Members of the UNH women's hockey team celebrate their win Saturday afternoon over Holy Cross in Durham. (Courtesy photo by Callie Cyr/UNH Athletics)

DURHAM - Five different Wildcats found the back of the net as the #19 University of New Hampshire men’s hockey team defeated #7 Maine, 5-2, on Saturday night at the Whittemore Center at Key Auto Group Complex.

Junior goaltender Jakob Hellsten recorded 21 saves to earn the win for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats improve to 16-11-1 (9-8-1 Hockey East), while the Black Bears fall to 18-8-2 (10-7-1 Hockey East). UNH’s 16-11-1 record is its best after the first 28 games of the season in 11 years when the Wildcats were 16-8-4 in 2012-13.

Donavan Villeneuve-Houle sent a wrist shot over the glove side of Hellsten to give the Black Bears a 1-0 lead at 4:29 in the first period. Brandon Holt and Brandon Chabrier tallied the assists.

The Wildcats responded with a power play goal at 9:14 in the first period when senior alternate captain Harrison Blaisdell deflected a shot from junior defenseman Luis Lindner that went by Victor Ostman. Freshman forward Nick Ring recorded the secondary assist.

Sophomore forward Morgan Winters ripped the puck through the five-hole of Ostman to give UNH a 2-1 lead at 19:04 of the second period. Sophomore forward Kristaps Skrastins and junior defenseman Colton Huard notched the assists.

The Wildcats extended their lead to 3-1 at 3:37 when Huard rebounded the puck off the boards and sent it into the back of the Black Bears net. Freshman forward Ryan Conmy and sophomore forward Cy LeClerc of Brentwood were credited with the assists.

Thomas Freel and Nolan Renwick assisted a goal from Harrison Scott that cut the score to 3-2. Junior forward Liam Devlin and Conmy set up LeClerc who ripped the puck over the glove of Ostman at 9:32 of the third period to make the score 4-2.

Devlin capped off UNH’s victory with a goal at 16:03 which extended the final score to 5-2.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

UNH 2,HOLY CROSS 1

Junior forward Brooke Hammer scored the game winning goal at the Whittemore Center at Key Auto Group Complex.

Freshman goaltender Sedona Blair made 24 saves in the contest.

Hammer scored the game-winning goal and notched an assist for two points. Three other Wildcats recorded points, including a goal by senior Nicole Kelly

Holy Cross goalie Madison Beck made 29 total saves while Alexia Moreau scored the lone Crusaders’ goal.

UNH improved to 15-15-2 overall and 12-11-2 in Hockey East. HC is now 7-21-3, 4-18-3.

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