Feb. 27, 2008
STORRS, Conn. - Fresh off earning a bid to the American Collegiate Hockey Association National Championships, the University of Connecticut notched a NECHA quarterfinal overtime victory over Endicott College, 5-4, at the Freitas Ice Forum on Monday night in Storrs. The Huskies are now unbeaten in their last eight contests.
UConn wasted no time getting on the board as Chris Earl found the back of the net just 1:31 into the first, putting the hosts up 1-0. Endicott proved equal to the early challenge, and exactly three-minutes later Jeff Berlin (Durham, N.H) took a feed from John Joaquin (Plainville, Mass.) and beat Caillin Miller to even the score at 1-apiece. The two squads would skate into the dressing knotted at one.
In the second, the Huskies special team's posted consecutive back-breaking shorthanded goals, the first by John Stockler 3:46 into the second, followed by a man-down tally from Steven Unker just six-minutes later. Stockler's goal marked his team-best 18th of the season, while Unker netted his 11th.
The Gulls were able to pull back within one before the end of the second, as senior Chris Garofalo (Peabody, Mass.) scored with :0.3 seconds left in the middle frame to cut the lead to 3-2.
Ryan McLaughlin regained the two goal advantage for the Huskies five-minutes into the third as he slipped the puck past Josh Provost (West Rutland, Vt.) on the power play, putting UConn up 4-2.
Refusing to go quietly, Endicott's Chris Garofalo single-handedly carried the Gulls back into the contest. With 4:17 left in regulation, Garofalo notched his second of the night off assists from seniors Brian Sullivan (Peabody, Mass.) and Mike Ripley (Easton, Conn.), cutting the lead to 4-3. Garofalo completed the comeback and the hat-trick as he made the Huskies pay on the power-play, burying an unassisted tally with just 27 ticks left in the third to force overtime.
In the bonus session, it was the Huskies that would get the final laugh as Stockler scored his second of the night on a nifty wrap-around, beating Provost just 53-seconds into OT. The game-winner upped UConn's record to 17-7-2 and pushed the Huskies into the NECHA semifinals. Endicott closes out the 2007-08 campaign at 10-12-1.
