BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's club ice hockey teams split their weekend contests. The first match was against UConn on Friday where the Gulls suffered a tough 9-2 loss. On Saturday the Blue and Green worked hard to put the loss behind them as they defeated Keene State 7-0. The Gulls snapped their five game winning streak, but still carry an impressive 7-2 overall record, while being tabbed the #5 team in the region.
Game One at UConn
Entering the game the Huskies were slated at #3 in the region, and the Gulls were set at #5. The loss was tough as UConn tallied nine goals in a row before the Blue and Green could net two. The first period was a battle as the Huskies were only allowed one late goal after freshman Connor Todd (Glen, N.H.) tallied the first goal of the game after he was able to shake the defense and slip the puck past freshman goaltender Nick Russo (Waltham, Mass.) to take the early one goal lead.
The second period was similar to the first as the Gulls worked hard on both ends and only allowed one Husky goal at 9:12 when junior Mike Geiger (Guilford, Conn.) finished a play started by Todd and junior Ryan Doherty (Darien, Conn.) to take a two goal lead to enter the second intermission.
In the third period the game started to unravel as the Huskies got on a scoring streak tallying seven goals to make it a 9-0 game.
In the final four minutes Endicott was not mentally defeated as they still worked hard on the offensive line. At 3:55 sophomore Zach Pettingill (Scarborough, Maine) tallied his first goal of the season after beating the UConn defense and finding the back of the net to give the Gulls a tally on the board. In the final 30 seconds of the game sophomore Corey Goldman (Framingham, Mass.) took advantage of a hole to goal and blasted the puck into the back of the net.
Despite their efforts the goals were not enough, as the Gulls fell 9-2.
Game Two vs. Keene State
The Blue and Green did not let the tough loss to UConn phase them as they came out firing in game two against Keene State. The Gulls controlled the first period as they nabbed two tallies. The first came from the trio of senior Clark Dumart (Shrewsbury, Conn.) and junior Ed Estey (Beverly, Mass.) as they two worked hard to find senior Kevin Butler (Natick, Mass.) in front of the net to get the early 1-0 lead on the power play.
With three minutes remaining in the period, senior Cameron MacLeod (Hampton Falls, N.H.) made a nice combo play with junior Jake Rand (Winthrop, Mass.) two slip the puck past sophomore goaltender Dylan Strogen (Madbury, N.H.) to take the two goal advantage heading into the first intermission.
The Blue and Green came out of the locker room firing in the opening minutes when senior Ryan Pratt (Waltham, Mass.) received the puck off a crisp feed from sophomore Dylan Costa (Lynnfield, Mass.) and ripped the puck to goal to take a 3-0 lead.
Two minutes later Endicott's line of MacLeod, Rand and senior Tad Gold (Vineyard Haven, Mass.) dominated the Owls defense as they made a great play to find MacLeod who blasted the puck into the back of the net for the second time of the game.
In the final six minutes the Blue and Green tallied three more goals from Pratt, freshman Tyler Peabody and junior Dana Boudreau to make it a final score of 7-0 to take the victory.
The Gulls will look ahead to Saturday, November 16th when they host Northeastern at 7:30 p.m. at the Pingree School.