BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott men's ice hockey team split in their weekend contests. On Saturday night the Gulls fell to league opponent, Northeastern in a tough 3-2 battle. On Sunday Endicott traveled to Cushing Academy to compete with Keene State and took home the 3-2 victory to improve to 5-3-2 on the season.
Endicott will take the ice next on Saturday, November 15th as they host league opponent Boston University at 7:30 p.m. at the Pingree School.
Game One: Endicott vs. Northeastern
The first period was a battle as neither side could tally a goal. In the first period alone Gulls goaltender, sophomore Nick Russo (Waltham, Mass.) was stealthy between the pipes making 14 saves. The Endicott offense was also working hard on their end as they forced Northeastern goaltender, Zach Webert (Westford, Mass.) to make seven stops.
In the second period the Huskies took a 1-0 lead at the eight minutes mark as Kyle Demers (Westborough, Mass.) controlled a feed by Graham Doherty (Beverly, Mass.) to find the back of the net. After forcing Webert to make 13 stops, the Gulls headed into the second intermission down by one.
After battling for the first 12 minutes of the third period the Huskies took a two goal advantage after Demers tallied his second goal of the game. With the clock ticking down the Gulls were on full throttle pushing the offensive zone. Finally with just over two minutes to go freshman Benjamin MacEwen (Waltham, Mass.) finished a play with senior Brendan Moore (Springfield, Mass.) and sophomore Tim Boyle (Hingham, Mass.) on a power play to cut the lead down to one.
Less than one minute later the Blue and Green tallied the game tying goal as freshman James Burns (Andover, Mass.) tallied his first goal of the season after working the power play with Moore and freshman Kyle Webb (Reading, Mass.).
Despite their offensive push in final period, in the last seconds of the third the Huskies nailed a game winner after Sean Daly (Mansfield, Mass.) beat Russo with help from Evan Jones (Boston, Mass.) and Edward Pratt (Walpole, Mass.) to secure the 3-2 victory.
Game Two: Endicott at Keene State (@Cushing Academy)
After a tough battle with Northeastern the Gulls took the ice on Sunday afternoon refreshed and ready to take on the Owls. The Blue and Green controlled the first period by tallying three goals and holding Keene to zero.
The first goal came in the opening minutes after junior Dylan Costa (Lynnfield, Mass.) made a play to goal with Boyle and senior Ryan Hansen (West Haven, Conn.) to take the 1-0 lead. At the 12 minute mark the Gulls took a two goal advantage as Webb blasted a shot into the back of the net with help from Hansen and Boyle.
With 2:05 remaining in the first period Endicott tallied their third and final goal of the game on a power play opportunity as MacEwen tallied his second goal of the weekend after finishing a play with Boyle and senior Alex Dodds (Grantham, N.H.).
In the second period the Owls tallied two goals but just could not reach the Gulls as the Blue and Green shutout Keene in the third period to hold on to the 3-2 victory.
Russo wrapped up the game with 21 saves while his counterpart, for the Owls finished the day with 33.