January 9, 2010 @ Aldrich 3:00

Hill-Murray defeated Tartan 3-0, shutting down the Titans on an afternoon in which neither team appeared to handle the puck very crisply. The Pioneers played better defense and kept all but a few of Tartan's shots to the outside, where they were handled confidently by Tim Shaughnessy, who recorded his fourth shutout of the season.

Charlie Sampair scored before many of the skaters had even touched the ice, wristing a shot into the far upper corner at 1:10 while attacking along the left wing. That was the extent of the scoring for the next two periods.

Tartan has 14 seniors, but their best scoring chance was by freshman Jake Horton who redirected Casey O'Sullivan's centering pass, forcing Shaughnessy to extend his right leg for his best save.

Hill-Murray kept pressuring the Tartan net in the second period, but again couldn't capitalize. The Pioneers' best chance came when defenseman J.D. Cotroneo threaded the needle with a long pass that sent Ryan Holler on a clean breakaway, but Holler's shot went wide.

An ill-advised drop pass by Tartan just inside the Hill-Murray blue line led to the second score. Had the forward been able to see out the back of his helmet, he might have realized that the Pioneers' Holler was the only player in the vicinity, and Holler fed the puck up to Zach LaValle. LaValle was still two against three entering the Tartan zone, but cut around the defense, drove to the net and found an opening under Alex Gierke's pads for a 2-0 lead.

Near the end of Hill-Murray's sixth successful penalty kill, LaValle again assumed the spotlight, taking Willie Faust's centering pass on a 2-on-1 for a nice shorthanded goal. That completed just the second win for Hill-Murray in its last five meetings against Tartan, and the Pioneers will have a chance to sweep the season series next month.

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