KEENE, N.H. - The New England College men's ice hockey team bounced back with a 7-6 win over Keene State College on Friday night, doing so in dramatic fashion on a walk-off overtime winner. While junior Gunnar Sibley (Monticello, Minn.) had his first two-goal game of the season, it was sophomore Egor Osipik (Minsk, Belarus) who played hero with the first four-point game of his career, including the overtime game-winner with just 23 seconds remaining in extra time.
Still scoreless in the seventh minute of the opening period, sophomore Anthony Beaulieu (Lawrence, Mass.) made an excellent save on a one-timer from Keene State's Zackary Chouinard. The loose puck was picked up by junior Dylan Duckson (Mahtomedi, Minn.) who went coast-to-coast, speeding around multiple defenders before scoring through the five-hole to put the 'Grims up early with his sixth goal of the season - tying Osipik for the team-lead.
Duckson's early goal was followed by freshman Jack Ohlund (Lakeville, Minn.) who gave the 'Grims a two-goal lead at 14:35 off an assist from junior Christophe Petit (Chelsea, Quebec). Ohlund took the pass from Petit in their own defensive zone, and Ohlund worked around the Keene defense before sending a laser into the back of the Owl net.
Just 30 seconds after Ohlund's score, Sibley scored his first of the evening off assists from freshman Emil Elias (Ekerö, Sweden) and Osipik. Keene State scored their first of the night with 39 seconds left in the first period, looking to take a two-goal deficit into the first intermission. But Sibley, #12 in blue, scored his second goal of the night just 12 seconds later. Osipik fired a shot on net and redirected the ensuing rebound into the waiting stick of Sibley to give the 'Grims a 4-1 lead after one.
The high-scoring affair continued into the second period; 5:36 into the period, freshman Jack Brennan (Hingham, Mass.) scored the first goal of his career as the defender capitalized on a power-play opportunity with a strike from just inside the blue line. Osipik had his third assist of the game while freshman Max Tanskanen (Joensuu, Finland) netted his first career point.
Four minutes later, now 5-2 NEC, freshman Serafin Hoerl (Innsbruck, Austria) made it 6-2 as he made good on a nice pass sophomore Vesse-Wincent Lampen (Espoo, Finland) directly in front of the Keene State goal. Brennan was credited with the secondary assist after forcing a turnover and finding Lampen, leading to the Hoerl score to put the 'Grims up 6-2.
Keene State got one goal back late in the second period and exploded for three goals in the final 10 minutes of the third period, using four unanswered goals to force overtime at 6-6.
Midway through the five-minute overtime period, a Keene State penalty granted the Pilgrims a 4-on-3 power play chance. The Owls would kill the penalty as it turned to 4-on-4 on the ice for the final 90 seconds of crunch time. And with 23 seconds left, Osipik drilled the game-winning goal off the feed from Sibley and freshman Matteo Viglino (Davos, Switzerland) to give the 'Grims the overtime win and two points in the LEC standings.
For Osipik, the game-winner was his second of the season after he netted the game- winning goal against these very same Owls on November 22nd in Henniker. Tonight's goal was his first ever walk-off game-winner in overtime.
Beaulieu made 40 saves in net for the 'Grims while senior Danny Miscavish (Macomb, Mich.) made a brief appearance in relief of Beaulieu in the second period, making five saves across five scoreless minutes. NEC was outshot 51-25 by KSC in the win.
The Pilgrims will now head further south to Danbury, Connecticut for a 3:30 PM LEC matchup against the Wolves of Western Connecticut State.
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