SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - 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 for a 3-2 victory on Saturday in an Eastern College 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 defenseman 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 of a one-goal game.

Junior David Nies (Brookline, Mass./Northern Cyclones) and freshman Sam Guimond (Portland, Maine/Portland Jr. Pirates) scored for the Huskies, while sophomore Braely Torris (Eckville, Alberta/Drayton Valley Thunder) made 23 stops.

The Huskies jumped 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 a shot 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. Pieprzak assisted both opening-period markers.

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 stayed knotted until a little more than five minutes remained in the stanza, when Geary tallied and gave the Purple Knights the lead for good at 14:29.

The Saint Michael's defense held Southern Maine without a shot for more than 15 minutes to begin in the third period, as the Huskies eventually fired all 10 of their shots in the period during the final five minutes, but Dizgun stopped them all. Dizgun came up big with 5:12 remaining, when he made a sprawling save on Guimond, who was wide open in the slot.

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