NEC's Bioll McGinnis put the Pilgrims ahead 3-2 in the second period as the Pilgrims went on to defeat Colby College 4-3 on Saturday.
Men's Ice Hockey edges Colby College
New England College would score four goals in the second period lifting the Pilgrims past the visiting Colby College Mules 4-3 Saturday afternoon in Henniker. The win extends the Pilgrims winning streak to five games as they improve to 9-2-0 on the season. The loss drops the visiting Mules to 4-6-1 overall.
The two teams would battle through a scoreless opening period as the two teams would each tally five shots on net. The Mules would have two power-play opportunities in the period but the Pilgrim defense would hold strong keeping the Mules off the board.
The Pilgrims would strike early in the second period as Jarkko Leppanen (Tampere, Finland) would net his third goal of the season assisted by Olli Kalliosaari (Hattula, Finland) and Emil Alengard (Likoping, Sweden) just 35 seconds into the period.
Colby would not waste any time responding as Jared Crittenden (Fairport, N.Y.) would score off a pass from Chris Talbert (Hinesburg, Vt.) just 1:30 later, knotting the game at 1-1. Colby’s Blake Dressen (Wayzata, Minn.) would give the Mules the lead just 30 seconds later as he would net his first collegiate goal assisted by Matt Ahern (Melrose, Mass.) and Tom McGinn (St. Albans, Vt.)
NEC’s Aki Uola (Turku, Finland) would tie the game at 2-2 scoring off a nice pass from Filip Bjork (Stockholm, Sweden) at the 5:26 mark in the second. The Pilgrims would net two additional goals in the second period, including a goal from Bill McGinnis (Williams Lake, B.C.) and a power-play goal by Bjork giving NEC the 4-2 lead heading into the final period.
Colby would take advantage of a power-play opportunity as Matt Strickland (Leduc, Alberta) would net his first goal of the season cutting the NEC lead to 4-3 with just over three minutes remaining in regulation. The Pilgrim defense would hold strong throughout the final three minutes, keeping the Mules off the board and escaping with the 4-3 victory.
Picking up the win in net for the Pilgrims was Aaron Harvey (Milford, Nova Scotia) who finished with 30 saves. In goal for the Mules was Cody McKinney (Weston, Fl.) who finished with 24 saves on the evening.
