CHARELSTOWN, Mass. – Three unanswered goals in the middle period from No. 12/13 New England College proved to be the difference as the Suffolk men's hockey team could not comeback against the Pilgrims and fell, 6-3, Saturday night at Emmons Horrigan O'Neil Memorial Rink.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3 | #12/13 New England College 6
RECORDS: Suffolk (7-11-0, 4-8-0 NEHC) | #12/13 New England College (11-3-4, 6-3-4 NECH)
HOW IT HAPPENED
NEC wasted no time to get things going as the visitors lit the lamp twice over the first half of the first period to hold onto a two-goal cushion after the first 20 minutes.
An action packed second period started off with a pair of Suffolk goals in the first 2:38. John Garrity potted the first 1:09 into the action, while Connor Henry's unassisted shorthanded marker came 1:27 later to even the score at two apiece.
The Pilgrims powered through though and regained the edge at the 6:23 minute mark when Daniel Bergvist scored with help from CJ Valerian and Patrick DeBlois. Less than two minutes later Carlos Fornaris stretched the visitor's advantage back to two on the man-up opportunity.
Suffolk found itself in a three-goal deficit with less than seven minutes to play in the middle period as David Good got in on the Pilgrims' scoring action.
The Rams had a chance to cut the margin with two NEC skaters in the box, but the Pilgrims' defense backed up Anthony Pupplo in net to keep the 5-2 score in their favor.
In the third period the score hit a stand still until the final two minutes. After two matching penalties and one major for the Pilgrims, the Rams used the 5-on-4 opportunity to their advantageas Connor Parent found the back of the net on a feed from Sean Montgomery to slice the margin to two with 1:12 remaining.
Chris Glionna pulled Michael Levine to give Suffolk another extra skater and chip away at things even more, but the Pilgrims were the ones to capitalize with an empty net goal at the 19:34 minute mark, which sealed the deal.
NETMINDER NOTES
- Levine had a 32-save night in the setback.
- Pupplo picked up 22 saves in the victory.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Six different Rams recorded one point on the evening with Garrity, C. Henry and Parent each scoring once, while Tommy Bishop, Matt Bucher, and Montgomery each dished out one assist.
- The Pilgrims outshot the Rams, 38-25, and won the battle in the face-off circle, 35-26.
NOTEWORTHY
- Prior to puck drop, Suffolk honored the playing careers of its 11-member Class of 2019: Nick Abbene, Joe Admirand, Tommy Bishop, Mikhail Bryan, LJ Fellows, Brendan Heinze, Connor Henry, Sean Henry, Michael Levine, Connor Parent and Tyler Scearbo.
- The Rams met their fifth national ranked opponent of the season.
POST-GAME PIC
COMING UP
Suffolk makes the short trip to #7/10 UMass Boston Friday, Jan. 25 for a 7 p.m. showdown.
