Gulls Falter at MIT, 7-1

Nov. 12, 2003

Any chance Endicott had of avenging their loss to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 11 days ago faded quickly as the Engineers rang up four unanswered goals in the first period and cruised to a 7-1 victory in Cambridge on Wednesday, Nov. 12.

The Gulls found themselves in a hole early, when freshman Adam Shabshelowitz took a feed from Adam Vokoc, slipped past a check by Endicott's Jeff Clattenburg, drove wide and fired off a shot that squeezed between senior goaltender Jared Ballou's left arm and the short-side post. Five minutes later, with Endicott's Derek Gagnon serving two minutes for slashing, MIT's Nick Fahey ripped a slop shot from the point that trickled through Ballou's pads. MIT captain Adam Vokac pounced on the puck and pushed it over the goal line, giving the Engineers the first of two power play goals on the night. Brett Fisher stretched MIT's lead to 3-0 following a broken play at the blue line. The puck was shoveled into the slot, and Fisher snapped a quick, point-blank shot that beat Ballou. The opportunistic Engineers struck again with less than five minutes left in the period, when an uncovered Danny Alix corralled a seemingly harmless dump-in and tucked it past Ballou at the edge of the crease.

The second stanza didn't start any better, after Endicott's Aaron Sutcliffe was whistled for hitting from behind less than a minute into the period. The Engineers capitalized for their second power play goal, when Martin Qiumet dug the puck out of a scramble in front on the Gulls net, and fired it past a sprawling Ballou. That goal seemed to fire up the Gulls, who played MIT even the rest of the period, though they weren't able to get the puck behind freshman goalie Thomas Hopkins.

Endicott captain Adam Partaledis provided some spark to start the third period, hauling the puck over the blue line and snapping a wrist shot on Hopkins. Linemate Jason Fall gathered the rebound and buried it past Hopkins for the Gulls lone goal, cutting the MIT lead to 5-1. MIT responded quickly, however, as Daniel Williams teed up a slap shot just above the right face-off circle that beat Ballou short side. Tim Studley completed MIT's scoring seven minutes into the period, taking a clean face-off win from Fisher, sliding into the slot, and wristing a quick, low shot past Ballou's left pad.

The loss dropped Endicott below .500 (3-4-2) for the first time since the opening weekend of the season. The Gulls will be on the road for their next game at traditional league power Springfield on Friday, Nov. 14, followed by returned engagement against the Boston Junior Blackhawks at home on Saturday, Nov. 15.

FINIS