BEVERLY, Mass. – The third-seeded Endicott men's ice hockey team (19-7-1) visits first-seeded Curry (23-3-0) on Saturday at 3 PM for a chance to capture its third consecutive conference title and the first-ever Conference of New England (CNE) Championship.
The Gulls advanced to the CNE Championship with a comeback victory over the University of New England (UNE), 4-3, in the semifinals. Michael Casey (Media, Pa.) provided the game-tying and game-winning goals to push Endicott past the Nor'easters.
Curry carved its way into the CNE Championship with a 4-2 win over fourth-seeded Suffolk at home.
FIVE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Endicott is 9-4-1 on the road this season, while Curry is 13-1-0 at home.
- The two teams met in the championship game of the 2022-23 conference tournament. The Gulls shut out Curry, 6-0, as the contest featured six different goal scorers.
- Curry is led offensively by Eelis Laaksonen (Espoo, Finland) who has 14 goals (5th CNE), 11 assists, and 25 points (7th CNE); Endicott's top goal scorer is Domenic Garozzo (Sewell, N.J.) who has 17 goals (2nd CNE), seven assists, 24 points (8th CNE).
- The Colonels won the season series, 2-1-0. In a home-and-away series on November 8 and 9, 2024, the Gulls bested Curry in overtime, 3-2, before falling in the second matchup, 4-1. The two teams saw each other one last time on February 14 where Endicott lost, 4-2.
- Curry holds the conference's top-goals against average at 1.46, which is good for second nationally. Endicott ranks third in the conference and ninth nationally with 2.07 goals against per game.
WHAT'S NEXT
The winner of Saturday's contest will be crowned the 2024-25 CNE Men's Ice Hockey Champion and earn the league's automatic qualifier into the 2024-25 NCAA Division III National Tournament.
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(Photo Credit - Jonah Bean '28)
