Jan. 29, 2005
Semester break? What semester break? The Endicott Gulls returned from a six-week vacation firing on all cylinders against Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Saturday, Dec. 29, led by a white-hot second line of Mark Vaughan, D'arcy Wiart and Chris Garofalo and the stingy goaltending of Dan Rudy and Jeff Pardue to register a convincing 9-1 win.
Rudy came up with the first big save of the game, stuffing a 2-on-1 WPI break with only three minutes gone. A minute later, Vaughan put the Gulls up 1-0 when he collected a nice pass from Wiart in the slot, and fired a quick wrist shot over the glove of WPI netminder Barrett Franklin. Garofalo got the second assist. Rudy made the lead stand up with several point-blank saves, and with eight minutes gone, Wiart got the game-winner. Vaughan flipped the puck on net, and Wiart outraced the WPI defense to tuck the rubber under Franklin for a 2-0 Endicott margin. Vaughan nearly got the Gulls third goal at the 12-minute mark, but was denied by a nice glove save by Franklin. WPI struck with two minutes left in the opening period, capitalizing on an Endicott defensive miscue. WPI's Rick Adams collected the puck behind the Endicott net after the Gulls failed to clear, and slipped the puck deftly to an unguarded Wes Culver, who redirected it past Rudy's left pad just inside the left post. WPI continued to press for the rest of the period, but the Gulls were able to kill of a 30-second 5-on-3 power play and head into the locker room with a 2-1 lead.
Sophomore Mike Tonucci got the Gulls an insurance marker with 5½ minutes gone in the second stanza, when he tapped home a nice feed from freshman Joel Orlando. Freshman Mike Ripley got the second assist. Thirty seconds later, senior Jay Fall got the Gulls fourth goal on a nice individual effort, stealing the puck in the high slot, walking in on Franklin and going top shelf over the WPI goalie's left shoulder. At the 11:28 mark, the Gulls second line struck again, with Mark Vaughan waiting until the last second to feather a soft pass across the crease to a hard-charging Wiart, who converted on his backhand to finish a sweet 2-on-1 break and send the Gulls into the break with a 5-1 margin. Pardue, who subbed for Rudy halfway through the game, made sure that the Engineers wouldn't mount any kind of comeback with several superb stops.
The Gulls put their offensive game into overdrive in the third period, as the Engineers began to show the effects of the overtime game they played the night before against MIT. Eight minutes in, just after Endicott killed off another minor penalty, Garofalo and Captain Adam Partaledis broke in on goal. Garofalo skimmed a slick pass to Partaledis, who deked Franklin before switching to his backhand and burying the puck five-hole for a 6-1 lead (and Garofalo's third assist on the night). Less than four minutes later, Vaughan capped a tremendous solo effort when he worked his way up the left board, plowed through three WPI defenders and buried the puck between Franklin's pads for a six-goal Endicott cushion. Two minutes later, senior Joe Dudek finished off an Endicott power play by notching goal number seven. Assistant captain Derek Gagnon made a nice play to keep the puck in the WPI zone along the right boards, and when the biscuit slipped into the slot, Dudek hammered a one-timer past a beleaguered Franklin. A heads-up defensive play also set up the Gulls final tally, when freshman Mike Feeheley noticed WPI changing lines on the fly and rushed the puck up the left boards. Sophomore Mike Manfredi, steamrolling toward the WPI net, dove for Feeheley's centering pass and just tipped it past Franklin for the final 9-1 margin. Ripley nearly put the Gulls into double-digit territory, but his blast from the left point clanged off the crossbar.
Endicott returns to the ice against the University of New Hampshire Wildcats on Saturday, Feb. 5. The game will start at 7 p.m. at the Pingree School in Hamilton.
