The first score came from sophomore forward Dominic Murphy in the first period with help from Drew Oliveri, a sophomore and a forward. Murphy also had help from senior forward Ryan Kuzmich.
Freshman forward Cam Bergemen added to the scoreboard by scoring another point off a feed from junior forward Jayden Price and senior forward Anthony Sciucco.
“You know this is a big game, especially the first game of the year. [Plymouth] is a ranked team, and they kicked our butts last year, so we knew how important it was, and we came out firing and got the result we wanted,” said Chip Hamlett, a junior defensive player.
Within the first five minutes of the 2nd period, Kuzmich took the puck from the defensive zone and upped the score to 3-0. Oliveri passed the puck to Price, who then fed it to senior defender Jacob Pellerin, making the score 4-0.
Murphey totaled the score to 5-0 with nine minutes left in the game by getting the puck after Oliveri won an offensive zone faceoff. “I knew we would play well. We came out firing and got the job done,” Murphy said.
UNE totaled 31 shots on goal and 36 won faceoffs. The Nor’easter defense was on fire with 14 blocked attempts to score, and senior Goalie Joey Stanizzi piled up 39 saves during the game.
“I think the most important thing for our team is to never let up no matter the score. Even when we get a big lead, we just gotta make sure we are playing our game and staying on them,” said Hamlett.
“We knew it was gonna be a tough game based on last year. We just wanted to come out flying and use the energy from the home crowd and get a good ‘W’ [win],” said Ryan Kuzmich, a senior forward.
Arianna Ochs contributed to this article.
