Skidmore Blanks Southern Maine 1-0

            GORHAM, Maine -- Junior Jack McDonald (King City, Ontario) stopped 25 shots to earn his second shutout of the season as the visiting Skidmore College Thoroughbreds blanked the University of Southern Maine Huskies 1-0 in New England Hockey Conference men's action Friday evening at the USM Ice Arena.

            The victory snapped a six-game winless streak (0-5-1) for the Thoroughbreds, and improved their record to 3-10-1 overall (3-4-0 in conference).  The Huskies fell to 5-8-1 overall (2-6-0 in NEHC play) as their winless streak stretched to five games (0-4-1).

            Sophomore Connor Pelkey (St. Albans, Vt.) provided the lone offensive highlight of the game scoring a power-play goal at 3:05 of the second period.  Junior Anthony Bird (Central Square, N.Y.) won a left-wing circle faceoff back to Pelkey at the point.  Pelkey stepped in and fired a shot through a maze of players that found the net behind USM sophomore goaltender Kyle Shapiro (Ocean, N.J.).

            McDonald made the goal stand up for the win.  The second-year goalie came up big in the opening period stopping USM junior Cole Klippenstein (Franklin, Tenn.) on a breakaway in the early going, and again in the final seconds of regulation getting a piece of sophomore Brett Norman's (Dawson Creek, B.C.) shot at the back post.

            The Huskies finished the game with a 25-22 edge in shots on goal, but were 0 for 4 with the man advantage.  The Thoroughbreds went 1 for 3 on the power play.  Shapiro had 21 saves before being lifted with 1:32 to play for the extra attacker.

            Southern Maine will be back in action on Saturday (4:00 p.m.) hosting Castleton University.  Skidmore looks to make it two in a row on Saturday (4:00 p.m.) when they travel to the University of New England. 

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