Taylor Larsen 'tricks' Stonehill as Ice Dogs prevail 5-2 in Northeast-10 Conference opener

November 18, 2009

Assumptino 5, Stonehill 2

FOXBORO, Mass. --- Sophomore center TAYLOR LARSEN (Blackstone, MA/Worcester Academy) scored his first career 'hat-trick' and added a pair of assists as Assumption College skated past Stonehill College, 5 2, in the Northeast-10 Conference ice hockey opener for both teams WEDNESDAY night at the Foxboro Sports Arena.

The Greyhounds streaked to a quick 3-0 first-period lead as sophomore right wing PAT O'KANE (Hollis, NH/Bishop Guertin) had a pair of goals and an assist. O'Kane opened the scoring finishing off a scramble in front of the net with Larsen getting an assist at 4:04 with both team skating a man-short.

Sophomore goalkeeper NICK BLANCHETTE (Stuart, FL/Worcester Academy) was superb in net making 39 saves. Stonehill outshot the Greyhounds 41-24. MIKE MANNA made 24 saves in goal for the Skyhawks, now 2-3-1 overall and 0-1 in the conference.

Larsen made it 2-0 at 11:24 with O'Kane getting an assist and then O'Kane came back with a power-play goal, his fifth goal of the season, from Larsen and junior left wing PATRICK FITZGIBBONS (Worcester, MA/Saint John's) (two assists) at 15:56.

Larsen continued the onslaught with his second goal of the game at 4:11 of the second period. O'Kane and sophomore defenseman KEVIN GLANZMAN (Massapequa, NY/Massapequa) assisted on the play.

Stonehill scored two power-play goals to close the gap. Freshman forward CHRISTOPHER GOROVITZ scored his second goal of the season at 13:34 assisted by freshman forward DANA BORGES (Taunton, MA/Coyle Cassidy) and freshman forward GEORGE DE MELLO (Cotuit, MA/Tabor Academy). Less than four minutes later junior center ANGELO TODESCA (Westwood, MA/Catholic Memorial) scored his third goal of the season from junior defenseman JOHN YOKOW (Windsor, CT/Loomis Chaffee) and senior left wing PETER ROUNDY (Simsbury, CT/Kimball Union).

Larsen put the exclamation point on the game just 14 seconds into the final period completing his 'hat-trick' on a nice feed from Fitzgibbons.

Larsen (first star), O'Kane (second star) and Blanchette (third star) made it a complete sweep of the postgame stars for the Greyhounds.

The Greyhounds (1-3, 1-0) are next in action at Northeast-10 Conference rival Southern New Hampshire SATURDAY. Opening faceoff at the Ice Den in Hookset, NH is slated for 7 p.m. They open their home schedule TUESDAY against conference rival Saint Michael's College at 6:35 p.m. at the Buffone Rink.

CLICK HERE for ASSUMPTION-STONEHILL Box Score