GORHAM, Maine -- Junior Zach Joy (Dover, N.H.) scored a pair of goals to help the University of Southern Maine defeat Suffolk University, 5-2, in a non-conference men's ice hockey game Tuesday evening at the USM Ice Arena.
The win was the second straight for the Huskies who are to .500 at 6-6-1. The Rams, who came into the game riding a three-game winning streak, dip to 5-7-2 overall.
Joy tallied a power-play goal early in the second period as part of a four-goal USM outburst. He tallied his team-leading 14th goal at 18:20 to cap off the night's scoring.
For USM, junior Jon Rutt (Scarborough, Maine) had short-handed goal and an assist, and freshman Ben MacLaughlin (Beverly, Mass.) had a goal and an assist. Junior Paul Conter (Woodbridge, Ontario) and sophomore Dan Rautenberg (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) each had a pair of assists. Sophomore goalie Mason St. Hilaire (Saco, Maine) stopped 27 of 29 shots he faced.
Rookies Jason Molle (Stoneham, Mass.) and Andrew Monesi (Boston, Mass.) had the goals for the Rams. Junior goalie Jeff Rose (Collinsville, Conn.) recorded 25 saves.
Rutt's short-handed goal, set up by Rautenberg, was the only marker of the first period. Joy's power-play tally made it 2-0 at 1:41 of the middle frame.
Molle and Monesi scored 34 seconds apart to tie the game. Freshman Matt MacDonald (Byfield, Mass.) snapped the tie at 8:30 with his second goal of the campaign. MacLaughlin made it 4-2 at 16:35 off assists from Rautenberg and Rutt.
Southern Maine returns to action on Friday (7:00 p.m.) when it hosts Bowdoin College. Suffolk is off until next Tuesday when it travels to play Tufts University.
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