Box Score BOX SCORE
When and Where: February 10, 2018 – Hooksett, N.H. (The Ice Den)
Score: Southern New Hampshire University 4, Stonehill College 1
Records: SNHU 12-6-3 (6-5-2 Northeast-10), Stonehill 6-16-2 (4-9-1 Northeast-10)
Seniors Chris Moquin (Hooksett, N.H.), Griffin Rogers (Sanbornton, N.H.) and Timothy Baylis (West Haven, Conn.) each found the back of the net, and classmate Ryan Slatky (Manchester, N.H.) registered 49 saves on Saturday, as the Southern New Hampshire University ice hockey team posted a 4-1 victory over Stonehill College in Northeast-10 Conference action at the Ice Den.
Saturday's win clinched not only the season series with the Skyhawks for the first time in five years, but also secured a postseason berth for the Penmen for the second time in three seasons.
After a scoreless first period that saw Slatky stop each of the 15 shots he faced, Southern New Hampshire went to work in the second and generated all the offense it would need. Moquin keyed the opening goal, as he took a feed from sophomore Brett Strawn (Wareham, Mass.) and shifted beneath the goal line before finding sophomore DJ Goldstein (Wareham, Mass.) in front. Goldstein was camped in the slot, and he one-timed the Moquin pass to the far post to make it 1-0 at 7:05. The lead doubled just past the midway point of the period when Rogers gathered a pass from freshman Steven Dumond (Seekonk, Mass.) just over the offensive blue line, carried the puck around the Stonehill defense and tucked in a wraparound at the right post to extend the SNHU cushion to a pair with 7:17 left. The Skyhawks trimmed the deficit back to a single goal in the final 90 seconds of the stanza when Christopher Page cashed in a feed from Cameron Wright, but it would be the closest the visitors would come to knotting the score for the remainder of the game.
The Penmen put the game away early in the third, as an insurance marker from Moquin was followed by a powerplay marker off the stick of Baylis. Just over five minutes in, Strawn left the puck for Moquin at the top of the left faceoff circle and he proceeded to pick it up, drag it between the legs of a defender at the faceoff dot, gather it back on his stick in the slot and rip a wrister over the blocker of Billy Palmer to regain a two-goal edge. Baylis capped the game's scoring midway through the frame when was the final recipient of a tic-tac-toe pass from freshman Max Kent (Sandwich, Mass.) and junior Artem Efimov-Barakov (Khimki, Russia) at the back post, which he one-timed into the back of the net.
Notes:
- Slatky's 49 saves on Saturday ups his career total to 2,001 in 60 games. He becomes the fourth Penmen netminder to stop at least 2,000 shots and is just 57 shy of tying Scott Howat '86 for third all-time in program history in career saves.
- Moquin's third-period goal was his 19th of the season, which is tops in the Northeast-10 and is the highest single-season goal total by a Southern New Hampshire student-athlete in nearly 10 seasons.
- The Penmen finished 1-for-3 on the powerplay and thwarted both Stonehill man advantage opportunities, however, the Skyhawks held a 50-43 edge in shots on goal.
What's Next:
Southern New Hampshire continues Northeast-10 Conference play on Friday when it makes the trip across town to take on Saint Anselm College at 7 p.m. inside the Sullivan Arena.
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