NASHUA, N.H. - The New England College men's ice hockey team cruised to a season-opening victory over Rivier on Saturday night, using an offensive outburst led by a four-goal second period to pick up their first win of the season. The victory marks head coach Tom Carroll's 300th career win here at New England College.
Not even five minutes into the 2025-26 season, junior Gunnar Sibley (Monticello, Minn.) got the 'Grims on the board as he redirected a one-timer from freshman Jack Brennan (Hingham, Mass.) with 15:05 left in the first period, taking advantage of an early 5-on-3 power play to give the Pilgrims a 1-0 lead.
A minute into the second period, a Raiders breakaway drew a penalty from a trailing NEC defender which seemed as if it could potentially result in a penalty shot; Ultimately Rivier's Aaron Sawicki was credited with an early game-tying goal as the officials determined a goal was scored amidst the contact and before the goal was dislodged.
Almost three minutes later, Sibley won a faceoff to the left of the Rivier net and junior Jack Herron (Lake in the Hills, Ill.) quickly took possession and sent the puck into the top left corner of the Raiders' goal to put the Pilgrims back on top with 16:31 in the second period.
Playing with another 5-on-3 advantage with under eight minutes to play in the second, sophomore Vesse-Wincent Lampen (Espoo, Finland) took a shot that was initially saved and sent up in the air by the Rivier goaltender, but the rebound was knocked in by freshman Wyatt Gibson (Pelham, Ont.) and deposited into the net for his first collegiate goal.
The goal by Hughes returned one of the Raiders' penalties, but it remained an NEC power play for another 110 seconds. Herron needed just 23 of those seconds before scoring his second goal of the game on a crafty deflection off a pass from sophomore Egor Osipik (Minsk, Belarus). Brennan was credited with the secondary assist for his second helper of the evening.
In a game of quick answers, Sawicki capitalized on a Rivier power-play 42 seconds later to score his second goal of the game and pull the Raiders within two with 6:33 left in the second period.
The high-scoring second period continued in the final 10 seconds as Sibley applied pressure to the Rivier back-line and stole the puck and quickly found freshman Matteo Viglino (Davos, Switzerland) who streaked down the middle and sent the puck top-shelf for his first collegiate goal. The goal was the team's first short-handed goal of the season and gave the 'Grims a 5-2 lead with just six seconds left in the period.
Later in the third, Osipik tracked down a puck beyond the Raiders' net and found senior Graham Padgitt (St. Charles, Ill.) who battled in front of the net and, despite a numbers disadvantage, beat the keeper and got in on the offensive onslaught with his first goal of the season.
NEC would leave Nashua with a 6-2 win in their season opener, holding Rivier to just 15 shots on net. Sophomore goaltender Anthony Beaulieu (Lawrence, Mass.) made 13 saves while earning the win.
The Pilgrims now turn their attention to their Little East Conference (LEC) opener next Friday, November 7th, as they face the Spartans of Vermont State University-Castleton at 6:00 PM in Rutland, Vermont.
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