Worcester, Mass. (January 21) -- The Assumption College men's ice hockey team defeated Southern New Hampshire University, 5-3, behind two goals and an assist from junior forward Keven Meehan (Melrose, Mass./Austin Prep).
Meehan started the scoring for the Ice Dogs in the first period when he beat Southern New Hampshire goaltender Tyler Holske with 12:44 remaining in the first period. Senior forward Pat O'Kane (Hollis, N.H./Bishop Guertin) and sophomore forward Kyle Zobler (Millbury, Mass./New Hampton) assisted the goal. With the assist O'Kane moves to 99 career points.
Southern New Hampshire answered back with a first period goal of its own with 3:23 to play when Trevor Nelson scored an unassisted goal to tie the score.
Assumption took the lead back on Meehan's second period goal, his fourth of the season and second of the game, when he found the back of the net off passes from sophomore forward Nick Mattiello (Johnston, R.I./Bishop Hendricksen) and forward Ross White (Uxbridge, Mass./Uxbridge), and the Ice Dogs would not trail after that.
Mattiello added a goal with 13:58 to play in the second period, his first of two, to extend the lead to 3-1 off passes from White and Mike Heyde (Natick, Mass./Natick).
Southern New Hampshire cut into the lead with a second period goal of its own by Steven Barry, assisted by Craig Carbonneau.
The Ice Dogs pushed the lead back up to two, 4-2, 13 seconds into the final period on an unassisted goal by senior forward Taylor Larsen (Blackstone, Mass./Worcester Academy), his eighth of the season.
After pulling the goaltender, Holske, the Penmen scored one last time to cut the lead to one a goal by John Humphrey with 25 seconds left to play, but the Ice Dogs answered back on Mattiello's Confernce-leading 10th goal of the season with 10 seconds to play, giving Assumption a 5-3 victory.
Sophomore goaltender Bobby Bowden (Springfield, Mass./Williston-Northampton) turned away 40-of-43 shots he faced to move to 5-2-1 on the season, while the team improves to 8-7-1 overall.
The Ice Dogs return to action on Wednesday, January 25th to take on Northeast-10 Conference opponent Stonehill College. The game will start at 7:35 p.m. at the Buffone Arena in Worcester, Mass.
