BIDDEFORD — The University of New England’s men’s hockey team surged past rival University of Southern Maine 9-2 Friday night.

UNE goal scorers were Blaise Healy, Kyle Williams, Armand Uomoleale, Nick Wirth, Nik Dotolo, Tucker Ross, Ryan Quinn and two from Dylan Bengston.

Biddeford natives Trevor Fleurent and Brady Fleurent combined for five assists on the evening.

USM goal scorers were Jimmy Currier and Bob Ganley.

Nor’easters goalie Mason Riley recorded 28 saves, while Joe Noonan made seven in relief. USM’s Dylan Pietrangelo made 17 and Kyle Shapiro 14.

UNE got on the board early when Bengston made his first goal of the night off a shot from the middle of the ice just two minutes into the contest.

Five minutes later, Williams put a slapshot in the net giving UNE a fast 2-0 lead.

USM held it’s ground as Ganley put the Huskies on the board at the 5:59 mark. Just 21 seconds later, Currier took advantage of a clear shot on the right wing and tied the game 2-2 heading into the second period.

At the 9:21 mark in the second, Uomoleale backhanded a shot in putting UNE up 3-2.

Later in the period, Healy, Dotolo and Ross scored in less than two minutes giving UNE a strong 6-2 lead late in the second.

UNE coach Kevin Swallow felt his team’s second-period success came from focus.

“I think it was just the guys settling in. Early on we had the jitters with it being a big game. We settled in the second period and got results,” said Swallow.

Bengston scored a powerplay goal with a minute left giving the Nor’easters a convincing 7-2 lead heading into the final period.

UNE continued to dominate and controlled the entire final 20 minutes of action.

Quinn managed to steal the puck in the UNE zone and bring it the length of the ice to score at the 11:07 mark, less than two minutes later Wirth scored the team’s ninth goal to secure the 9-2 victory.

A notable part of Friday’s game was the crowd. Friday’s crowd beat the all-time attendance record at the Harold Alfond forum with 1,253 people.

Between the crowd and the intensity of a rivalry game, UNE fed off of the energy.

“It was great to play in this type of atmosphere. The crowd has been great, there has been a lot of buzz surrounding this team and the direction the program is going,” said Swallow. “The crowd has been behind us and the players feed off that.”

After a tough loss earlier in the week, Swallow was happy to get back on the right track heading down the stretch.

“This was a big win for us tonight. We were playing really good hockey, we hadn’t lost in 10 games but stumbled against Bowdoin on Tuesday. It was good to get a win like this to help our confidence down the stretch,” said Swallow.

Looking ahead, Swallow hopes that his team continues to trend in the right direction.

“We’re just hoping to peak at the right time. We are 10-1-1 in our last twelve so we are hoping that we can continue to peak heading toward playoff time,” said Swallow.

A big part of the team’s recent success is due to the Fleurent brothers, who have caught the eye of teams and fans throughout the area.

Taylor Fleurent also sees Friday’s win as a confidence booster.

“This was a good win for us, we really wanted to come back after the tough loss so to win this is big for our confidence,” said Fleurent. “We have a tough conference matchup coming up so hopefully this will carry over.”

Brady Fleurent was pleased to get some revenge on USM, a team they had lost to earlier in the season.

“It felt good to get some revenge on them, it was a tough loss to them earlier in the year so it really was great to get this win,” said Fleurent.

The brothers have both been excited by the local support they have received this year.

“It’s nice being able to play hockey in your hometown, especially college hockey. Not many people have the opportunity to do that so it’s a privilege,” said Brady Fleurent.

“It’s been awesome. We have a ton of community support, you go out to the rink and the town and you have people congratulating us and the team on how good we look this year,” said Taylor Fleurent.

With the win, UNE improves to 11-5-2 while USM falls to 5-12-1.

— Sports Staff Writer Alex Sponseller can be reached at [email protected] or at 282-1535 ext. 323. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @ JournalTsports.