Pawtucket, R.I. -- The Johnson & Wales University hockey squad suffered a 5-2 setback against Curry in an ECAC Northeast contest at Lynch Arena on Saturday evening.
Curry got on to the board just 2:32 into the contest when junior Ian DeLong (Lions, Pa.) tipped in a shot from senior Ryan Barlock (Niles, Ill.). The Colonels went up 2-0 on a goal by senior Michael Curran (Arlington, Mass.) after a pass by Barlock and junior Greg Fosst (East Meadow, N.Y.) at the 12:31 mark. With just eight seconds remaining in the first period, JWU capitalized on a power play goal when junior Jason Pietrasiak (Shrewsbury, Mass.) converted on passes from senior All-American Jeremiah Ketts (Foristell, Mo.) and junior Danny Kaufmann (Scotch Plains, N.J.) to make the score 2-1 at the first intermission.
Curry extended their advantage to 3-1 just 1:08 into the second period on a goal by junior Casey Brugman (Winthrop, Mass.) with assists to freshman Jordan Reed (Ajax, Ontario) and junior Connor Hendry (Alberta, Alberta). A breakaway goal by Reed at the 10:22 mark put Curry up 4-1. The Colonels took the three goal lead heading into the locker room after two periods of play.
Once again, Curry struck early in the third period when freshman Braeden Ruud (Vermillion, Alberta) scored just 1:44 in to make the score 5-1. Junior Ryan Kelly (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) helped the Wildcats cut the lead to 5-2 when he put in passes from freshman Jason Healey (Goshen, N.Y.) and sophomore Ian DePasquale (Buffalo, N.Y.) 2:17 into the stanza. That would be all the scoring for the evening though as Curry held on for the 5-2 victory.
Junior net minder Matt Cooper (Perrysburg, Ohio) had 27 stops for JWU while freshman Derek Mahoney (Amherst, N.Y.) made 30 saves for Curry.
With the setback Johnson & Wales is now 11-6-2 for the year and 5-2-1 in the ECAC Northeast while Curry improves to 10-7-1 on the year, 8-0-0 in league play. The Wildcats will return to action on Wednesday, February 1st when they travel to Salve Regina for an ECAC Northeast contest at 7:00 p.m. The Colonels host New England College on Tuesday, January 31 at 7:35 p.m. (Game Recap Courtesy of Johnson & Wales Sports Information)
