SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – The Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team opened its second-semester home slate with a 6-4 win against the University of Southern Maine in New England Hockey Conference (NEHC) action at Cairns Arena on Friday. The Purple Knights move to 4-11 overall and 2-8 in league play, while the Huskies are 5-10-1 and 2-8. The teams split this season's series as Southern Maine earned a 4-2 home-ice victory back on Nov. 7.

In its first home game since Dec. 9, Saint Michael's received points from 10 skaters. Senior Kevin Altidor (Montreal, Quebec/Millbrook School), junior Justin McKenzie (Hawthorne, N.J./Don Bosco Prep), sophomore Sam Finkelstein (South Burlington, Vt./Rice Memorial Prep) and first-years Colin Biebel (Roxborough Park, Colo./Walpole Express) and Sam D'Antuono (Hingham, Mass./Dexter School) each provided one goal and assist, with Finkelstein netting his first collegiate goal. First-year Nic Hermary (Coquitlam, British Columbia/Melfort Mustangs) also scored and junior Danny Divis (Media, Pa./Minnesota Wilderness) contributed two assists. Senior Brodie McCusker (Canaan, N.H./Saint Paul's School), junior Shawn Morrow (East Greenbush, N.Y./Kent School) and sophomore Keegan Finn (Yarmouth, Mass./Bay State Breakers) each chipped in a helper. Senior Michael Comitini (Hudson, Quebec/Cornwall Colts) had a season-high 32 saves in his fifth start of the year.

Southern Maine received two goals from sophomore Alex Pantalone (Hudson, Mass./Boston Junior Bruins) with senior Todd Bannerman (Georgetown, Ontario/Cambridge Winter Hawks) and first-year Tyler Mathieu (Stillwater Lake, Nova Scotia/Boston Junior Bruins) both scoring once. Junior Cole Klippenstein (Franklin, Tenn./North Bay Trappers) dished two assists and senior Chad O'Brien (Johnstown, Pa./South Shore Kings) went 18-for-32 on faceoffs. Sophomore Dylan Pietrangelo (Port Robinson, Ontario/Niagara Falls Canucks) made 15 saves in 40:22 of relief, while classmate Kyle Shapiro (Ocean, N.J./Walpole Express) stopped nine shots in the opening 16:18.

The Purple Knights churned out four first-period goals. McKenzie got the hosts going with a goal at 2:07 when he tipped home a shot off Finkelstein's centering pass from the half boards. Biebel then scored after picking up the loose puck at the blue line and skating in before wristing a low shot to the left side at 7:14. Pantalone trimmed the deficit to 2-1 after snapping a high-slot shot past Comitini's glove at 9:17. Hermary and Finkelstein scored 5:14 apart to round out the Purple Knights' scoring to take a 4-1 lead after the opening period.

Both sides netted two second-period tallies. Saint Michael's received special teams markers as Altidor potted a short-handed goal at 3:21 before D'Antuono's power-play goal at 9:59. Bannerman and Pantalone scored 1:21 apart to bring the Huskies at a 6-3 margin after two stanzas.

Southern Maine scored once on 14 shots in the third period. After pulling Pietrangelo for the extra attacker with 6:44 remaining, the visitors pulled to with a pair as Mathieu fought through a scrum in front of the net for the tally. Pietrangelo was pulled once more with 2:07 to go but the Huskies managed just one shot on net thanks to a trio of Purple Knight blocked shots.

Saint Michael's hosts the University of New England in NEHC play on Saturday at 4 p.m