BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott College club ice hockey team dropped a pair of non-NECHA matchups this past weekend with a 3-2 setback to the University of New Hampshire and a 4-3 defeat at the hands of Holy Cross on Saturday night. The Gulls fall to 3-4 this season but were led by \#Rob DiNicola\# (Wolcott, Conn.) who had three goals and an assist this past weekend.

In the first game of the weekend against UNH, the Gulls jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first period as \#Drew Bowden\# (Cumberland, Maine) scored on a pass from \#Garrett Moore\# (Sudbury, Mass.) at the 14:35 mark. The Wildcats would knot the game at 1-1 as Chris MacArthur scored on a feed from Mike Yang while Ryan Bergeron was also credited with an assist.

The Wildcats took the lead in the second period when Shane Moring scored off a Bergeron feed for the 2-1 advantage. UNH’s Shawn Thompson added an insurance goal with less than eight minutes to play which proved to be vital as Endicott’s \#Craig Ward\# (Cohoes, N.Y.) made it a 3-2 game with only 1:46 to play in regulation on passes from \#Gregory Szkop\# (New Britain, Conn.) \#Rob DiNicola\#. The Gulls would fail to score in the closing minutes however as the Wildcats hung on for the 3-2 victory.

Endicott’s \#Matt Murray\# (Billerica, Mass.) suffered the setback in net for the Gulls while UNH’s Charlie O’Connor picked up the win.

On Saturday night, the Gulls traveled to Worcester, Mass. to take on Holy Cross. Endicott scored first again as DiNicola potted a \#Craig Ward\# pass for the early lead. Holy Cross would respond at the 6:26 mark with a tally of its own as Piero Iberti scored on a feed from Doug Dromey to knot the game at 1-1.

Dromey would strike again in the second period on a Brad Talbot helper to give the Crusaders the 2-1 edge. Matt Tykinski would stretch the lead to two goals as his tally nine minutes into the final frame gave Holy Cross the 3-1 advantage. DiNicola scored his second goal of the game nearly :53 second later to knife into the two-goal deficit however the Crusaders would respond on a Matt Zelinski goal for a 4-2 advantage. DiNicola would score again before the game was over with just over three minutes to play, securing him a hat-trick, however the Gulls could not find the back of the net in the final minutes, dropping their second-straight decision, 4-3.

\#Matt Murray\# played the first two periods for the Gulls, giving up two goals while making 27 saves. He was replaced by \#Ryan Fullerton\# (Saunderstown, R.I.) in the third period who made seven saves while allowing a pair of goals. Holy Cross’ Jim Pantano recorded 47 saves in the victory while facing 50 shots.

The Blue and Green return to the ice on Friday when they travel to Bryant University for a NECHA matchup scheduled for 7:15 p.m.