(Game Box) 

            CONCORD, N.H. - Plymouth State University freshman Chris Zaremba (Colorado Springs, Colo.) stuffed in a goal just 23 seconds into overtime Tuesday evening to lift the Panthers past the New England College Pilgrims, 4-3, in a non-conference men's ice hockey game at Everett Arena.

            PSU's victory spoiled NEC's celebration of 40 years of ice hockey, defeating the Pilgrims for the first time in 17 career meetings.  The Panthers won for the first time in their last five games, improving to 4-8-1 overall, while NEC, which is ranked 15th in this week's Division III national poll, had its four-game winning streak stopped and dipped to 9-3 overall.

            Zaremba's goal was his third of the night, giving him his first career hat trick. He had a goal and three assists on the season coming into the game.

            Freshman goalie Allen Schneider (Strongsville, Ohio) was terrific between the pipes for PSU and kept the Panthers in the game.  Schneider finished with 46 saves as NEC out-shot PSU, 49-21.

            New England College controlled much of the play in the first period before Zaremba intercepted a pass at center ice and netted a short-handed goal at the 7:34 mark. The Pilgrims answered just six minutes later taking advantage of a power-play as Jon Globke (West Bloomfield, Mich.) scored his first goal of the season.

            The Pilgrims took their first lead of the game midway through the second period as Mark Ehl (N. Vancouver, B.C.) scored off a nice feed from Filip Bjork (Stockholm, Sweden) at the 11:00 mark.  The two teams battled through the remainder of the second scoreless as NEC held the slight 13-8 lead in shots.

            NEC's Emil Alengard (Likoping, Sweden) gave the Pilgrims some breathing room, netting his sixth goal of the season just six minutes into the third period.  Plymouth State responded as junior Chris Chambers (Crofton, Md.) tallied a power-play goal just 1:38 later cutting the NEC lead to 3-2.  PSU continued to battle as Zaremba notched his second goal of the night, assisted by Tommy Woods (Nashua, N.H.), tying the game at 3-3 with just under five minutes remaining in regulation.

            Neither team was able to muster a goal in the final minutes of the third period, sending the game into overtime, where Zaremba won it for the Panthers.

            NEC returns to action on Friday when the Pilgrims host NESCAC opponent Trinity at 7:30 p.m.  PSU returns to the ice with a weekend series against non-conference opponent Cortland State; the two teams will play Friday at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday at 1:00 p.m., with both games played the The Tilton School (N.H.) 

 (Courtesy of NEC Sports Information) 

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