waterloo, Ontario/Waterloo Siskins) stopped 31 shots in his second win of the season.
The Purple Knights return to action on Friday when they host Colby at 7 p.m.
SMC Holiday Class All-Tournament Team
Justin Alonzo, So., F, Castleton (Most Valuable Player)
Stuart Stefan, Sr., F, Castleton
Jeremiah Ketts, Jr., F, Johnson & Wales
Domenic Recchia, Jr., D, Johnson & Wales
Alex Higgins, Sr., F, Saint Michael's
Tom Longland, Jr., D, Morrisville
GAME SUMMARY
Morrisville 1 2 1 - 4
Saint Michael's 2 0 0 - 2
First Period: 1. STM, Geary (Lampron, Higgins), 13:09. 2. STM, Briand (C. MacDonald), 17:14. 3. MOR, Matzel, 18:48.
Second Period: 4. MOR, Matzel (Renaud, Swan), 00:47. 5. MOR, Swan (Morello, Longland), 11:32.
Third Period: 6. MOR, Cristini (Kulas), 7:45.
Shots on Goal: MOR (13 – 13 – 5 - 31), STM (13 – 7 – 13 - 33)
Saves: MOR, Breen, 31 saves. STM, Dizgun, 27saves.
-PURPLEKNIGHTS-
