MANCHESTER, N.H. – Sophomore Mark Meads (Middleton, Mass.) scored his first goal as a Hawk to put the Saint Anselm College men's ice hockey team up, 3-2, 7:13 into the third period, but Skidmore College pulled a Houdini act and scored with 26.9 seconds remaining in regulation to steal the 3-3 tie Saturday evening at Thomas F. Sullivan Arena.
The Hawks snap their three-game skid to begin the year and move to 0-3-1, both on the season and in ECAC East play, while the Thoroughbreds are now 2-2-1, 1-2-1 ECAC East.
Tied at two with 12:47 to play in regulation, Meads' unbelievable solo effort put the Hawks on top. Meads battled a pair of Thoroughbreds for the puck behind the Skidmore net. After winning the war, Meads carried the puck on his stick with his right arm and used his free arm to block out his defender, who was riding him away from the net. Meads went down to his knees, swung his stick around on the ice with one hand and somehow was able to put the puck between the five-hole of Skidmore goaltender Jack McDonald to make it 3-2.
Saint Anselm looked to be in line for its first win of 2013-14, but the Thoroughbreds had other ideas. After pulling McDonald in favor of the extra skater, Tony Giacin won the left-circle faceoff to the near boards where Vlad Gavrik rifled a shot on net. The shot came through traffic on the left side of the net and Anthony Bird slipped it past the left pad of senior goaltender Nick Dries (Commerce Township, Mich.) to knot things up at 3-all with just over 26 seconds on the clock. Dries had stoned Bird with under 4:30 to play in regulation when Skidmore could not capitalize on a 2-on-0 breakaway.
The Hawks had a pair of chances to win it in overtime. With just over two minutes remaining in the extra session, junior Johnny Daniels (Andover, Mass.) was driving to the net from the left circle when the puck was knocked away, but slid right to the high slot where senior Alex Pascal (Blue Bell, Pa.) collected it and wristed it over the glove of McDonald, but off the right post. Then with 25 seconds on the clock, Daniels charged hard to the right circle before a quick dish to the left slot for freshman Nick Leonard (Methuen, Mass.), who shot it just wide to the left.
Dries made 40 saves for the Hawks, while McDonald stopped 21 shots for the thoroughbreds. Skidmore outshot Saint Anselm, 43-24, including 3-1 in the overtime period.
Skidmore grabbed a 1-0 lead midway through the opening period on a Dalton Weinstein power-play tally off a feed from Vlad Gavrik 9:36 in.
Saint Anselm answered less than two minutes later when a pass from the right circle off the stick of junior Matt Buckley (Canton, Mass.) was deflected to the slot where classmate Kody Grondin (Hampton, N.H.) snapped off a quick shot that came back to him before he popped it into the back of net on the glove side of McDonald. Senior Joe Tebano (Glastonbury, Conn.) was also credited with an assist on the play.
The Hawks went on top, 2-1, with 2:28 left to go in the first on a shorthanded goal by sophomore Bryan Sullivan (Burlington, Mass.). Sullivan worked the puck free along the left boards in the Skidmore zone and skated all the way down ice to the left circle before wristing the puck over the right shoulder of McDonald.
Skidmore answered just 1:28 later to close the scoring on the offensive first period as David Limonges extended his point streak to five games with an assist on Phil Buonocore's goal.
The Hawks return to action Friday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. when they hit the road to battle the University of Norwich. The next home game for the Hawks is Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. when they play host to Assumption College at Sullivan Arena. Stay up-to-date with the latest news, including game previews and recaps, directly from the Saint Anselm College athletic department by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter @STAHawks.
