Adversity? No problem. The USM men’s ice hockey team dominated Plymouth State College (PSC) on Tuesday while overcoming the loss of leading scorer Chris Sparkes (St. John’s, Nfld) due to a high ankle sprain and handling the Panthers by a score of 4-1. Additionally, the discouraging residuum of almost 30 penalty calls seemed to have no effect on the Huskies’ game throughout the night.
Sophomore Brian Collins (Reading, MA) and freshman Mike Stevens (Dover, NH) each had a goal and an assist in front of a medium-sized crowd of about 150 spectators at Gorham.
The Huskies scored early in the first, capitalizing on a Plymouth State boarding penalty. Sophomore Mark Carragher (Charlottetown, PEI) got the rebound on the right side of a wide open net off a nifty give and go play by junior classmates James LeBlanc (Dorval, Quebec) and Ryan Wright (Eliot, ME). Minutes later freshman Brett Kapteina (Stamford CT) rang the post on a breakaway as USM continued to apply heavy pressure on Plymouth State freshman goaltender Karl Helgesson (Lerum, Sweden). The Huskies dominated all facets of the game in the first period, outhustling, outhitting and outshooting the Panthers 12-9 at intermission.
Each team had a man in the box for most of the second period, with the two teams alternating power play oppurtunities for much of that time. About eight minutes into it, Plymouth State received back-to-back penalty calls, one of them a bench minor, giving the Huskies a two-man advantage. Just 30 seconds later freshman defenseman Dane Marshall (Yarmouth, Nova Scotia) put a shot on net off a pass to the point from senior Eric Kent (Newburyport, MA). Collins was in perfect position to redirect the shot right between the legs of Helgesson, who had no chance to make the save.
The Panthers stepped it up in the third, applying steady pressure on USM freshman netminder Ryan Sullivan (Newton, MA). Sullivan kept Plymouth State off the board for most of the game until a scrum in front of his net produced a rebound to freshman Chris Cadieux (Nashua, NH), who put the puck into a wide open net as Sullivan was down and out. Less than two minutes later a Plymouth State player illegally kicked the puck into the net, but was unable to fool the referees and the goal was called back, much to the chagrin of the Plymouth State bench. This was the only light the Panthers would see for the remainder of the game as Sullivan turned down every opportunity he faced.
“Sully was outstanding,” said USM Head Coach Jeff Beaney, “he didn’t give them much to shoot at tonight.”
Stevens’ goal came at about the 17 minute mark, dashing any hopes of a Panther comeback. Stevens also assisted on an empty net goal by Erik Kent with just 32 seconds remaining in the contest.
The Huskies kept their composure (for the most part) throughout the game and were able to capitalize on the power play when they needed to.
“The key to our power play is to stay spaced out and choose the right time to shoot.” said Beaney. “We have two groups we rotate in on power play situations.”
Senior captain John Lounsbury (Winthrop, MA) commented after the match on the physical, penalty-ridden game and his team’s play throughout it all.
“The head referee was at the game tonight, so they were calling it pretty tight. There were some bad calls, and also some make-up calls that probably shouldn’t have been made.” He continued, “Sullivan played incredible tonight, but this is a team game, it’s not one individual player, it’s the entire group.”
The Huskies have certainly proven they know how to play as a team: 17 players have figured in the scoring thus far in the early stages of the season. They now stand at 2-2-0 in the conference and 3-2-1 overall. Plymouth State falls to 2-4-1 overall on the season.