GORHAM, Maine - The Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team suffered its third one-goal loss of the month with a 3-2 setback at the University of Southern Maine on Friday evening in the USM Ice Arena. The Purple Knights fell to 6-9-2 overall and 4-6-1 in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East, while the Huskies improved to 4-12 and 2-9, pushing their mark to 3-2 since a 1-10 start.

Senior AJ Pieprzak (Barrie, Ontario/Ridley College) and sophomore Connor Mitchell (New Milford, Conn./Kent School) both scored for the Purple and Gold, as Pieprzak now has at least one point in 12 of his past 13 games. He moved into a tie with Brendan Callahan '92 for 17th in program history in career goals (38) and equaled Erik Caron '08 for 19th in points (82). Senior Dave Donzanti (West Chester, Pa./Northfield Mount Hermon) posted 19 saves in the teams' third meeting of the year. The opener ended in a 2-0 Saint Michael's win during league play on Nov. 15 before Southern Maine claimed a non-conference affair by a 5-2 count on Jan. 3.

Senior Sam Guimond (Portland, Maine/Portland Jr. Pirates), junior Chad O'Brien (Johnstown, Pa./South Shore Kings) and first-year Brett Norman (Dawson Creek, British Columbia/Ontario Avalanche) all scored for the Huskies, while junior Daniel Mattsson (Uppsala, Sweden/Walpole Express) dished out three assists. First-year Kyle Shapiro (Ocean, N.J./Walpole Express) stopped 24 shots.

Saint Michael's outshot the hosts, 10-5, during the first period while jumping out to a 2-0 advantage. Mitchell potted his second marker of the year 8:55 after the opening face-off, with junior Nick Potter (Stoneham, Mass./The Brooks School) and first-year Sam Finkelstein (South Burlington, Vt./Rice Memorial Prep) assisting. The helper was the first point of Finkelstein's career, as he was appearing in his second game. Pieprzak doubled that advantage at 16:57, converting passes from senior Mark Higgins (Plainville, Mass./Kent School) and sophomore Stephen Inman (Coventry, R.I./Odessa Jackalopes), both defenders.

Just 33 seconds after the visitors claimed the 2-0 edge, O'Brien cut his team's deficit in half, and the Huskies trailed 2-1 by the first intermission. Saint Michael's had a chance to extend its advantage early in the second stanza, but Southern Maine killed off five straight minutes with a Husky in the penalty box, including a one-minute stretch where the visitors had a 5-on-3. Norman found the equalizer 16:26 into the period while the hosts were amid a 5-on-3 power play, and Guimond netted the game-winner 4:25 into the third period during another power play.

The Purple Knights pulled Donzanti in favor of an extra attacker with 58 seconds remaining in the contest while pushing to knot the score. With 38 ticks to go, senior Jeremy Wong (Montreal, Quebec/Tilton School) just missed the net from close range in the left circle, and classmate Eric Robinson's (Williston, Vt./Berkshire School) blast from inside the blue line was caught by Shapiro with 16 seconds remaining. A final bid by the visitors was deflected high and over the net from the left circle as time expired.

The Purple Knights complete the ECAC East weekend at the University of New England tomorrow at 2 p.m. The contest was originally scheduled for two hours later but was changed due to anticipated poor weather.