SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.—Matt Muzyka scored two goals and an assist to lead the Skidmore College hockey team to a 5-2 NEHC win over New England College Friday night at the Saratoga Springs City Rink.
The Thoroughbreds improve to 2-2-1 overall and 1-1-1 in NEHC play, while the Pilgrims are 3-2-1 and 2-2-1.
The teams started off with nonstop end-to-end play with neither team getting a shot on goal until NEC’s Patrick DeBlois had his shot denied by Skidmore goalie Brandon Kasel with at the 4:50 mark of the first.
The Thoroughbreds took off after that with Muzyka scoring from Kyle DelMaestro at 7:11. Reid Russell made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 14:50 from Muzyka and Brandon Borges at 14:50. Muzyka closed out the period with his second goal at 19:45 from Owen Campbell and Borges for a 3-0 lead.
Skidmore extended the lead to 4-0 when Max Hegge found Owen Campbell in the slot at 4:38 of the second. Matt Wolf had the second helper.
New England closed the gap to 4-2 with a power-play goal by Connor Fries at 13:53 of the second from Carlos Fornaris and Josh Champerlain and an early third period goal by Nikita Pintusov at 3:09. Connor Inger and Conner Fries assisted.
Skidmore responded with Austin Rook’s insurance tally from Wolf and Corey Morgan at 5:11 for the 5-2 final.
NEC had a 30-27 edge in shots. Kasel finished with 28 saves, while Anthony Pupplo had nine saves over the first 25:05 and Spencer Kozlowski stopped 13 shots in relief.
Both teams are back in action Saturday. The Thoroughbreds host Southern Maine at 4 p.m., while the Pilgrims travel to Hobart for a 4 p.m. contest.
