Wilcox Stands Tall, Men’s Hockey Falls at No. 15 Endicott in Road Finale, 5-3

Wilcox Stands Tall, Men’s Hockey Falls at No. 15 Endicott in Road Finale, 5-3

BEVERLY, Mass. – Suffolk men's hockey came out on the wrong side of a 5-3 Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) decision to No. 15 Endicott at Raymond J. Bourque Arena despite a stand-up 65-save effort by junior Cal Wilcox. Special teams played a major factor Friday night with all, but one goal put away on the power play or penalty kill.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3 | No. 15 Endicott 5
RECORDS: Suffolk (7-12-4, 6-10-4 CCC) | No. 15 Endicott (17-6-1, 14-5-1 CCC)  

HOW IT HAPPENED
Endicott poured in three unanswered power play goals in the first 20 minutes to send Suffolk into the first intermission down 3-0.  

Just 1:28 out of the locker room, the Gulls continued their scoring stretch with a short-handed strike top push their edge to four. 

Suffolk sliced that margin in half at before the teams headed to the locker room for the second time. Shawn Montgomery eliminated the shutout with at the 17:39 mark as the senior found the back of the net with help from Nick Lacahaine and PJ Donahue on the power play.  

Less than two minutes later, just 35 seconds before the buzzer to signal the end of the second set of 20 minutes, Troy Ladka lit the lamp with a Ram in the box. The xxx's short-handed tally was helped by Joe Feeney and pulled Suffolk within two, 4-2.  

The teams traded goals in the third for 5-3 final. Endicott's tally came 3:05 into the third period on the power play once again, while Ryan Harrigan put the puck away with just 32 seconds left in regulation.  

NETMINDER NOTES

  • Wilcox faced 70 shots and saved 65 of them. 
  • Conor O'Brien registered 23 stops in the win.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

  • Montgomery recorded two points. His stat line was divided in half between goals (1) and assists (1), respectively. 
  • Feeney set-up two scores. 
  • Ladka logged one goal. 
  • Donahue and Lachaine notched one assist apiece. 
  • Endicott overpowered the Rams in shots, 70-26. 
  • The Gulls won the face-off battle as well, 40-33. 
  • Endicott went 4-for-9 on the power play. 
  • The Rams went 1-for-5 with a man-up.  

NOTEWORTHY

  • Wilcox's 65 saves are the third most by a goalie in NCAA Division III this season as of Feb. 17, 2022. 
  • Wilcox's 65 stops are the most in the Rams' game-by-game record book which dates through the 1999-2000 season. 
  • Feeney matched a career-high save.  

POST-GAME PIC
  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk concludes the regular-season tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 19 when Wentworth stops by Charlestown at 7 p.m.