BEVERLY, Mass. – Endicott's men's ice hockey won both their road games this weekend, pushing their win streak to five games and evening their season record up at 5-5-1.
Endicott upended Central Connecticut State on Saturday by a 6-1 score, and then skated past Merrimack Sunday for a 5-2 victory.
Junior forward Ryan Pratt (Waltham, Mass.) scored a hat trick and Tad Gold (Martha's Vineyard, Mass.) added a goal and two assists Saturday as the Gulls broke open a 1-1 game with a goal late in the second period and four goals in the third. Pratt gave the Gulls an early one-goal lead after a period, and they held that advantage after two periods, with the teams trading goals thanks to Gold's late marker.
In the third period, Chris Murphy (Holden, Mass.) needed just 23 seconds to extend Endicott's lead. Two more goals by Pratt, sandwiched around a score by Cameron MacLeod (Hampton Falls, N.H.) put the game out of reach for the Blue Devils. Sophomore Ed Estey (Beverly, Mass.) had two assists in the win for Endicott.
On Sunday, the Gulls got off to a fast start and had a 3-0 lead by the mid-point of the second period. Clark Dumart (Shrewsbury, Mass.) got the scoring started just over three minutes in and Kevin Butler (Natick, Mass.) doubled Endicott's advantage before Pratt netted halfway through the second. Merrimack pulled back two goals by the end of the second period to get within one, but MacLeod added an insurance goal with just minutes to play and Gold added an empty netter to seal the victory.
Sophomore goalie Sam Cohen (Fairfax, Va.) made 21 saves in recording the victory for Endicott.
The Gulls will be on the road again this Friday night for an 8:00 pm game at Bryant before returning home to take on Northeastern at 7:30 pm at Pingree School.
