Jason Salvaggio and Tyler Kelleher each scored a pair of goals and had a pair of assists to lead the University of New Hampshire to a 6-4 non-conference victory over Maine Friday night in front of 4,460 fans at the Verizon Wireless Center in Manchester, NH.
Salvaggio scored just 28 seconds into the contest to give the Wildcats the early lead. Ryan Smith responded for Maine just 48 seconds later to tie it up 1-1. Shane Eiserman scored shorthanded 9:02 into the first to give UNH back the lead at 2-1.
Eric Shurhamer scored his first of a two goal night 44 seconds into the second on a powerplay to tie it up again at 2-2. Kelleher restored the lead at 5:58 to make it 3-2, and Justin Fregona made it 4-2 Wildcats at the 15:30 mark. Shurhamer cut the lead back to 4-3 with another powerplay goal at 19:08.
Maine (7-10-3) had many chances to tie the game in the third period, but UNH goalie Danny Tirone made four or five grade A saves to protect the lead. Salvaggio scored at 14:02 to make it 5-3, before Kelleher scored an empty net goal at 18:53 to put the game away. Patrick Holway scored with 10 seconds left for Maine to finish off the scoring.
Rob McGovern started in net for Maine and played the first 25:58 of the game, making 8 saves on 11 shots. Matt Morris fell to 1-3-0 as he played the remainder of the game making 11 saves on 13 shots.
Danny Tirone is now 9-5-2 making 33 saves for New Hampshire. The Black Bears outshot UNH 37-25. Maine was 2-4 on the powerplay, while UNH was 0-3. The Wildcats improve to 9-7-2 on the season.
Maine will return home for an exhibition contest next Friday, January 6th at 7 p.m. when they play the USA National Development Team.
UME (7-10-3) 1 2 1- 4
UNH (9-7-2) 2 2 2- 6
