BEVERLY, Mass. – Behind a 46-save effort from freshman goaltender Kevin Aldridge (Beverly Hills, Mich.), the Endicott men's ice hockey team registered its first-ever shutout in program history on Saturday evening at Raymond J. Bourque Arena with a 4-0 win over Johnson & Wales University (JWU).
Aldridge recorded double-digit save totals in every period including a high of 18 in the third to preserve the shutout and move his record to 12-8-2 on the season.
Josh Bowes (Sturgeon County, Alberta, Canada) provided the game-winner at the 5:56 mark of the second when he capitalized on a miscue in front of the Wildcats' net and buried a shorthanded goal just inside the right post for his ninth of the season.
Joseph Kaszupski (Henderson, Nev.) added two tallies in the third (12:20, 16:38 – shorthanded, empty netter), while Ross Olsson (Billerica, Mass.) also put home a shorthanded, empty net goal at 17:14 to cap the scoring.
Along with recording the first-ever shutout in program history today, Aldridge also collected the first-ever assist by a goalie in program history on Kaszupski's shorthanded, empty net tally at 16:38.
JWU junior goaltender Joey Ballmer (Kalamazoo, Mich.) stopped 25 shots in the loss (9-9-2).
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Endicott is now 2-0-0 in the all-time series against JWU.
- The Gulls are 3-2-0 in their last five games.
- Kaszupski scored his first of two goals on the day with a swift wrist shot that found the upper right corner of the net.
- Tommy Besinger (Milton, Mass.) picked up his first helper with the Gulls on Olsson's empty netter.
- Freshman defenseman Ryan Dougherty (Sterling Heights, Mich.) blocked a game-high eight shots and finished with a plus-one rating.
- Trey Olson (Omaha, Neb.) and Kaszupski both finished the contest with a game-high plus-three rating.
FOR THE FOES
- Senior forward Cody Sarmiento (Sarasota, Fla.) won a game-high 17 faceoffs.
- The Wildcats are now 5-5-3 on the road this season.
- JWU is 2-3-0 in its last five games.
WHAT'S NEXT
Endicott (12-8-2, 8-4-1 ECACN) hosts Becker College in a conference matchup next Wednesday at 7 p.m. JWU (9-9-3, 5-5-2 ECACN) takes on Suffolk University in an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Northeast contest at home on Thursday, February 11 at 6:45 p.m. For the latest on Endicott Athletics, follow the Gulls on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.>