GORHAM, Maine — The Saint Michael's College Purple Knights men's ice hockey team scored three unanswered third period goals — with two of them being power play goals — to skate to a 5-4 come from behind win over the University of Southern Maine Huskies in an ECAC Men's East matchup at USM Ice Arena Friday night.

            With the win, Saint Michael's improves to 5-12-0 overall and 2-9-0 in the conference. The Huskies have lost six in a row, and drop to 6-13-0 overall and 3-9-0 in conference play.

            Saint Michael's sophomore forward AJ Pieprzak (Barrie, Ont.) scored two goals and dished out two assists in the third period to finish with a game-high four points, and classmate William Cote (Quebec City, Que.) finished with a goal and an assist.

            With Saint Michael's down 4-2, Pieprzak picked up the puck on the right wing board and fired it toward the net, beating USM freshman goalie Josh Hillegas (Middleton, Wis.) and pulling the Purple Knights within one 7:05 into the third period.

            After a USM penalty, Cote took passes from Pieprzak and sophomore defensemen Mark Higgins (Plainville, Mass.) and slipped the puck past Hillegas on the left side to tie the score at 4-4 with 6:17 remaining.

            USM was issued another penalty with 40 seconds to play, Pieprzak  won a faceoff back to senior forward Josh Geary (Wellesley, Mass.) who  fired a shot at the top of the left circle.  Higgins tipped the rebound in for the game-winner with 0.9 seconds showing on the clock.

            Southern Maine struck first when freshman forward Demetri Sakaris (Candiac, Que.) scored his first collegiate goal, tipping the rebound of a shot by sophomore forward Ryan Seward (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) past Saint Michael's sophomore goaltender Dave Donzanti (West Chester, Penn.) 5:42 into the opening period.  Junior forward Jamie Osborne (Grand Lake, N.S.) was also credited with an assist.

            The Purple Knights answered 1:01 later when senior forward Tim McAuliffe (North Reading, Mass.) beat Hillegas on the right side to tie the scored with 13:17 remaining in the first.

            USM would get one back when senior forward Matt MacDonald (Byfield, Mass.) gathered a rebound off a shot from freshman defensemen Pier Michel-Lapointe (St. Georges, QC) and fired a shot from the left side past Donzanti into the top of the net, giving the Huskies a 2-1 lead at the 16:54 mark.

            Seward scored off passes from Sakaris and junior defenseman Cody Kollins (Keswick, Ont.) 10 minutes into the second to give the Huskies a 3-1 advantage, and 17 seconds later, after Collins played the puck up the boards on the right side, MacDonald directed a centering pass to junior forward Angelo Vrachnas (St. James, N.Y.) who beat Donzanti, giving the Huskies a 4-1 lead with 9:43 to go in the period. The goal was Vrachnas' eighth of the season.

            Pieprzak scored the first of his two goals off passes from Cote and senior defenseman Morgan Bell (Vancouver, BC) with 1:12 left in the second period to cut the USM lead to 4-2 before his second goal and the two power play goals.

            Donzanti got the win making 25 saves, and improved his season record to 2-3-0.  Hillegas made 32 saves, and drops to 6-8-0 on the season.

            Southern Maine returns to the ice tomorrow (4:00 p.m.) when they host No. 1 ranked Norwich University.  Saint Michael's travels to the University of New England on Saturday (4:00 p.m.).