MARLBOROUGH, MA – Scoring singles goals in each of the three periods, the University of Mary's quest for a third straight national title remains intact. A gritty performance on both ends of the ice by the Marauders lifted UMary to a 3-1 win over the University of Kentucky in game two of pool play at the 2023 American Collegiate Hockey Association Men's Division 2 national championships.
 
Next up for the 2-time national champion Marauders is a meeting with the University of St. Thomas in the third and final game of pool play. Both teams are undefeated after two contests with the winner advancing to the ACHA M2 semifinals. Game time between the Marauders and the Tommies is 4 pm CST on Sunday, March 19. UMary and UST split their 2-game season series played on the Marauders ice in Mandan, ND, with the Tommies winning the second and last meeting 5-0. The Marauders lead the all-time series 8-1.
 
A perfect 12-0 all-time in ACHA M2 tournament games, the Marauders enter the championships as the #1 seed in pool C and improve to 38-6-2-1 (W-L-OTL-T) on the season overall and 29-4-0-1 against fellow ACHA M2 teams. Kentucky, the #3 seed in Pool C, drops to 26-7-0-0.
 
For the second straight game, UMary opened the scoring with the lone goal of the first period. With under a minute remaining in the opening stanza, Derek Dropik carried the puck into the right circle before rifling a shot at net. Positioned perfectly in front of the goal mouth, All-American defenseman Johnny Witzke redirected Dropik's shot past Wildcats goalkeeper Arley Cutler into the back of the net with 54 seconds on the clock to send the Marauders into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead.
 
Kentucky stunned the Marauders with a goal by Jack Noel just 88 seconds into the second period, finding open ice to the right of the slot before firing back across the grain to knot the contest at 1-1.
 
The first Wildcats penalty of the game changed the complexion of the contest. With the Marauders dominating the puck while skating with a man advantage, a shot by Andrew Huber was turned aside by Cutler but the carom found the stick of Cushing on the right side of the crease. Pouncing on a precious opportunity, Cushing hammered home a shot into an open net as #1 seed regained the lead over #3 seed Kentucky at 13:13 of the second.
 
The Marauders sealed the game on a slick goal at 8:08 of the third. With Isaiah Thomas holding the puck in slot, defenseman Cyril Nagurski looped around Thomas and skated unfettered down the right side of the slot. Thomas, the Marauders leading scorer, slipped the puck forward to Nagurski. Taking advantage of the open space, one of the Marauders original skaters hammered home the puck into the right side of the net for the final goal of the night.
 
Conan Hayton was strong in net for the Marauders, making 18 saves. Hayton is now 3-0 all-time at the national tournament for UMary, allowing just a single goal in all three starts.
 
Cutler finished with 26 saves for Kentucky.
 
Cushing was credited with the game-winning. The dynamic forward owns the game-winning goal in seven of the Marauders 12 wins in ACHA M2 national tournament games.
 
Eight Marauders accounted for points in the game with no single skater producing multiple points. Over the course of two games the Marauders eight goals have been scored by eight different skaters.
 
#3(C) University of Kentucky 1 at #1(C) University of Mary 3 - Status: Final
Saturday, March 18, 2023 - NESC- Rink 7
 
#3(C) University of Kentucky 0 1 0 - 1
#1(C) University of Mary 1 1 1 - 3
 
1st Period-1, #1(C) University of Mary, Witzke 1 (Dropik), 19:06. Penalties-Massie Umary (cross checking), 19:57.
 
2nd Period-2, #3(C) University of Kentucky, Noel 1 (L'Heureux, Mulkern), 1:28. 3, #1(C) University of Mary, Cushing 1 (Huber, Eskro), 13:13. Penalties-Huber Umary (tripping), 10:16; Eastlack Uk (interference), 11:34.
 
3rd Period-4, #1(C) University of Mary, Nagurski 1 (Thomas, Flicek), 8:08. Penalties-No Penalties
 
Shots on Goal-#3(C) University of Kentucky 4-9-6-19. #1(C) University of Mary 9-13-7-29.
Power Play Opportunities-#3(C) University of Kentucky 0 / 0; #1(C) University of Mary 0 / 0.
Goalies-#3(C) University of Kentucky, Cutler (29 shots-26 saves). #1(C) University of Mary, Hayton (19 shots-18 saves).
 
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