CHARLESTOWN, Mass. – Suffolk men's hockey fell to Southern Maine, 2-1, Friday night as the Huskies scored the game-winner 13 seconds into the extra session to defeat the Rams at Emmons Horrigan O'Neil Memorial Rink.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 1 | Southern Maine 2
RECORDS: Suffolk (1-4-0, 0-3-0 NEHC) | Southern Maine (1-5-0, 1-4-0 NEHC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Half of the time was removed from the clock in the first period with neither team getting the best looks at target.
Suffolk's skates picked up as it went on the powerplay with 6:20 remaining as Brock Padgham was whistled for interference. The Huskies handled the man-down deficit, which saw three saves from Anthony D'Aloisio and a block by the defense that kept zeros on the scoreboard.
With four minutes to go in the first frame, USM saw a stealthy set-up from Ethan Bassile to Adam Withers. The senior sent a cross ice pass from the right face-off dot to the sophomore sitting in front of Nathan Pickett's cage. Withers' flip shot went wide left of the post and the contest stayed scoreless.
The Huskies changed that in their own favor on their next possession as Cody Braga picked up Withers' rebound and found the back of the net at the 17:26 mark to give the visitors the one-goal edge. Padgham also helped break open the scoring.
Out of the locker room, Suffolk came out firing on all cylinders, controlling the majority of the action and peppering D'Aloisio with shot-after-shot.
Things got chippy at the 7:30 minute mark as a frenzy of penalties, a pair for the blue-and-gold and one for the Huskies, gave each team chances over the next few minutes. Both sides saw chances over that stretch, but neither gained an edge.
Suffolk struck with 5:09 to go in the middle period as Joe Vingi crossed the puck to Billy Roche, who one-timed the puck into the net to level the playing field. Joe Feeney aided on the game-tying goal.
Neither team managed to break open the tie in the third period despite their efforts, which forced the extra five minutes.
USM did need the whole five to grab the victory as it took just 13 seconds to score the game-winner. The Huskies caught the blue-and-gold off guard from the face-off and charged into the Rams zone with Mark Tomaschek potting the game-winner with help from Derek Tillotson and Brendan Dowler.
NETMINDER NOTES
- Pickett picked up 24 saves in the setback.
- D'Aloisio secured 33 stops in the victory, USM's first of the season.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Roche registered Suffolk's lone score with Feeney and Vingi each recording one assist.
- Suffolk outshot USM, 34-26.
- The Rams won the battle in the face-off dot, 42-33.
NOTEWORTHY
- Suffolk and Southern Maine played in its second-ever overtime outing in the all-time series, first since 1994.
- A winner was decided in OT for the first time in the Suffolk, USM series as the first-ever extra-time outing between the foes ended in stalemate.
- The Rams played in back-to-back OT games for the first time since skating in extra sessions against Salem State and Franklin Pierce Jan. 3-6, 2018.
- In his first appearance of the year, after being sidelined due to injury, Roche registered his first goal of the season.
- Feeney and Vingi each dished out their first assists on the year.
POST-GAME PIC
COMING UP
Suffolk wraps up the weekend long home-stay tomorrow afternoon when New England College stops by Charlestown for a 4 p.m. puck drop.
