SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Tate Brandon turned in a 38-save shutout and Will Dow-Kenny scored twice to lead the nationally 14^th-ranked Skidmore College men's hockey team to a 4-0 win over UMass Boston on Saturday.
 

• The win was the third of the week for Skidmore after a 4-3 win at Cortland on Tuesday and a 5-1 victory against Johnson & Wales on Friday.
• The Thoroughbreds are 12-3-2 improve to 7-2-1 (22 points) to move into a tie for second place in the New England Hockey Conference (NEHC).
• UMass Boston is 5-10-2 and 3-7 (10 points) and is currently in seventh place.
• For Dow-Kenny, it is the junior defenseman's first-career two-goal game. It was also the first game he scored a goal in since the Thoroughbreds and Beacons met for the first time in just the second game of the year; a 7-3 Skidmore win. He has recorded seven assists over that 14-game span.
• Brandon registered his fourth shutout of the year to extend his program career record to nine. He shares the national lead with four this season. The senior netminder was busy early. UMass Boston had the game's first four shots and seven out of the first nine. He handled them all cleanly to allow for Skidmore to settle in, eventually outshooting the guests 12-11 in the first period.
• Dow-Kenny scored the game's first goal after nearly 40 minutes of scoreless play. He patiently dragged the puck on his forehand to evade a defender before roofing a wrist shot over the goalie's glove with 14.3 second remaining in the middle frame. Jacob Franczak, who had three points Friday, and Kevin Urquhart assisted. Dow-Kenny's second goal, a 180-foot floater with eyes for the net, was the first of two Skidmore empty netters with 2:23 remaining in the game.
• Connor Wood went in alone on the unguarded cage after receiving a feed from Kaeden Patrick in the neutral zone for Skidmore's fourth goal with 1:27 on the clock.
• Skidmore, after clinging to a narrow one-goal lead, finally doubled its advantage on the power play at 12:29 of the third. Danny Magnuson, who later assisted on Dow-Kenny's empty netter, beat traffic and the goalie after a Skidmore faceoff win with assists from Patrick and Cooper Rice.
• Immediately before Skidmore made it 1-0, UMB believed to have scored the game's first goal, but the puck was ruled to have stayed out of the net on Jazz Krivtsov's shot that clanked off the post.
• Shots overall were 41-38.
• Sam Best made 41 saves for the Beacons, including 18 in the second period alone.
• The 38 saves from Brandon is the most he's had in any of his nine career shutouts, and is the second-highest total of the season.
• The Thoroughbreds connected once in five power-play chances. UMB was 0-for-3.
• Skidmore has won five in a row against UMass Boston over the past three seasons, which includes the 2022 NEHC Quarterfinals.

NEXT UP: Skidmore will play travel partner Castleton in a home-and-home series next weekend. The teams will meet in Rutland next Friday before reconvening Saturday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. in Saratoga Springs.