Maine Hockey Journal

UNE secures home game for upcoming NEHC Championship

The University of New England erased a three-goal third-period deficit to take a 5-5 overtime tie with Castleton University in the New England Hockey Conference regular-season finale Saturday afternoon (Feb. 13) at Spartan Arena.

UNE’s three-point road trip (win over Skidmore College Friday night) secured the Nor’easters’ first-ever postseason home game when the NEHC Championship gets underway next Saturday. UNE will take a 13-9-3 mark into the playoffs and finished conference play with a record of 9-7-2. The Spartans (8-15-2, 7-9-2 NEHC) will play on the road in the opening round.

After Castleton scored four times in the second period and one more early in the third to build a 5-2 advantage, the Nor’easters came roaring back to tie the game and force overtime. Brady Fleurent put home the puck after a scrum in front of the cage to cut the deficit to 5-3 with 6:45 elapsed before Tom Gildersleeve tallied short-handed midway through the frame to pull the Nor’easters within one (5-4).

UNE would cap its comeback at 12:53 when Dustin Walsh took a feed from Dylan Bengston and went top shelf.

Neither team could notch the go-ahead score the remainder of regulation, forcing overtime. In the extra period Castleton pulled goaltender Ryan Mulder in favor of an extra skater, but the Spartans were unable to take advantage of the man advantage and come away victorious. The Nor’easters had a 3-1 edge in shots on goal in the five-minute extra period.

Fleurent had the only goal of the first period, tipping the puck past Mulder’s glove to give UNE a 1-0 lead.

Castleton would explode for four second-period goals to assume control of the game. Charles Bando and Ryan O’Toole put the Spartans ahead before Trevor Fleurent deked Mulder and scored on the backhand to pull UNE even. Gingera converted on the power play for his second marker of the afternoon, and then Fabio Klay scored at 18:13 to give the hosts a 4-2 advantage heading to the third.

Bart Moran converted a power-play opportunity 2:48 into the third to push the Castleton bulge to three (5-2), setting up the Nor’easters’ third-period surge.

Both Brady Fleurent and Dylan Bengston paced UNE with four points. Bengston’s four assists tied Ben Pearl for UNE’s single-game record, and his 17 assists for the season represent the second-highest single-season total in school history. Walsh chipped in three points with a goal and two assists. Goaltender Connor Maloney totaled 29 saves and now sports a 7-2-2 record.

Mulder finished with 28 stops for the Spartans, who converted 2 of 5 power-play chances.

UNE will host New England College in one quarterfinal-round game, while Castleton will travel to Norwich University. The complete NEHC Championship bracket and schedule will be announced tomorrow.

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