SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team scored twice in the third period to rally for a 4-4 tie against the 11th-ranked University of Massachusetts at Boston during Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East play at Cairns Arena on Friday night. The Purple Knights, who are 5-3-1 in their last nine games, move to 6-16-2 overall and 3-12-2 in the league. The Beacons, whose ranking is according to the D3hockey.com Division III national poll, are 16-4-4 and 9-4-4.

Saint Michael's junior AJ Pieprzak (Barrie, Ontario/Ridley College) recorded two goals and an assist after missing the last four games due to injury, with junior defender Eric Robinson (Williston, Vt./Berkshire School) and sophomore Nick Potter (Stoneham, Mass./Brooks School) providing the other tallies. Sophomore Kevin Altidor (Montreal, Quebec/Millbrook School) had two assists, while juniors Jeremy Wong (Montreal, Quebec/Tilton School) and William Côté (Quebec City, Quebec/Rice Memorial Prep) and first-year Danny Divis (Media, Pa./The Gunnery) all posted an assist. Junior goalie Dave Donzanti (West Chester, Pa./Northfield Mount Hermon) registered a career-high 45 saves.

UMass Boston first-year Tyler Bishop (Ramsey, N.J./New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs) registered two goals, with senior Mike Kuhn (Holbrook, Mass./Boston Bulldogs) adding a goal and an assist, while first-year Albee Daley (Averill Park, N.Y./Valley Jr. Warriors) scored. Juniors Stephen Buco (North Providence, R.I./UMass Lowell) and Nathan Milam (Westland, Mich./Ferris State) both had two assists. Sophomore goalie Billy Faust (Alta Loma, Calif./Vermont) recorded 28 stops.

In an up-and-down overtime, both teams fired three shots on net, including Altidor being stopped on the doorstep by Faust near the midway point. A Saint Michael's penalty with 38 seconds left gave UMass Boston an offensive zone face-off, but the Beacons were unable to capitalize, as Purple Knight graduate student Tim McAuliffe (North Reading, Mass./Vermont Academy) blocked one shot and Donzanti turned away one last scoring attempt before McAuliffe pinned the puck in the corner to salt away the final seconds.

The Beacons struck first when Daley's shot through traffic found the back of the net at 3:26 of the opening period. The Purple Knights responded when Potter took a cross-ice feed from Pieprzak and buried the puck low left side for the tying goal just 1:36 later. Pieprzak then pushed Saint Michael's into the lead when he tallied his ninth goal of the season at 15:53. UMass Boston evened up the score with one minute left in the period when Milam threw the puck to a crashing Kuhn, who snapped the puck past Donzanti from the slot. The teams entered the first intermission tied, 2-2, despite UMass Boston leading 19-7 in shots.

UMass Boston prevailed in a second period that saw both teams trade prime scoring chances. Bishop gave the Beacons a 3-2 lead after he wristed a high-slot shot past Donzanti's blocker at 7:01. The Purple Knights had an opportunity to tie when Pieprzak threw a cross-ice pass to junior Mark Higgins (Plainville, Mass./Bridgewater Bandits), who shot the puck wide left from the doorstep. Bishop provided a two-score cushion when he slapped a one-time shot from the left face-off circle while the Beacons were on the power play at 13:28.

In last month's meeting, Saint Michael's led UMass Boston, 4-1, before the Beacons scored the final five goals. Tonight's contest saw Saint Michael's rally for the last two, with Pieprzak scoring on the power play at 6:30 of the third before Robinson knotted up the score at 9:05 after he charged to the net off an offensive zone face-off win and snuck the puck through Faust's pads. UMass Boston had a chance to go up with 14 seconds left in regulation when senior Travis Daniel (North Brunswick, N.J./New Jersey Rockets) shot a puck off Donzanti's chest.

Saint Michael's concludes its regular-season season slate tomorrow by hosting No. 3 Babson College for a Senior Day contest at 4 p.m.

by Student Intern Eric Gissendanner