After trailing 3-0 midway through the opening period, the Salve Regina men's ice hockey team rallied back, scoring five times in the third period to capture a 7-4 victory over Suffolk University at Portsmouth Abbey Ice Rink on Tuesday night. The victory was the first conference win of the year for the Seahawks who improve to 2-3-0 overall and 1-1-0 during Eastern College Athletic Conference Northeast (ECACNE) play. The loss was the first blemish of the season for the Rams who slide to 3-1-0 on the year, including a 1-1-0 mark in ECACNE action.

The Seahawks received an outstanding effort by freshman Marc Biggs (Plano, Texas) who led all players with three points on the night, notching two goals while also assisting on the game-winningscore. Sophomore Michael Naso (Londonderry, N.H.) netted a pair of goals in the win, while sophomore John Scorcia (Hudson, Fla.) and freshman Cameron Gaudet (Burlington, Mass.)both had two points on a goal and an assist. Senior William Gomolinski (Western Springs, Ill.) also scored for the Seahawks, while seniors Mike Cenisio (Chadds Ford, Pa.) and Jacob Hutt (Menlo Park, Calif.) each dished-out a pair of helpers. Freshman goaltender David Chiokadze (Langhorne, Pa.) earned his first collegiate win in net, stopping 18-of-19 shots over two periods between the pipes.

The Rams were led by a pair of goals from sophomore Tim Sprague (Plymouth, Mass.), while freshmen David Lazaro (Canton, Mass.) and Mike Cherpak (Enfield, Conn.) contributed one marker apiece. Freshman Hayden Voss (Marlboro, Mass.), junior Charlie McGinnis (Hanover, Mass.), and sophomore Andrew Ball (Brick, N.J.) each had an assist, while sophomore Brett Roman (Rock Tavern, N.Y.) made a game-high 39 saves in net while falling to 3-1-0 on the year.

The Rams came storming out of the gate early, scoring three goals within the first nine minutes of play. Voss set up Sprague for the first score of the game after just 2:25 of action to give the Rams an early 1-0 advantage. Suffolk then added a pair of goals just 44 seconds apart, including a power-play marker by Cherpak at 8:04 and an unassisted tally by Lazaro at 8:48, to put the Rams on top 3-0.

The Seahawks finally got on the board at the 17:22 mark of the opening frame, as Gomolinski battled to control a faceoff at mid ice, raced down the left side, deked to his left and then pulled the puck around the Suffolk goalie to finish to the right, cutting the Rams' lead to 3-1 heading into the second period.

Salve Regina stole the momentum in the middle frame, outshooting the Rams by a 23-8 margin while scoring the only goal of the period. Going on the power-play midway through the stanza, the Seahawks climbed back within one when Hutt took a pass from Cenisio and swung the puck to Biggs who blasted a slap shot from the top of the left circle and into the back of the net.

The Seahawks tied the score at 3-3 early in the third period, as Gaudet slapped home a rebound off a shot by Hutt for Salve Regina's second power-play goal of the contest.

The Seahawks then captured their first lead of the contest at the five minute mark of the third period. Naso started things by delivering a beautiful cross ice pass to Gaudet who skated down the left side and ripped a slap shot on net. The shot skipped away from the Suffolk goalie right to a streaking Naso who was there to clean up the rebound and give SRU a 4-3 advantage.

Refusing to go quietly, the Rams answered with a power-play goal with just over six minutes remaining, as McGinnis and Capozza set up Sprague for his second marker of the game, tying the score at four-all.

That's when Biggs and Scorcia took control of the contest for Salve Regina, combining for a pair of goals within just nine seconds of each other. Biggs set up the first goal, delivering a terrific pass from just over the blue line to hit Scorcia by the right post for the deflection. After winning the ensuing faceoff, Scorcia raced down the right side and then found Biggs charging to the left post for a one-timer, putting Salve Regina on top, 6-4.

Naso finally cemented the victory with an empty netter with just 37 seconds remaining to push the final score to 7-4.

The Rams return to action on Saturday when they host Wentworth at 3:25 p.m in Charlestown., while the Seahawks will take to the ice again on Friday, welcoming Neumann for a non-conference matchupstarting at 7 p.m

(Story courtesy of Salve Regina University Sports Information)