GORHAM, Maine - Sophomore Sam D'Antuono (Hingham, Mass./Dexter School) scored 1:12 into overtime, lifting the Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team past the University of Southern Maine, 2-1, on Friday evening in USM Ice Arena. The Purple Knights improved to 5-8-2 overall and 3-6-1 in the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC), winning at Southern Maine for the first time in four years. Saint Michael's is 3-1-2 in its last six games, including 1-0-2 in overtime in the last five contests alone. The Huskies are 6-9 and 3-6.

Senior Justin McKenzie (Hawthorne, N.J./Don Bosco Prep) also tallied for the Purple Knights, and sophomore Chris Johnson (Duxbury, Mass./Pomfret School) made 41 saves for his 12th career 40-stop contest. Johnson pushed his career save total to 1,156, passing Erik Smith '07 (1,146) for 10th in school history, and extended his minutes-played program record to 960:36. Through the evening's action, he was one of only two NCAA Division II/III goalies to play each of his team's minutes this winter. Saint Michael's won at Southern Maine for the first time since Jan. 25, 2013.

First-year Jordan Hall scored for Southern Maine, and classmate Paul Léger made 23 saves and picked up an assist.

A little more than a minute into overtime, a Huskie had his pass deflected in his team's zone, and junior defenseman Nathan Foice (Essex, Vt./The Winchendon School) ultimately sent a pass to the right circle for D'Antuono, who sent a shot over Léger for the winner after just 1:12 of play. Junior Eric Salzillo (Johnston, R.I./Boston Bandits) also registered a helper on the play.

Southern Maine held a 13-9 edge in shots during a scoreless opening period, when each squad killed off one penalty, before the Purple Knights outshot the Huskies, 13-12, in the second. McKenzie got his squad on the board with 9:38 gone, but Hall knotted the contest at 17:01, with Léger providing the secondary assist. The Huskies successfully killed all three of their penalties in the stanza, including two late overlapping man-down situations that briefly gave the Purple and Gold a 33-second 5-on-3 advantage.

Southern Maine held a 17-2 advantage in shots during the third period, with Johnson stopping all 17, including a trio in the waning moments. After Johnson denied a shot from the left side of the ice around 18:30, the puck trickled through the crease, but the net left its moorings to end the play. With 30 seconds to go, the goalie stopped a shot from the right circle before turning away a slap shot from the left circle at 15.5 seconds.

Saint Michael's closes a three-game week of road games tomorrow at Daniel Webster College at 7:35 p.m.