Men’s Hockey Slips to Skidmore, 4-3

Men’s Hockey Slips to Skidmore, 4-3

CHARLESTOWN, Mass. – Back-to-back goals from Skidmore proved to be enough as Suffolk men's hockey could not make up the ground and fell to the Thoroughbreds, 4-3, in the Rams' midseason finale Saturday night at Emmons Horrigan O'Neil Memorial Rink. 


THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3 | Skidmore 4
RECORDS: Suffolk (4-7-0, 2-6-0 NEHC) | Skidmore (6-5-1, 4-3-1 NEHC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Skidmore gained an early edge as Max Hegge found the back of the net with help from Austin Rook and Corey Morgan at the 8:56 of the first frame. The score held there until Suffolk burst out of the first intermission and leveled the playing field just 12 seconds into the second period. Nick Wardstrom picked up the pieces of a rebound to knot the conference contest at 1-all.  

Wardstrom's game-tying goal jump started an action-packed opening five minutes of the second stanza as the Thoroughbreds regained the lead on a Paul Vella score at the 2:07 mark before Brian Brooks locked things at 2-all 2:44 later. Brooks second goal of the season, which was assisted by Matt Bucher and Connor Henry, knotted the conference clash at 2-all. 

The score held there for the remainder of the period setting up a thrilling third.  

Skidmore started things out on the man-up opportunity, but it wasn't until the Rams returned to full strength that the visitors got the go-ahead as Tim Allen scored just over a minute off the powerplay, 1:53 into third period, to give the Thoroughbreds a 3-2 cushion.  

As the period approached the midway point Will Steele put more distance between the conference foes as the freshman scored unassisted in transition to length the Thoroughbreds lead to 4-2 with less than 10 minutes to play in regulation.  

Suffolk saw its chances grow smaller as it was whistled for too many men with under three minutes left in regulation. The Rams had a last glimpse of hope as Skidmore suffered the same penalty just about two minutes later. When the blue-and-gold returned to full force Chris Glionna pulled Michael Levine from the pipes to give the extra-skater boost to the hosts and it paid off as Bishop scored on the powerplay to trim the margin to one with 58 seconds to go.  

The Rams could not make up the one-goal ground though as Skidmore held them there for the final 4-3 decision. 

NETMINDER NOTES

  • Levine made 21 saves in the setback. 
  • Brian Kowalski stopped 37 shots in the victory. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

  • Suffolk outshot Skidmore, 40-25. 
  • The Thoroughbreds won the battle inside the face-off dot, 41-34. 
  • Bishop, Brooks and Wardstrom each scored for Suffolk. 
  • Bishop (1g, 1a), Brooks (1g, 1a) and Bryan (2a) each had multi-point days. 
  • Bucher and Henry each dished out one assist.  

NOTEWORTHY

  • Suffolk and Skidmore met for the second time overall and first since 2008. 
  • Wardstrom recorded his first collegiate point with his first score of the season. 
  • Bishop and Bryan each had multi-point nights for the second straight game.  

POST-GAME PIC
 

COMING UP
Suffolk goes on break for just about a month and will be back in the New Year with action set to begin at the Boston Landing Tournament Jan. 4-5. The Rams will first take on Lebanon Valley Friday, Jan. 4 at 2:40 p.m. at Warriors Arena.