Contact: Mike O'Brien

NORTHFIELD, VT - Plymouth State mounted a late third period rally but the 15th-ranked Amherst men's ice hockey team held strong and prevailed with a 4-3 win on Friday at the Northfield Savings Bank Holiday Tournament hosted by Norwich University.

In their first game back since Dec. 7, the Jeffs opened up with an early 2-0 lead and pulled away to improve to 7-2-0 overall on the season. With the loss, Plymouth State drops to 4-7.

Entering the third period with a 3-1 advantage, the Panthers cut the deficit to one when Josh Woody '16 sent one between the posts in just :48 seconds, putting the pressure on Amherst.

However, the Jeffs retaliated just over nine minutes later when a Plymouth State penalty created a man advantage for the Purple & White. Amherst seized its opportunity with a game-winning goal from junior defender Aaron Deutsch '15. Brendan Burke '16 and Topher Flanagan '16 were credited with assists on the play.

Plymouth State's Chad Barthelmess '15 added another goal at the 12:56 mark but the deficit was too much to overcome as the Jeffs pulled away with the 4-3 win.

Flanagan scored the first goal of the game at the 7:30 mark in the first period to give Amherst the early lead. He was assisted by Deutsch and Burke on the play. In under two minutes to play in the second period, Burke netted another Jeff goal to increase their lead to two. The sophomore forward was involved in three of Amherst's four scores (1G, 2A).

Zach Sarig '15 scored minutes later off an assist from Dave Walters '14 and Barthelmess to cut the margin to one but another second period goal from Amherst put the game out of reach as Andrew Kurlandski '14 found the back of the net for his fifth goal of the year.

Amherst was 3-for-5 on power-play opportunities while Plymouth State finished just 1-for-6. Johnny Russell '14 earned the win in net for the Jeffs with 19 saves and Gordon Ceasar '16 took the loss with a 31 save performance. 

The Jeffs are back on the ice tomorrow, Jan. 4, and will face the winner of the Norwich/Milwaukee School of Engineering game.