BIDDEFORD — The No. 10 University of New England men’s hockey team topped visiting No. 8 Endicott 4-2 on Friday night at the Harold Alfond Forum.

Special teams were critical on both sides Friday, with five goals being scored either on the power play or penalty kill. 

“Our special teams have been big for us all year, we’re the No. 1 power play in the country. Usually we rely on that pretty heavily to win hockey games and tonight was no different,” said UNE coach Kevin Swallow. “That was the difference. We had a nice power-play goal and our penalty kill came through for us.”

UNE took a 2-0 lead in the second period after a scoreless first. Adam Canepa scored with under seven minutes left on a shorthanded goal while Derek Mecrones added a power-play goal 3:03 later.

Logan Day got Endicott on the board less than two minutes into the second on a power-play goal to cut into the UNE lead. However, Ryan Bloom would put away another shorthanded goal with 6:14 left to make it 3-1.

“Shorthanded goals don’t come easily. Sometimes you can catch the other team sleeping, they are a team that thinks offense. We knew that coming in to the game so we knew we could take advantage of them thinking offensively. I think we did a nice job of making them pay for being a little too aggressive offensively,” said Swallow.

Endicott would not go away as it scored less than a minute later on the same power play to cut the lead to 3-2 with 6:01 remaining.

The two clubs continued to grind, but Brady Fleurent put the game away with an empty-netter with 13.9 seconds left.

“It was a great effort by the boys … we knew it was a top-10 battle in the nation. It’s big for the conference and for the national rankings so this win is going to come back huge at the end of the year,” said Fleurent after the win.

Fleurent, a Biddeford native, is having a fantastic year for the Nor’easters. He currently leads the Commonwealth Coast Conference in points with 44 and assists with 31. He is also third in plus/minus with 25.

Fleurent has been happy with his personal performance as well as the team’s this winter.

“It’s been great — people kind of underestimated us coming into the year. We had a good year last year and we wanted to prove that we could build on that. Individually I’m having a great year as well, it’s a team game, pucks are going in for me and Ryan Bloom, but overall it’s good to see the wins are coming,” said Fleurent.

Swallow was happy to see his team beat another nationally-ranked opponent, and hopes that it will build momentum moving forward.

“They’re a great opponent so to come out with a win is huge. It’s good for our confidence knowing that we’re competing with those top teams and now we know going into playoffs that we can beat anyone,” said Swallow.

The Nor’easters will head to Beverly, Massachusetts tonight for another showdown with Endicott. Fleurent expects the Gulls to bring their best the second time around. 

“Tomorrow’s going to be a battle,” said Fleurent. “They’re a high-powered offense, we’re going to have to play good D like we did tonight and block shots. It’s going to come down to doing the little things.”

NOTE: Dimitris Jones, Tucker Ross, Ryan Burr, Ian Rodden and Fleurent recorded assists in the win. UNE goalie Ben Churchfield recorded 27 saves.

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