SOUTH HAMILTON, Mass. – Endicott's club ice hockey team maintained their hold on the #7 stop in the newest American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) regional rankings and then skated to a 5-1 victory over Boston University on Saturday night at Pingree School.
This is the third consecutive ranking period in which the Gulls have held on to the #7 ranking, which places them in position to earn a spot in the Northeast Regional postseason tournament.
Endicott (11-6-1) jumped out to a 2-0 lead and led 2-1 at the end of the first period on Saturday thanks to early goals by Zach Pettingill (Scarborough, Maine) and Clark Dumart (Shrewsbury, Mass.)
The Terriers pulled back to within a goal with 6:11 to play in the frame on a tally by Torrey Korsunsky, but Dumart tallied his second goal of the game just over seven minutes into the second period and the Gulls never looked back. Pettingill picked up his second point of the night with an assist on Dumart's goal.
Dana Boudreau (Plymouth, Mass.) added another goal just before the second period horn on a feed from Shaun McKennedy (Lowell, Mass.) to make it 4-1 Endicott heading into the break.
The teams played to a stalemate for most of the final period, but Cam MacLeod (Hampton Falls, N.H.) added a goal for good measure with 19 seconds to play to cap the scoring for the Gulls.
Endicott sophomore goalie Sam Cohen (Fairfax, Va.) needed to make 15 saves to preserve the win.
The Gulls face their biggest game of the New Year tonight when they travel to Northeastern for a 7:00 pm puck drop.
The Huskies are the top team in the region, but suffered one of their only losses of the year at Endicott on November 17, 2012, when the Gulls nabbed a 5-4 overtime victory.
Northeastern received seven first place votes in the poll, this ranking period, while the University of New Hampshire received the other four votes and sits in the #2 ranking, which would also earn them an automatic invite to the ACHA national tournament.
There is one final ranking period left, after which teams ranked #3-#10 will earn trips to the Regional tournament, where two teams will join the top seeds at Nationals in Saint Louis in March.
