Men’s Ice Hockey Suffers Tough Loss to Connecticut

HAMILTON, Mass. – The Endicott men's ice hockey team hosted the University of Connecticut on Saturday night for their first game of 2014. Entering the match the Huskies were 17-1 and the Blue and Green gave them a battle, but it was not enough as UConn scored with 27 seconds remaining in regulation to tie up the game, and eventually took the win in overtime. The Gulls move to 8-5 while the Huskies improve to 18-1.

The first period was controlled by UConn as they took a 2-0 lead. The first came from junior Brian Sarosky (Trumbull, Conn.) at 11:54 when he finished a play started by junior Mike Geiger (Guilford, Conn.) and freshman Connor Todd (Glen, N.H.) to slip the puck past freshman goaltender Nick Russo (Waltham, Mass.) to take the 1-0 lead.

At 6:55 the Huskies took advantage of a power play opportunity when senior Paul Cinquegrana (Lincoln, R.I.) finished strong on a line with junior Ryan Doherty (Darien, Conn.) and senior Joseph Fiori (Trumbull, Conn.) to sneak the puck past Russo to take a two goal advantage entering the first intermission.

The second period showed a different light for the Blue and Green as they completely took over and shut down the Huskies, scoring four goals and holding UConn to zero. At the 9:06 mark senior Tad Gold (Vineyard Haven, Mass.) starting his scoring streak as he, on a line with senior Ryan Pratt (Waltham, Mass.) and junior Ed Estey (Beverly, Mass.) used the power play advantage to control the offensive zone and find the back of the net to get back within one.

Less than a minute later it was Pratt's turn to find the back of the net to tie up the game with help from Gold and senior Cameron MacLeod (Hampton Falls, N.H.). The scoring would not end there, when 5:20 hit the clock Gold and Pratt were on a combo play to goal where Pratt was able to feed Gold the puck and blasted it into the back of the net past sophomore goaltender Andrew Furbush (Brandford, Conn.) to take the lead.

With 2:31 left in the second period Gold went for the hat trick as he again beat Furbush to take the 4-2 lead to enter the second intermission. On the play Pratt and junior Jake Rand (Winthrop, Mass.) were awarded with the assists.

The third period went back to the Huskies favor as Cinquegrana got UConn back within one after he found the back of the net with 10:51 left in the game. Endicott worked hard to shut down the Huskies with huge efforts from Russo who made 10 saves in the period. However, UConn was able to tie up the game with 27 seconds remaining in regulation to force an overtime period.

Fiori gave UConn the victory at the 3:36 mark in the first overtime to give Endicott their fifth loss of the season. Russo was strong in net for the Gulls making 43 stops in his 62 minutes of play.

The Gulls will take the ice next on Saturday, February 1^st when they host Boston University at 7:30 p.m. at the Pingree School.