GORHAM, Maine -- Freshman Todd Bannerman's (Georgetown, Ontario) second goal of the season early in the third period proved decisive as the University of Southern Maine Huskies hung on to defeat the visiting Saint Michael's College Purple Knights, 4-3, in ECAC Men's East action Saturday afternoon at the USM Ice Arena.

            The win leveled the Huskies record at 2-2-0 overall and in league play.  The Purple Knights remain winless on the season falling to 0-3-0 overall and in ECAC games.  The two teams will meet again at St. Michael's on January 24.

            Bannerman took a lead pass from sophomore Bob Ganley (Weymouth, Mass.) and rifled a 30-foot shot past Saint Michael's sophomore goalie Michael Comitini (Hudson, Quebec) at 3:32 of the third period to give the Huskies a 4-2 lead.

            The Purple Knights turned up the pressure over the final 10 minutes looking to cut into the Huskies lead.  With Comitini on the bench for the extra skater, freshman Josh Dickman (Kapaa, Hawaii) trimmed the margin to 4-3 at 19:03 tipping home a shot from junior AJ Pieprzak (Barrie, Ontario) for a power-play goal.

            Saint Michael's would get no closer though as the USM defense and sophomore goalie Josh Hillegas (Middleton, Wis.) staved off any further challenges.

            The teams traded goals to create a 2-2 game after 20 minutes.  Senior Sam Torney (Shelburne, Vt.) finished off a nice play at 9:07 to give Saint Michael's a 1-0 lead.  USM freshman Kelby Lorenz (Mississauga, Ontario) tied the game 34 seconds later taking a feed from classmate Sam Blanchet (Laurier-Station, Quebec) to go in one-on-one against Comitini.

            Senior Kevin Lampron (Boston, Mass.) restored the Purple Knights' one-goal lead with a long wrist shot from the blue line that found its way by Hillegas.  Junior Ryan Seward (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) tied the game for USM with 29 ticks remaining in the period.  Seward blasted a 40-foot shot from up top for the power-play goal after taking a pass from Lorenz.

            USM had the only goal of the middle stanza as sophomore Pier-Michel Lapointe (St. Georges, Quebec) buried a shot from the right-wing circle after taking a pass from Seward.

            Southern Maine finished the game with a 32-20 edge in shots on goal.  Hillegas, making his first start of the season, registered 18 saves.  Comitini finished with 28 stops.  Both teams were 1 for 5 on the power play.

            Southern Maine will play at Colby College in a non-conference game on Tuesday (7:00 p.m.).  Saint Michael's returns home next weekend to host ECAC Men's East games against New England College on Friday (7:00 p.m.) and Saint Anselm College on Saturday (4:00 p.m.). 

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