Nov. 29, 2006
As the Gulls traveled to Worcester to face WPI, spirits were high as well as confidence. The first period started off slow for the first five minutes until the Gulls created a very nice two-on-one opportunity in which Chris Garofalo slid a nice pass over to freshman Brett Erickson who put it past the goaltender to put the Gulls up 1-0 early on. The next five minutes involved more aggressive play by Endicott which resulted in another two-on-one situation in which freshman Michael Vacca gave a beautiful pass to Brian Sullivan who netted the Gulls second goal of the period. Minutes later a pile-up in from of the net resulted in a Brett Erickson goal that put Endicott on top 3-0. The remainder of the period seemed to be a nice test for Josh Provost, as he faced several shots from close range, and denied each.
The second period was a continuation of the first as Endicott picked up exactly where they had left off, scoring just 3 minutes into the period when junior defenseman Gabe Carreiro, sent a rocket from the point into the back of the net to put Endicott up 4-0, assisted by Drew Moore and Mike Manfredi. Play continued as Endicott kept on the hard fore-check and it paid off when freshman Drew Moore sniped the far side of the net from the top of the circle on a rush up ice, which was set up by Pat Bourque and yet again, Mike Manfredi for his second helper. Nearly seven minutes later, and identical goal was scored by Moore, but set up by Mike Vacca and Gabe Carriero, as each player involved notched their second point of the game. With Endicott up 6-0 with five minutes remaining in the second, Bryan Caccamo decided to take things into his own hands and snipe a nice goal off of a face-off to put Endicott up 7-0 at the end of two periods. Provost preserved the shutout with his strong play as he faced some point-blank shots that he stopped with ease.
As the third period began, Coach Haugh decided to put freshman Matt Murray into the game. The third period belonged solely to WPI as they ran the table, scoring four unanswered goals, as the Gulls seemed to shut down for the remainder of the game. There was nothing Murray could do as he faced 17 shots in the third period, as WPI more than doubled their shot total. Murray played well but was asked to stop too many shots by the on-slot of WPI. The nightmare period finally came to a close as Endicott held on to a 7-4 win, which was very much needed as they head into a tough weekend in which they will face the powerful MIT at home on Saturday, and then travel up to Vermont on Sunday to play the University of Vermont for a 1:15 start.
