HAMILTON, Mass. – The Endicott men’s club ice hockey team opened up their 2013-14 season at home on Saturday night of homecoming weekend. The Gulls took on the Warriors of Merrimack College, whom they beat last season 5-2. The Blue and Green scored four consecutive goals to top the Warriors 4-3.
The Gulls are coming off a strong season where they went 11-9-1, while also holding a seven game winning streak late in the season. Endicott advanced to the Northeast Regional tournament last February and looks to continue that success in the 2013-14 season.
The first period saw four goals in just over four minutes of play, two from each team. The Warriors started the scoring late in the period on a power play opportunity as sophomore Paul Trask (Greene, R.I.) was able to slip it past junior goaltender Sam Cohen (Fairfax, Va.) after sophomore Jeff DeLoria (South Hadley, Mass.) and senior Derek Mancini (Easton, Mass.) were able to find Trask to tally the assists.
Exactly one minute later in the power play Merrimack increased the lead by two as sophomore Brett Romkey (Burlington, Mass.) received a feed from senior Dan Resop (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and sophomore Derek Madden (Dunstable, Mass.) and found the back of the net.
The Gulls would not leave the period quietly as they jumped on the scoring train and tied the game at two to enter intermission. The first came at 4:55 when senior Chris Murphy (Holden, Mass.) controlled the puck off a pass from senior Clark Dumart (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and put it in the back of the net. Sophomore Steven Brighton (Andover, Mass.) started the play off as he slipped the puck to Dumart that resulted in the goal, leaving the two with assists.
A little over a minute later Endicott scored the last goal of the period off a poweplay as junior Jake Rand (Winthrop, Mass.) blasted the puck past goaltender Derek DeCastro (Burlington, Mass.) to tie up the game. Senior Cameron MacLeod (Hampton Falls, N.H.) and Murphy assisted on the play.
The second period saw two more Gulls goals. The game changing goal came from senior David Butler (Natick, Mass.) as he controlled the puck off a pass from a combo play of Dumart and Muphy to score and take the lead. Four minutes later Murphy earned his final points on the evening as he scored on the power play at 14:02 after junior Brendan Moore (Springfield, Mass.) and Dana Bourdreau (Plymouth, Mass.) created the play that resulted with the goal.
With 7:04 remaining in the period the Warriors grabbed another tally to get within reach of the Gulls. The same line of DeLoria, Trask and Mancini who scored the first goal of the game would also score the last goal as DeLorira was able to get the puck past Cohen.
The goal would not be enough though as the third period was scoreless and the Gulls came out with the 4-3 win. Murphy had an impressive game for the Blue and Green as he tallied points in every play coming out with six in the contest. The assist for MacLeod marked his 99th career point as he waits to reach the 100th career point milestone at the next game, which is tonight, Friday October 11th as they travel to Central Connecticut State for an 8:00 p.m. start.
