Tasiopoulos turns away 44 shots to lift Skyhawks

Chris Tasiopoulos turned away a career-high 44 shots to improve to 4-5-0 in his freshman campaign.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (December 8, 2011) – The Stonehill College men's ice hockey team claimed a 4-2 win over Western New England University in non-conference action on Thursday night at Smead Arena snapping the Golden Bears three-game winning streak.

Freshman goaltender Chris Tasiopoulos (Norwell, Mass./Thayer Academy) stopped a career-high 44 shots including a game-high 15 in both the second and third periods to push the Skyhawks undefeated streak to three games (2-0-1). Senior forward Patrick Greene (Weymouth, Mass./Catholic Memorial) led the team offensively with one goal and one assist.

Tied 1-1 after one period of play, Greene gave Stonehill a 2-1 advantage at 9:09 of the second stanza on an unassisted tally for his third goal of the season.

In third period on the power play, junior defenseman J.J. Sabin (Milton, Mass./Tilton School) potted the eventual game-winner at the 11:16 mark on feeds from Greene and Bill Carey (Weymouth, Mass.) for his second tally of the season and his first-career collegiate game-winner.

Senior forward Rory Hansen (Noblesville, Ind.) cut the deficit to 3-2 at 12:32 of the period finishing on a pass from teammate Adam Bristol (Carmel, Ind.) for his second marker of the season.

The Golden Bears rally fell short as junior defenseman Tyler Gordon (Franklin, Mass./Xaverian Brothers) added an unassisted shorthanded tally, his second of the season, with the net open at 19:55 to seal the victory.

Western New England held a 47-28 advantage in shots on goal in the contest. Sophomore netminder Eric Sorenson (Fairport, N.Y.) finished the night with 24 saves while Skyhawks backup goaltender Dominic Sawaia (Cranston, R.I./Canterbury School) had one save in 27 seconds of action. Stonehill went 1-for-3 on the power play while the Golden Bears were 0-for-5.

Stonehill (4-6-1, 2-1-0 NE-10) completes its four-game road stand in December with a non-conference matchup against Suffolk University at Allied Veterans Memorial Skating Rink in Everett, Mass. at 8:35 p.m on Saturday before it returns to action on Sunday, January 15 against Becker College, on the road, at 3:00 p.m. Western New England (6-3-0, 3-1-0 ECAC Northeast) hosts Framingham State on January 5 at 7:15 p.m.

- www.stonehillskyhawks.com -