Gorham, ME —The University of Southern Maine Huskies used a concentrated effort from their entire lineup, including a goal and two assists from Dan Rautenberg in a 4-1 victory over the Wesleyan College Cardinals on Friday night.

“Today was real important, just about getting back on track before the playoffs,” said Southern Maine Head Coach Jeff Beaney.

Southern Maine capitalized on two turnovers in the Wesleyan defensive zone to build an early 2-0 lead.

Cape Elizabeth native Dan Rautenberg used alert forechecking to deliver the opening goal less than two minutes into game. Rautenberg intercepted the loose puck and released a wrist shot over goaltender Matt Hadge’s right shoulder and into the top corner of the net. The unassisted tally was Rautenberg’s 10^th goal of the season.

Huskies senior forward Pat Noonan converted off of another turnover 3:33 later to extend Southern Maine’s lead to 2-0.

The Huskies killed off two Wesleyan powerplays in the first period thanks to some timely saves, blocked shots, and a little help from the crossbar.

USM Captain Chris Travis, who sacrificed his body to block several shots during the aforementioned powerplays, added a goal with 29 seconds remaining in a very productive opening twenty minutes for USM.

Glenn Stowell assumed netminding duties for Wesleyan to start the second period. Matt Hadge finished with five saves on eight shots.

Southern Maine remained focused throughout the middle frame despite playing with a sizeable lead.

“We’ve had leads the last couple of games and that’s where we’ve had trouble is letting up, and (tonight) we just tried to stay on the right side of the puck,” continued Beaney.

Jon Rutt stretched USM’s lead to four goals with seven minutes on the clock in period number two. Rutt positioned himself to the left of the cage and redirected Dan Rauntenberg’s initial shot. The puck bounced off of Stowell’s pad on its way to the net. Pat Noonan collected the secondary assist on the play.

Wesleyan spoiled Mason St. Hilaire’s shutout bid approximately three minutes later. Cardinals forward Sam Robinson managed to find the loose puck in a mass of humanity in front of the Huskies goal before chipping the puck into the open net. A.J. Ferraro and Tom Sallah registered the assists.

Mason St. Hillaire earned his sixth win of the season with a 19-save effort. Glenn Stowell stopped 11 of 12 shots, including a penalty shot taken by Zach Joy in the third period, but did not figure in the official outcome. Matt Hadge was tagged with the loss.

Neither team converted with the man advantage. USM finished 0-for-5, Wesleyan 0-for-4.

The victory was Southern Maine’s first “W” since January 22^nd vs. UMass Boston.

“The guys got the gorilla off their back and they feel pretty good,” said Beaney after the game. “They realize that they probably kicked away home ice playoffs last week, but they know that as long as you’re playing good moving forwards into the playoffs you’re in good shape.”

UP NEXT: Saturday, February 20^th vs. Trinity College at 4:00 p.m. This is Southern Maine’s regular season finale. Wesleyan College also concludes its regular season with a 3:00 p.m. tilt on Saturday at the University of New England.

Whoopi-ty-aye-oh
Rockin’ to and fro
Back in the saddle again

-Gene Autry, “Back in the Saddle Again”