GORHAM, Maine – Freshman Cam Gwatkin (Lyndonville, Vt./Proctor Academy) scored the first goal of his career in addition to logging three assists on Friday night as the University of Southern Maine Huskies' men's ice hockey team won an 8-5 slugfest against the UMass Dartmouth Corsairs in Little East Conference action. Senior Conor Donovan (Nahant, Mass./Swampscott) also had three assists, while freshman Ben Aucoin (Moncton, New Brunswick), senior Kadin Ilott (Kenora, Ontario) and sophomore Gavin Simopoulos (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) each had a goal and two assists.
 
Juniors Ethan MacDuff (Lloydminster, Alberta) and Kayde Kinaschuk (Calgary, Alberta) each had a goal and an assist. Freshman Nick Vinson (Brewer, Maine) and junior Ethan Hoover (Hershey, Penn.) also had goals. Nine Huskies recorded points with seven skaters recording multiple points.
 
UMass Dartmouth was led by Kailin Chen with a hat trick and an assist and Tyler Stewart with a goal and three assists.
 
 
The Records:
UMass Dartmouth: 10-12-0 (5-10-0 LEC)
Southern Maine: 11-10-1 (9-5-1 LEC)
 
Series History:
The Huskies and Corsairs have now played 23 times. UMass Dartmouth leads the series 17-5-1. The Huskies swept the season series with tonight's win.
 
The Goaltenders:
UMass Dartmouth: Graham Burke (4-8-0), 59:24, seven goals allowed, 32 saves
Southern Maine: Loic Morin (9-8-1): 60:00, five goals allowed, 28 saves
 
How It Happened:

• UMass Dartmouth struck first with a goal by Doug Doren 6:47 in the game only for the Huskies to counter with a snipe by MacDuff from Simopoulos and Gwatkin. The Corsairs broke the tie less a minute later on a goal by Chen and extended the lead to 3-1 when Stewart scored in the final 90 seconds. The Huskies entered the first intermission down 3-2 thanks to backhanded goal by Ilott with Donovan and Aucoin assisting.
• The Huskies outscored the Corsairs 4-0 in the second period to go up 6-3. Simopoulos tied the game by cleaning MacDuff's rebound with 7:40 left in the period. Kinaschuk then got in on the scoring to give the Huskies the lead off a rebound from a shot by Ilott. Gwatkin scored his first goal as a Husky after a set up by Donovan following a long pass by Aucoin with 2:49 left. Aucoin then scored nine seconds later off a feed from Donovan and a secondary assist by Ilott.
• Chen had back-to-back goals to get the Corsairs within a goal with just over 13 minutes left before Hoover added an insurance goal after taking a pass from Gwatkin and the Huskies added an empty netter from Vinson with Gwatkin once again providing the assist.

 
Inside The Stats:

• The Huskies had a 40-36 lead in shots on goal.
• The teams were even in faceoffs wins at 38-38.
• UMass Dartmouth went 2-for-3 on the power play.
• The Corsairs blocked 19 shots while the Huskies blocked 10.

 
Up Next:
The Huskies will celebrate Senior Day before tomorrow's 4:00 pm home game against UMass Boston.