HARRISVILLE, R.I. — Endicott senior forward Josh Bowes (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) scored at the 14:26 mark of overtime to help the fifth-seeded Gulls defeat fourth-seeded Nichols College, 4-3, on Wednesday night in the quarterfinal round of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Tournament at Levy Rink.
Bowes' fourth career game-winner came when it mattered most as the senior forward potted the tally by one-timing a centering pass from Ross Olsson (Billerica, Mass.) in the slot.
Olsson set up the game-winner from behind the net after he corralled Bump Lisk's (Lawrenceville, N.J.) pass from the left point and slipped the puck into the slot with his back turned towards goal.
Bowes' game-winner wouldn't have occurred without some heroics from Daniel Kucerovy (Bethel Park, Pa.) late in the third period, however.
With less than a minute to play in the contest and an extra skater out on the ice, Kucerovy eventually evened up the game with 30.2-seconds to play when he sniped a shot from the left face-off circle low glove side past Nichols' netminder Brett Epp (Edmonton, Alberta) on feeds from Tommy Besinger (Milton, Mass.) and Olsson.
Olsson and Besinger both won puck battles in the right corner before Besinger fed a wide open Kucerovy for the game-tying marker.
Endicott also received goals from Olsson (12:59, 1st, PP) and James Winkler (York, Maine) - 13:35, 2nd, PP - in the win. Meanwhile, Conor O'Brien (Pinellas Park, Pa.) stopped 38 shots for the Gulls (11-7-2).
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Bowes scored the first playoff overtime game-winner in program history.
- Kucerovy netted his second career game-tying goal.
- Endicott won its first-ever game at Levy Rink tonight (1-4-0).
- Nichols entered this year's CCC Tournament as the defending champions.
- Last year, the Bison captured the CCC Championship as the No. 5 seed.
WHAT'S NEXT
Endicott (16-8-2) travels to first-seeded Salve Regina on Saturday, February 23 to take on the Seahawks in the CCC Semifinals. Meanwhile, Nichols' 2018-19 season comes to a close at 11-12-3 overall.
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(Photo Credit - David Le '10)