(Courtesy of St. Michael's Sports Information)

            SOUTH BURLNGTON, Vt. -- The Saint Michael's College men's ice hockey team snapped a five-game losing streak with a 7-1 win against the University of Southern Maine in Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) East action at Cairns Arena on Friday.

            The Purple Knights move to 2-13-1 overall and 1-9-1 in the league, while the Huskies drop to 4-9-5 overall and 3-7-2. The victory was the second of the year for Saint Michael's against Southern Maine, and the third contest between the teams.

            First-year defenseman Danny Divis (Media, Pa.) tallied two goals and an assist, while junior AJ Pieprzak (Barrie, Ontario) registered one goal and two assists to lead the Purple Knights' offense.  Sophomore goalie Michael Comitini (Hudson, Quebec) earned his first college win with 16 saves in 56:21 of work, while classmate Derek McInnis (Hingham, Mass.) saw 2:45 of play in his college debut.

            Sophomore Zach Dymock (Dutton, Ontario) scored the lone Southern Maine goal, with junior Ryan Seward (Port Jefferson, N.Y.) and sophomore Alex Pompeo (Hingham, Mass.) assisting on the tally. Sophomore goalie Josh Hillegas (Middleton, Wis.) made 28 saves on 35 shots for the Huskies.

            Junior Eric Robinson (Williston, Vt.) started the Purple Knights' scoring when he fired a shot top shelf over Hillegas' right shoulder just 21 seconds into the game. Junior Jeremy Wong (Montreal, Quebec) then extended the lead when his one-timer found the back of the net on the power play at 16:36 off of Robinson's cross-ice pass.

            Southern Maine cut the lead in half when Dymock flipped a backhanded shot over Comitini's blocker at 1:40 of the second period following a giveaway in the Saint Michael's defensive end. However, just 1:19 later, Junior defenseman Mark Higgins (Plainville, Mass.) connected with a streaking sophomore Kevin Altidor (Montreal, Quebec), who snapped a shot high blocker side on Hillegas. The Huskies had a chance to draw within one when Pompeo rang a shot off the post at 13:35, and Pieprzak countered by giving Saint Michael's a 4-1 lead 10 seconds later.

            The Purple Knights tacked on three power-play goals in the third period.  With the puck low in the offensive zone, junior William Côté (Quebec, City, Quebec) dished a pass to Divis, who scored on an uncontested shot from the slot at 8:42.  Just 1:04 later, Divis fired a blue-line shot that beat Hillegas after a pass from first-year Stephen Inman (Coventry, R.I.).  First-year Josh Dickman (Kapaa, Hawaii) tallied with 2:43 remaining, with Divis assisting to notch a point on his third straight marker.

            Southern Maine travels to nationally-ranked Norwich University on Saturday (4:00 p.m.).  Saint Michael's hosts the University of New England tomorrow (3:00 p.m.). 

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