SALEM, Mass. – The Endicott men's ice hockey team defeated Salem State, 3-0, on Friday evening at Rockett Arena.
Eric Manoukian (Manalapan, N.J.), Kevin Craig (Hyannis, Mass.), and Matt Giroux (Bedford, N.H.) all scored in the win.
Scoreless in the second period, Manoukian finally broke open the deadlocked contest with his first career power play goal at the 19:30 mark of the stanza. Craig followed with his second career goal at 16:20 of the third, while Giroux capped the scoring with an empty net shorty with 57-seconds to play.
In goal, Conor O'Brien (Pinellas Park, Fla.) stopped 18 shots to improve to 35-12-2 all-time (sixth career shutout).
The Gulls dominated in nearly every category, highlighted by their shots (40-18) and faceoff wins (43-20) totals.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Tonight's win is the 100th overall in program history (100-33-9, .736).
- Endicott improved to 10-1-0 all-time against Salem State.
- Manoukian potted his third career goal (second career game-winner).
- Giroux netted his third career goal (first career shorthand tally).
- O'Brien is one shutout shy of tying Kevin Aldridge's (Birmingham, Mich.) program record of seven.
- The Gulls are 3-1-3 in season-opening contests since the program began varsity play in 2015-16.
- Andrew Kurapov (Corvallis, Ore.) collected his first assist of the season on Manoukian's goal and went 14-6 (game-high) at the faceoff dot.
- Mitch Shaheen (North Andover, Mass.) was nearly perfect on faceoffs going 13-1 in the victory.
WHAT'S NEXT
Endicott (1-0) travels to Salve Regina on Friday, November 5 at 7 PM. Salem State (0-1) visits Framingham State on Thursday, November 4 at 7:40 PM.
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(Photo Credit - David Le '10)
