Feb. 24, 2006
The Gulls' season ended in a disappointing and abrupt fashion after the Holy Cross Crusaders took care of Endicott in a 7-3 win in the Quarter-finals of the Northeast Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs Wednesday night.
The match-up had number four seed Endicott traveling to number one seed Holy Cross in what was believed to be an evenly matched game. Endicott coming off a convincing 3-1 win over Bryant University (one of two teams representing NECHA in the National Tournament in Rochester NY) was poised to revenge the earlier loss to Holy Cross, but the Crusaders were just too much.
Endicott trailed early on in the first period when Matt O'Leary was able to capitalize on a failed clearing attempt by the Endicott defense making it 1-0. The Gulls would net let up creating several scoring opportunities early, when sophomore Chris Garofalo in the high slot fired a shot beating Peter Bartline short side for one of Endicott's first power play goals. Endicott's momentum was short-lived when Holy Cross would apply too much pressure for Endicott to withstand, coming up with six unanswered goals.
Trailing 7-1 in the third period, Endicott in desperation, put together their best period of the game by out checking and skating the Crusaders during much of the period. Five minutes into the third, Endicott would strike for the second time in the game when Junior Ben Dodge was able to find the net after assists from Garofalo and Brian Sullivan. Two minutes later Kenny Dargon would record his last point of his college career when Garofalo and Greg Dorman found him open making it 7-3.
Endicott's Jeff Pardue came up big during the stretch, with a huge breakaway save which was able to preserve Endicott's momentum. Endicott continued to mount a comeback but with some late penalties called against the Gulls, the outcome seemed inevitable.
Though the outcome wasn't what the Gulls' had expected, their season of 12-9-0 was one that would have to be considered a success. Endicott looks to lose some key players that include goalie Jeff Pardue, Scott and Mark Vaughan, Brendan Mack, and Graduate students Joe Dudek and Kenny Dargon. Captain Adam Partaledis is still unsure as he considers whether to return in his pursuit for his MBA degree. Despite the losses, Endicott will return a very strong core of juniors and seniors, and will look to some of the incoming freshman to continue its winning ways for next season.
The next time some of the Endicott players will skate will be back at the Hart Center of Holy Cross on March 19th at 1:00pm for the 2005-2006 NECHA All-Star game.
