SMC Athletics PR -

PURPLE KNIGHTS MAKE IT TWO IN A ROW WITH LATE WATTS TALLY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                               FOR MORE INFORMATION
November 20, 2004                                                                             Contact: Seth Cole
By Gavin Faretra ‘04                                                                           Phone: (802) 654-2537

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – An Alex Watts (Cheshire, Conn.) goal with just over three minutes remaining in the third period put the Purple Knights up for good, in a 6-5 victory over Tufts University in ECAC East men’s ice hockey action on Saturday at Cairns Arena.

Purple Knights sophomore Jared Silver (Montreal, Quebec) netted his first two goals of the season and freshman Erik Caron (Kanata, Ontario) contributed a goal and two assists, one of those assists coming on the game winning goal. Sophomore Erik Smith (Warwich, R.I.) stopped 33 of the 38 shots he faced in the contest, preserving his first win of the season.

Tufts senior Jason Boudrow (Somerville, Mass.) and junior Ken Cleary (Cambridge, Mass.) added a goal and an assist each for the Jumbos. Freshman goaltender James Kalec (East Amherst, N.Y.) stopped 30 of the 36 shots he faced from the Purple Knights in the losing effort.

The Purple Knights came out of the gates a little sluggish and the Jumbos were able to capitalize on it when Boudrow jumped on his own rebound and lit the lamp, giving Tufts a 1-0 lead only 4:21 into the first period. St. Michael’s threw several shots on Kalec, but he turned aside all 11 shots he faced. Smith kept the Jumbos off the scoreboard for the remainder of the period stopping 11 shots Jumbo attempts.

Two costly penalties for the Jumbos allowed the Purple Knights to score a pair of goals on the power play. The first goal came when Silver pounced on a loose puck and slid it by a helpless Jumbo goaltender. The Purple Knights, still up one man on the power play, then took their first lead of the game when Anctil deposited a Nick Dancey (Anaheim, Calif.) pass by the Tufts goaltender. After Tufts tied the game with a power play goal of their own, senior Chris Zimmermann (Montreal, Quebec) tipped a Craig Geragosian (North Andover, Mass.) shot passed Kalec giving the Purple Knights a one goal lead heading to the locker room.

The Jumbos capitalized on an early power play in the third and tied the game at three. Jumbos freshman Kurt Hertzog (Long Beach, Calif.) gave the Jumbos a one goal lead when he stole the puck from a Purple Knight and beat Smith over the left shoulder. Saint Michael’s wouldn’t be denied though, as Silver netted his second goal of the contest off a rebound from a Quentin Williams (East Hampton, Conn.) shot, tying the game at four. After Caron gave the Purple Knights the lead, the Jumbos were able to tie the game again when Cleary scored his first goal of the season. With the game seemingly headed for overtime Watts was able to score the eventual game winning goal when he deflected a Nick Towne (Milton, Vermont) shot over the goalkeepers left shoulder giving the Purple Knights their first 2-0 start since the 2000-01 season.

Both teams return to action on Tuesday, as Saint Michael’s hosts Northeast-10 Conference rival Assumption College at 7 p.m., and Tufts visits Southern New Hampshire University at 7:30 p.m.

GAME SUMMARY
Tufts                                1          1          3        - 5
Saint Michael’s              0          3          3          -- 6

First period: Scoring: 1. TUF, Boudrow (O’Connell), 4:21.
Penalties: Hertzog, TUF (hooking), 2:01; Geragosian, SMC (hooking), 6:05; Mullins, SMC (holding) 7:34; Bosacker, TUF (interference), 16:03; Zimmermann, SMC (tripping), 17:12.

Second period: Scoring: 2. SMC, Silver (Perez, Caron), 7:26 (pp); 3. SMC, Anctil (N. Dancey, Zimmermann), 7:55 (pp); 4. TUF, McCarthy (Boudrow, Cleary), 12:20 (pp); 5. SMC, Zimmermann (Geragosian), 13:36 (pp).
Penalties: Thompson, TUF (crosschecking), 3:01; Towne, SMC (tripping), 5:14; TUF, (too many men) served by Boudrow, 6:59; Walsh, TUF (holding), 7:18; T. Dancey, SMC (slashing), 10:51; Corbett, SMC (cross check), 13:31.

Third period: Scoring: 6. TUF, McCarthy (Corbett, Cleary), 1:57 (pp); 7. TUF, Hertzog, (unassisted), 6:44; 8. SMC, Silver (Q. Williams, Perez), 7:19; 9. SMC, Caron (Geragosian, Thurston), 8:09; 10. TUF, Cleary (Rotondi, Gimbel), 10:12; 11. SMC, Watts (Towne, Caron) 16:50.
Penalties: Mullins, SMC (hooking), 0:17; Corbett, TUF (obstruction-hooking), 2:46; Zimmermann, SMC (holding), 3:16; Hayes, TUF (slashing), 3:50; Girouard, SMC (interference), 4:17; Caron, SMC (hooking), 11:12; Girouard, SMC (interference), 17:29.

Shots: TUF (12 -14 – 12 -- 38), SMC (11 –15 – 10 -- 36).

Saves: TUF – Kalec (36 shots, 30 saves); SMC – Smith (38 shots, 33 saves).

For complete box score, click here.

###PURPLEKNIGHTS###

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Last Revised: October 25, 2002