HENNIKER, NH -The New England College men's ice hockey team strike four times in the first period, as they finished the first half of the year, with a 6-3 win over Anna Maria College 6-3 in non-conference action Saturday evening.
The Pilgrims improve to 8-4-1 overall, while the AMCats move to 6-3-3.

SCORING
1^st 02:25 | NEC Chris Maratea (Hunter Hall and Alex Laplante)
1^st 06:07 | NEC Alex Laplante (Jhuwon Davis and Hunter Hall)
1^st 11:17 | NEC Carlos Fornaris (Chris Maratea)
1^st 13:06 | NEC Hunter Hall(Alex Laplante and Connor Dunn)
2^nd 12:13 | AMC Patrick Manning (Gavin Proeh and Jack Sitzman)
2^nd 15:30 | NEC Nikita Pintusov(Carlos Fornaris and Daniel Bergqvist)
3^rd 12:14 | NEC Channing Gorsack(Carlos Fornaris and Daniel Bergqvist)
3^rd 16:54 | AMC Jack Sitzman(Sam Cyr-Ledoux)
3^rd 19:57 | AMC Sam Cyr Ledoux(Jack Sitzman and Patrick Manning)

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Pilgrims were able to score early and often in the first period as they opened things up just over two minutes in with a goal from Chris Maratea to take a 1-0 lead. Hunter Hall and Alex Laplante both picked up assists on the goal. Just about four minutes later New England College struck again to extend the lead to 2-0. Laplante scored the goal while Jhuwon Davis and Hunter Hall assisted. Just over halfway through the period, NEC added two more goals in under two minutes. Carlos Fornaris and Hall scored the goals while Connor Dunn, Connor Inger, and Laplante were awarded assists. The AMCats were unable to score in the period as the Pilgrims took a 4-0 lead into the second period.

In the second period, New England College was able to keep the pressure on as the peppered Anna Maria's goalie with shots. However, despite many quality opportunities for the Pilgrim's the score held at 4-0 halfway through the second. With just under eight minutes remaining in the period, the AMCats were finally able to score as they cut the lead to 4-1. With just under five minutes in the period, Nikita Pintusov was able to score to bring things to 5-1. Daniel Bergqvist and Fornaris picked up assists on the goal. There were no more goals in the period as NEC closed out the second with a 5-1 lead.

In the third and final period, neither team was able to get much going as the score remained 5-1 in favor of New England College halfway through. With just under eight minutes remaining the Pilgrims were able to score again to extend the lead to 6-1. Channing Gorsack scored the goal and Fornaris and Bergqvist picked up assists. Anna Maria was able to score again with about three minutes remaining to make the score 6-2. The Amcats added one more three seconds remaining to make it 6-3 which would hold as the final score and a victory for NEC.

GOALTENDERS
Anthony Pupplo turned aside 16 shots in the game. Julius Husetrecorded 39 saves for Anna Maria.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
-The Pilgrims outshot the Amcats 21-9 in the first period with Anna Maria's first shot not coming until almost 12 minutes into the game.
- With Nikita Pinutsov's goal in the second period he reached 17 goals on the season which is the most in a season since Niko Uola had 17 in 2011-12.
-Hunter Hall, Carlos Fornaris, and Alex Laplante all had 3 points on the day.
-This is the second match-up between the two teams with NEC winning both games by three goals.

WHAT'S NEXT
The Pilgrims start 2020 with a non-conference match-up against Plymouth State on Tuesday, January 7^th at 7:00 pm.