EVERETT, Mass. – Five different Rams scored and Cal Wilcox stopped all 33 shots he faced to help Suffolk men's hockey pick up its first Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) victory, a 5-0 triumph over Wentworth Saturday night at Allied Veterans Memorial Rink.
THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 5 | Wentworth 0
RECORDS: Suffolk (1-1-1, 0-0-1 CCC) | Wentworth (1-2-1, 0-1-1 CCC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Nick Lachaine won a face-off on the back hand that found Jared Newell at the blue line. The freshman defender sniped a slap shot towards Connor Carbo in the cage. Carbo attempted to make the glove save, but dropped the puck behind him, which allowed Lachaine, who snuck around the back side of the net to quickly tap in the rebound for the one-goal early edge. Daniil Ovchinnikov had a hand in the game-opening goal that came 16 seconds into the action.
Wentworth had a chance to tie things up right before the first intermission as Kevin Obssuth stole the puck near the neutral zone and zoomed off for a one-on-one with Wilcox. The Rams' netminder stood tall and denied the Leopard to send Suffolk into the locker room up one.
Senior Shawn Montgomery went on a breakaway of his own around the eight-minute mark in the second period. The senior's shot was denied by Carbo, but Billy Roche followed his classmate down the ice and was there to pick up the pieces of the rebound to double the Rams' cushion to a pair.
Suffolk really put things away as a scoring frenzy ensued in the third. Kyle Valiquette, Griffin Clark and Ryan Donnelly all lit the lamp over a 1:42 second span to make things lopsided in the favor of the Rams, 5-0.
That score stood at the final whistle 15 minutes later as Wilcox collected the last five shots the Leopards took including a flurry of five that came at the midway point.
NETMINDER NOTES
- Wilcox registered 33 saves in the shutout, his first victory of the season.
- Carbo notched 22 stops in the setback.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Montgomery and Roche each logged two points. The former's stat line was two assists, while the latter's was divided evenly between goals (1) and helpers (1).
- Clark, Donnelly, Lachaine and Valiquette all found the back of the net.
- Alex Kolowrat, Newell and Ovchinnikov each dished out one helper.
- Wentworth outshot Suffolk, 33-27.
- The blue-and-gold won the face-off battle, 39-37.
- The Rams converted one of their six power play chances.
NOTEWORTHY
- The Rams opened CCC action 1-0-1 for the first time in program history.
- Suffolk shutout an opponent keeping then-No.13 Norwich off the scoreboard in a 1-0 decision Dec. 1, 2018.
- The five goals are the most by the blue-and-gold since matching that offensive output in a 5-3 win over Nichols Feb. 28, 2021.
- Suffolk downed Wentworth for the first time since Dec. 9, 2017.
- The shutout is the sixth in the all-time series between the Leopards and the Rams.
- Suffolk is now 3-2-2 when a team is kept off the scoreboard in the series with Wentworth, 3-2-0 in the Chris Glionna era in cleansheets versus the Leopards.
- The blue-and-gold blanked WIT for the first time since a 1-0 shutout over Wentworth Feb. 2, 2017.
- Wilcox blanked a foe for the first time in his career.
- Roche registered points in the last two games. In that stretch he has four points with one marker and three handouts.
- Clark, Lachaine has scored in back-to-back games, while Kolowrat and Valiquette have has produced points in the last two outings.
- Montgomery matched a career-high two assists with his first points of the season.
- Roche matched a personal-best two points on one goal and one assist.
- Donnelly scored his first goal of the season, second of his career.
- Newell and Ovchinnikov each notched his first collegiate point on one assist.
POST-GAME PIC
SUFFOLK'S SCHEDULE
The Rams remain in conference competition next weekend with a home-and-home against Curry. Suffolk plays host first Friday, Nov. 12 at Emmons Horrigan O'Neil Memorial Rink, with the Colonels entertaining the blue-and-gold Saturday, Nov. 13. Both games have 7 p.m. start times.