Posted: Feb 13, 2012
SOUTH HAMILTON, Mass. – The Endicott men’s ice hockey team has booked a trip to the American College Hockey Association’s (ACHA) Northeast Regional championship by virtue of a 3-0 win over Marist on Saturday night at Pingree School.
With the win, Endicott (12-7-1) assured themselves a spot in the top 10 of the final regional rankings for this season. The top two seeds in each region will earn an automatic trip to the National tournament, while seeds 3-10 receive invitations to play in their regional qualifier.
The Gulls will travel to Danbury, Connecticut for the regional, where two of the eight teams will join the automatic bids at the National Tournament in Estero, Florida next month. This is just Endicott’s second trip to the Northeast Regional tournament, and their first since 2007.
Before Saturday night’s game, the Gulls honored their graduating seniors and their parents for their support and dedication to Endicott hockey. Players honored included goalie Mark Airoldi (Kennebunk, Maine), defensemen Jared Garceau (Guilford, Conn.), Jeffrey Breault (Blackstone, Mass.) and Gregory Szkop (New Britain, Conn.) and forwards Robert DiNicola (Wolcott, Conn.), Matthew Zimmerman (South Glastonbury,Conn.) and Rob Valair (Norwood, Mass.).
The pre-game festivities had barely died down when Endicott was already on the score-board. Sophomore Ryan Pratt (Waltham, Mass.) tallied just eleven seconds into the game to put Endicott up 1-0.
Five minutes later Endicott had doubled their advantage when Zimmerman found the back of the net on a power play goal following a slashing call. Szkop picked up his second assist of the night, while Garceau grabbed the secondary helper.
The Gulls finished the scoring halfway through the second period through sophomore Cameron MacLeod (Hampton Falls, N.H.). DiNicola celebrated senior night with the assist on the insurance goal.
Airoldi had another solid night between the pipes, making 35 saves en route to collecting the shutout.
Friday night, Endicott collected another important victory, this time 4-3 over Boston College, currently ranked third in the regional rankings. Endicott got goals from four different scorers with the game-winner notched by Pratt in the third period. Zimmerman, Breault and Chris Murphy (Holden, Mass.) also tallied for Endicott.
The Gulls will now wait for the final regular season rankings, which are expected to be announced tomorrow, to see who they will be playing at the regional tournament, scheduled for February 25th and 26th.
