ST. CLOUD, Minn. - Nick Sorkin (Rockville, Md.) scored a pair of goals to pace the University of New Hampshire men's hockey team to a 3-3 tie with St. Cloud State University on Saturday night at the National Hockey Center.
UNH, which outshot the Huskies 47-24 moves to 0-4-1 on the season, while the Huskies are now 2-3-1.
Sorkin scored a power play and short-handed goal and has four goals in a three-game goal-scoring streak. Stevie Moses (Leominster, Mass.) handed out a pair of assists on Sorkin's goals.
St. Cloud struck first as Cam Reid scored from the left slot with an assist from Drew LeBlanc at 7:24. The Huskies won a faceoff in the offensive zone that setup the tally. UNH had a few opportunities during early first period power plays including a close-range wrister by John Henrion (Holden, Mass.) that was saved by SCSU netminder Mike Lee. The Huskies doubled its lead when Jared Festler scored on one-timer from the left circle. Reid and Andrew Prochno assisted on the goal at 15:38 of the period. Greg Burke (Lee, N.H.) had a power play bid that was denied by Lee at setting UNH up with a line change. The change helped lead to New Hampshire's first goal of the game. Grayson Downing (Abbottsford, British Columbia began the scoring sequence with a centering pass to Moses. Moses' first shot attempt was saved, but he was able to stick it to the short-side where Nick Sorkin (Rockville, Md.) put home his third power play goal in as many games at 17:10. The teams went into the break 2-1 with UNH holding a 10-8 shot advantage.
New Hampshire controlled play throughout the second period. With a penalty coming up on St. Cloud, UNH scored an extra-attacker goal as Eric Knodel (West Chester, Pa.) scored his first collegiate goal from the left point at 5:15. Damon Kipp (Salmon Arm, British Columbia) and Dalton Speelman (San Jose, Calif.) registered helpers on the tally. UNH continued its impressive play recording the first nine shots of the period, but couldn't break through Lee. The Huskies would be whistled for a five-minute major for contact to the head with 5:11 remaining. The Wildcats continued to put pressure on SCSU, but did not score the go-ahead goal. UNH outshot the Huskies 19-4 in the period.
Just 34 seconds into the third, Henrion was whistled for a five-minute slashing penalty. The Wildcats kill unit limited SCSU to just one shot during the penalty. During the power play, the Huskies were attempting to bring the puck into the offensive zone when Moses intercepted a pass at center ice. Moses cruised into the zone with Sorkin and another UNH player to create an odd-man rush. Moses slid the puck to a crashing Sorkin, who tapped in the go-ahead short-handed goal at 2:54. The Huskies scored the equalizer at 7:53 of the third period as Nic Dowd scored with assists from David Eddy and Ben Hanowski. Both teams had great opportunities in the last half of the period, but neither were able to break the deadlock. UNH held a 14-11 shot edge in the period for a 43-23 advantage in regulation.
In the five-minute overtime session, both team had quality chances with the best opportunity coming in the waning seconds as Moses made a nifty move to free up in front of the net.
Lee stopped 44 shots including 18 in the second period and moves to 2-2-1. Jeff Wyer (Reading, Mass.), in his first collegiate start, turned aside 24 shots including 11 in the third period and is now 0-1-1.
St. Cloud State was 0-4 on the power play, while UNH was 1-6 in its extra-skater opportunities. Both teams were unsuccessful in five-minute major opportunities.
UNH returns home for four-straight games starting with a homecoming tilt with Union on Oct. 28 (7 p.m.) followed by a Hockey East home game against Northeastern on Oct. 29 (7 p.m.) for tickets to the Union, Northeastern games and more information on UNH hockey including live stats, live video and audio log onto www.UNHWildcats.com.