This content originally appeared on SNHUPenmen.com
Freshman Zack Ciampa (Revere, Mass.) registered a career-high four points Saturday, and the Southern New Hampshire University ice hockey team returned to the win column with a 6-1 victory over Franklin Pierce University in Northeast-10 Conference action at the Jason Ritchie Ice Arena.
Ciampa handed out four assists to lead the Penmen offense in support of sophomore Kurt Gutting (Weymouth, Mass.), who stopped 31 shots to remain unbeaten this season. Senior Kyle Valliere (Goffstown, N.H.) also turned in a multi-point outing with a pair of helpers in the triumph.
After suffering a 4-1 setback at the hands of the Ravens on Friday, the Penmen stormed out to a 2-0 lead less than eight minutes into the first period. Sophomore Brett Strawn (Wareham, Mass.) broke the scoreless deadlock at the five minute mark when he gathered a feed from Ciampa in front of the Franklin Pierce goal, turned quickly and deposited past the glove of Tom McGuckin to make it 1-0. Ciampa inserted himself into the offense just under three minutes later when he sent a long pass out to Valliere, who then centered a feed to senior Chris Moquin (Hooksett, N.H.) on the doorstep, and he punched it home for his team-leading 11th goal of the year at 7:57.
The score remained unchanged through the remainder of the first and into the early stages of the second before the Ravens trimmed their deficit back to a single goal. The puck made its up the leftwing boards to David Wilcox, who narrowly kept it in the zone before making his way to the middle of the faceoff circle, where he uncorked a shot to the far top corner to make it 2-1 with 15:25 left in the stanza.
Southern New Hampshire wasted little time in responding, as sophomore Jared Goudreau (Manchester, N.H.) reestablished the two-goal cushion 1:23 later. Freshman Max Kent (Sandwich, Mass.) gathered the puck behind the Penmen goal and moved it up the rightwing side to senior Alec Cochran (Sanbornton, N.H.). Goudreau collected a feed from Cochran in the neutral zone and barreled into the Franklin Pierce end of the ice before unloading a wrister short-side to put SNHU in front, 3-1.
The Penmen added an additional insurance tally late in the frame when redshirt sophomore Ryan Spagnoli (Burlington, Mass.) potted his first career goal with just over five minutes left before the intermission. Valliere dug the puck out of the left corner in the offensive end and centered it to junior Joseph Berardi (Burlington, Mass.), which created a 2-on-1 in the high slot. Berardi left the puck for Spagnoli, who buried it into the back of the net to stake Southern New Hampshire to a 4-1 edge through 40 minutes of play.
Midway through the third, SNHU put the game away with a shorthanded marker off the stick of freshman Kyle Galloway (Sugar Hill, Ga.). Ciampa sprung sophomore DJ Goldstein (Wareham, Mass.) on a 2-on-1 with Galloway, and the former slid a pass to the latter on the left side, and he snuck a shot inside the near post for his fourth of the year. Junior Artem Efimov-Barakov (Khimki, Russia) capped the game’s scoring less than two minutes later when he stuffed home a wraparound chance from Ciampa and sophomore Brian O’Callaghan (Quincy, Mass.) with 9:04 left in regulation.
McGuckin was hit with the loss after stopping 20 of the 25 shots he faced through the opening 49:35 before Ian Wallace entered for the remainder of the evening and turned aside six of the seven bids to come his way.
Southern New Hampshire resumes Northeast-10 Conference play Friday when it hosts Saint Michael’s College at the Ice Den for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop.
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