GORHAM, Maine -- Sophomore Pier-Michel Lapointe (St. Georges, Que.) scored with 13:36 remaining in regulation as the University of Southern Maine Huskies came back from a two-goal deficit to forge a 2-2 overtime tie with the Skidmore College Thoroughbreds in ECAC Men's East action Friday night at the USM Ice Arena.

            The tie was the fifth in the last nine games for the Huskies who are now 4-7-5 overall and 3-5-2 in ECAC play.  The Thoroughbreds, winless in their last three outings (0-2-1), are 6-6-5 overall and 2-4-4 in the league.  The two teams remained tied for seventh place in the standings after Friday night's games.

            Trailing 2-1 entering the third period, the Huskies got the tying goal when Lapointe fired a shot from the center of the blue line that found its way through a maze of players and past Skidmore freshman goaltender Jack McDonald (King City, Ontario) for his fourth goal of the season.  Junior Lorne Miller (Montreal, Que.) and freshman Jordan Babb (Belmont, Ont.) picked up the assists.

            The Huskies had their hands full late in regulation after they were penalize with 49 seconds left.  A second minor penalty 56 seconds into overtime gave the Thoroughbreds a brief 5-on-3 advantage, but the Huskies penalty-killing unit and sophomore goalie Josh Hillegas (Middleton, Wis.) held the fort.  Hillegas came up with a game-saving stop on freshman Anthony Bird (Central Square, N.Y.) during the second minor to preserve the tie.

            Southern Maine had an excellent opportunity to win the game in overtime, but McDonald stopped junior Brad McGovern (Haverhill, Mass.) on a 2-on-1 chance.

            Skidmore took a 1-0 lead in the opening period as sophomore Ondrej Krajnak (Presov, Slovakia) scored in close off a set up from senior Phil Buonocore (Westfield, N.J.) and freshman Marc Cibelli (Liverpool, N.Y.).

            The Thoroughbreds doubled their lead early in the second period as senior Tony Giacin (St. Louis, Mo.) tallied a power-play goal at 4:40.  The Huskies matched that with power-play marker of their own at 15:06.  Freshman Todd Bannerman (Georgetown, Ont.) took a perfect pass from classmate Cole Klippenstein (Franklin, Tenn.) to net his sixth goal of the season.

            McDonald finished the night with 32 saves while Hillegas stopped 25 shots at the other end. Southern Maine will be at home on Saturday (4:00 p.m.) hosting Castleton State College.  Skidmore travels to the University of New England on Saturday (4:00 p.m.).

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