With a few weeks to go in the season, the USM men’s hockey team is fighting to improve its record and looking forward to the playoffs. The team defeated the Connecticut College Camels 9-7 in an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) game on Jan. 31. The win was the third straight for the Huskies.
USM (undefeated in the last four games) improved their ECAC league record to
5-7-1 with the win over Conn. College, and pulled their overall record for the season to
9-9-1.
Southern Maine led the Camels 5-4 when entering the third period of the game. Less than a minute into the final period, the Camels quickly retorted with a goal tying the game at 5-5. Not even a half of a minute ticked off the clock before the Huskies struck back when sophomore Mat Kerling, St. Catherine’s, ON, scored his second goal of the evening.
Franco Narcisi, Laval, QC, a sophomore forward for Southern Maine, completed a hat trick to lead the Huskies to the 9-7 victory over the visiting camels. Southern Maine goalie, junior Matt Collaton, Oakville, ON, deflected and stopped 30 out of the 37 shots that he faced.
Friday, Jan. 30 at the USM Ice Arena, the Tufts University Jumbos tied the University of Southern Maine Huskies 3-3, in overtime play. The game was important for both teams, since it was an ECAC league action game that counts toward each team’s drive toward the ECAC playoffs.
In the ECAC Division III Standings, USM is currently ranked in fifth place, tied with Babson who also has an ECAC league record of 5-7-1. The Huskies defeated Babson two weeks ago, 8-5, in a game played in Gorham.
Norwich currently leads the ECAC Men’s Division III standings with an undefeated record (12-0-0), and also holds an overall season record of 17-1-0. The Huskies will need to keep on winning to improve their place in the standings, and New England, Saint Anselm, and Salem State, the teams beside Norwich that are ahead of USM, will need to be defeated in order to fall in the overall league standings.
Last week senior defensive man for the Huskies, Derek Klowak, Burlington, ON, was recognized as ECAC player of the week. Klowak, assisted USM by helping the team to take three out of four points possible, netting a goal and dishing out three assists to teammates. He also tallied a goal and two more assists for the Huskies in the 3-3 tie against Tufts.
The Huskies have just six games left to play in the 2003-2004 regular season. The ECAC tournament is scheduled to kick-off Saturday, Feb. 28. The ECAC championship games are played at the home rink of the #1 ranked seed, which will likely be Norwich University.
Joe Pierce can be contacted at [email protected]