Tirone's 25 Saves Backbones Wildcats to 5-0 Win over RPI

Tuesday, November 22

Durham, N.H.

7:00 PM

University of New Hampshire

6-5-2

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

2-11-1

RPI

New Hampshire

Photo by: China Wong

11/22/2016 10:01:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score

GAME INFORMATION
Date: November 22, 2016 (7:00 p.m.)
Score: New Hampshire 5, RPI 0
New Records: New Hampshire (6-5-2, 3-1-1 HE) // RPI (2-11-1, 1-5-0 ECAC)
Location: Whittemore Center Arena (Durham, N.H.)

Goal Scorers: New Hampshire – Chris Miller (Eiserman, Dawson) - 5:17 - First Period // Tyler Kelleher (Cleland, McNicholas) - 10:03 - First Period // Liam Blackburn (Kelleher, Maller) - 7:42 - Third Period // Dylan Maller (Wyse, Eiserman) - 17:00 - Third Period // Michael McNicholas (Salvaggio) - 18:38 - Third Period
RPI - None
Goaltenders: UNH – Danny Tirone (6-3-2) - 25 saves (3 | 11 | 11) - 59:35 minutes
RPI - Cam Hackett (1-3-0) - 32 saves (12 | 9 | 11) - 58:20 minutes

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WHAT HAPPENED
The Wildcats struck first just 5:17 into the first period as Granite State native Chris Miller (Windham, N.H.) recorded his first goal of the season. The play started with sophomore blueliner Matt Dawson (Delta, British Columbia) playing a puck into the neutral zone to junior Shane Eiserman (Newburyport, Mass.). Eiserman laid the puck off to Miller who made a move on an RPI defenseman and wristed a shot into the net.

Senior Tyler Kelleher (Longmeadow, Mass.) netted his eighth goal of the season at 10:03 of the first frame to give UNH a 2-0 lead. Junior Michael McNicholas (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) initiated the scoring play when he passed the puck to senior captain Matias Cleland (Longmont, Colo.) who left the puck to Kelleher. Kelleher ripped a laser past RPI netminder Cam Hackett into the net.

The Wildcats increase their lead to 3-0 at the 7:42 mark of the third period as freshman Liam Blackburn (Prince George, British Columbia) scored his fourth goal of the season. Senior Dylan Maller (Parkland, Fla.) sent a pass into the RPI zone that was received by Blackburn. He played the puck back to Kelleher who passed it back to Blackburn and in turn put the puck away into the net.

Maller notched his second point of the night with three minutes remaining in the third period with an empty net goal, shooting it nearly the length of the ice. Freshman Anthony Wyse (Newton, Mass.) received the puck from Eiserman along the boards and played it across the ice to Maller in the faceoff circle to the right of UNH netminder Danny Tirone (Trumbull, Conn.). Maller launched a shot all the way down the ice into the net.

The 'Cats added one more goal to the total to make it 5-0 after McNicholas registered his second point of the night at the 18:38 mark of the third. Classmate Jason Salvaggio (Hanson, Mass.) saucered a pass over to McNicholas who was to the left of Hackett. McNicholas one-timed his shot into the net for the goal.

PENALTIES
New Hampshire: 4 penalties - 8 minutes
RPI: 5 penalties - 10 minutes

SPECIAL TEAMS
New Hampshire: 0-for-5
RPI: 0-for-3

NEW HAMPSHIRE LEADERS
Points: Dylan Maller (2), Michael McNicholas (2), Shane Eiserman (2), Tyler Kelleher (2)
Goals: Maller (1), McNicholas (1), Kelleher (1), Chris Miller (1), Liam Blackburn (1)
Assists: Eiserman (2)

RPI LEADERS
Points: None
Goals: - None
Assists: - None