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South Easton, Mass. – Goaltender and championship most
valuable player Tyler Bilton (Penticton, British
Columbia) made a number of stops in the final seconds
to help secure the 3-2 victory as Saint Michael’s College
defeated Stonehill College to win its second straight Northeast-10
Championship Saturday night in Burlington, Vt.
Stonehill scored the game’s first goal at the 12 minute mark
of the first period as freshman Andrew Diozzi (Belmont,
Mass.) took a pass from Pete Roundy
(Simsbury, Conn.) to give the Skyhawks an early 1-0
lead. The score remained tied throughout the remainder of the
period as both teams were unable to capitalize on scoring
opportunities.
With the score still 1-0 in favor of Stonehill late in the second
half Saint Michael’s finally found the back of the net as
freshman Brady Earle (Columbia, Md.) tied
the game off an assist from senior Ryan Mero
(Peekskill, N.Y.) at 16:31 of the second half.
Moments later the Purple Knights struck again, this time off a
turnover by Stonehill near the blue line. Mero accepted the pass
from Chris Healey (Salem, N.H.) and
slapped the puck into the upper left part of the goal. Saint
Michael’s took over the lead with under a minute remaining in
the half and held onto the lead entering the second
intermission.
In the third period the Purple Knights added to their lead as Mero
assisted on his second goal of the game as Dave
Vorozilchak (Clark Summit, Pa.) slapped a shot home
to give Saint Michael’s a 3-1 lead with less than 15 minutes
to play in regulation.
Minutes later it appeared Stonehill cut the Saint Michael’s
lead to one goal, however the goal was disallowed as it was ruled
the puck was directed into the goal by one of the Stonehill
player’s skate. Literally seconds after the disallowed call,
Stonehill found the back of the net and cut the lead to 3-2 as
freshman Pat Greene (Weymouth, Mass.)
scored off a pass from Diozzi 10 feet from the blue line.
Despite the come-back, Stonehill was unable to score another goal
past Bilton as Saint Michael’s held on to the victory. The
Purple Knights finished the year 11-15-2, while the Skyhawks closed
the year out with a 10-13-1 record.
With 15 member institutions the Northeast-10 is the second largest
NCAA Division II athletic conference in the nation. Its 23
championship sports provide athletic opportunities for over 5,500
student-athletes, the largest such program of any Division II
conference.
- NE-10 -
2009
Northeast-10 Ice Hockey All-Championship Team
Taylor Larsen – Assumption
Ben Siok – Franklin Pierce
Brian Hartigan – Saint Anselm
Tyler Bilton – Saint Michael’s
Chris Healey – Saint Michael’s
Ryan Mero – Saint Michael’s
Dave Carroll – Southern New Hampshire
James Florentino – Stonehill
Pete Roundy – Stonehill
MVP: Tyler Bilton
