CHARLESTOWN, Mass. – Suffolk men's hockey played Curry, who is receiving votes in the latest USCHO.com Poll, to a 3-3 draw Friday night at Emmons Horrigan O'Neil Memorial Rink. The Rams claimed the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) extra point in shootout fashion, 1-0.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3 | Curry 3
RECORDS: Suffolk (1-1-2, 1-0-2 CCC) | Curry (4-0-1, 2-0-1 CCC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Curry caught Suffolk off guard out of the gates as the Colonels lit the lamp within the first two minutes of play. Kalle Sundell put away the puck thanks to help from George Vonakis and Eelis Laaksonen to give the visitors the one-goal edge.
The Rams righted the wrong and then some as the blue-and-gold put a pair of pucks across the line over a 2:21-miunute span, both on the power play, at the midway point. Billy Roche's man-up strike came first at the 9:11 minute mark, while PJ Donahue's goal came just over two minutes later. The freshman's first collegiate goal gave Suffolk a 2-1 lead at the first intermission. Roche had a hand in both markers. The former scored the first and assited on the second along with Kyle Valiquette. Griffin Clark and Max Rand set-up Roche's goal.
Curry did all the scoring in the second stanza to reverse the one-goal gap in its own favor, 3-2, as the teams headed to the locker rooms for the second time. Vilhelm Peltonen equalized matters 4:52 into the middle period and Tarek Paranica put the Colonels in front with a short-handed strike 3:20 later.
Things evened up once again 8:31 into the third as Phil Decresce lobbed one in past Reid Cooper to level the playing field at 3-all. Joe Feeney assisted Decresce to keep things interesting.
Both sides saw their chances as each got a power play in the last dozen minutes and the game turned to the goalie gloves. Cal Wilcox stood up to the test with five stops, while Cooper did not back down either with four saves of his own. With neither team able to figure out the other's netminders regulation ended in 3-all stalemate and game went to overtime.
The storyline in the extra session came down to the goalies once again. History repeated itself as both did not let a puck past them, which ended in the standoff.
With an extra league point on the line, the foes went into a shootout. Devin Lowe wore the hero cape for the Rams in the second round with a highlight-reel snipe by Reid to give Suffolk the 1-0 edge. Wilcox denied Michael Snow's shot to open the third round to seal the shootout win.
NETMINDER NOTES
- Wilcox had a 40-save effort in the draw.
- Cooper registered 23 stops.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Roche anchored Suffolk's scoring with one goal and one assist.
- Clark contributed two helpers.
- Descresce and Kolowrat each had one goal.
- Feeney and M. Rand both dished out one assist.
- Curry commanded the shots, 43-26.
- Face-offs were nearly even with the Colonels holding a slim, 39-36, edge.
- Suffolk converted 50.0 percent (2-4) of its power play chances.
- The Rams killed off all seven of their penalities.
NOTEWORTHY
- Suffolk skated in its second overtime game of the season, second in the last three games.
- The Rams are 0-0-2 in OT outings in 2021-22.
- Suffolk and Curry have now gone into overtime five times.
- The blue-and-gold skated in overtime against the Colonels for the first time since Nov. 11, 2012.
- The last three OT games between Suffolk and Curry have ended in a draw.
- The Rams moved to 2-0-3 in OT games with the Colonels.
- The Rams are now 3-10-2 at home against Curry.
- Roche stretched his point streak to three straight games. In that stretch he has assembled a two-goal, four-assist stat line.
- Desresce and Donahue each produced their first collegiate point on one goal apiece.
- M. Rand has passed out one assist in the last two games.
- Clark pushed his point streak to three contests. Over that span he has registered two goals and two helpers.
- Roche tied a personal-best two points for the third time this season.
POST-GAME PIC
SUFFOLK'S SCHEDULE
The Rams and Colonels are due for a rematch tomorrow, Saturday Nov. 13 as Suffolk is set to travel to the Canton Ice Den in Canton, Massachusetts for a 7 p.m. puck drop.
