Plymouth, N.H. – The No. 10 Trinity College men's ice hockey team opened the 2015 calendar year with a 5-4 come-from-behind victory versus Plymouth State in non-conference action on Friday evening at Hanaway Rink. The Bantams won their third straight contest to improve to 7-1-1 overall, while the Panthers lost their second in a row to move to 5-4-2.

With the score tied at three just under seven and a half minutes into the third period, Trinity first-year forward Tyler Whitney (Wakefield, Mass.) gave the visitors their first lead of the game with his ninth marker of the year as senior defenseman Paul Burns (New Hope, Pa.) and sophomore forward Sean Orlando (Ivyland, Pa.) registered assists. The goal was Whitney's second of the game and was the third of four straight tallies during the second and third periods for the Bantams.

Later in the final period, Orlando capped a three-point contest (1g-2a) with his sixth goal of the season to give the Bantams some breathing room with the eventual game winner. Down the stretch, the Panthers pulled to within one with three minutes left in the game as Ian McGivery found the back of the net.

With under a minute remaining, Plymouth State pulled their goaltender and Trinity's defense stood their ground and held the lead as junior netminder Nathaniel Heilbron (West Vancouver, British Columbia) made a pair of key saves to escape with the triumph.

The Panthers got off to a quick start scoring two goals in the opening 20 minutes. After a Plymouth State marker in the first three and a half minutes, Whitney knotted the game at one nine minutes later. The Panthers would respond as Mike Economos gave the home team a 2-1 edge heading into the first intermission.

In the second period, Plymouth State built their lead to two at 3-1 as Baxter Strachan scored six minutes into play. Following the goal, Trinity picked up the tempo and closed out the stanza with two unanswered goals to tie the game. The first goal came off the stick of Michael Hawkrigg (Toronto, Ontario) and senior defenseman Greg Rooney (Worcester, Mass.) tied the game at three with just three ticks left on the clock.

Heilbron earned his fifth victory of the year by making 22 saves for the Bantams. The hosts held a 26-25 advantage in shots and the Panthers converted both of their man-up opportunities. Trinity was successful on one of their two power-play opportunities.

Trinity wraps up the opening weekend of 2015 with a non-conference road tilt at Western New England on Sunday at 7:00 p.m.