MILTON, Mass.- In an ECAC Northeast Conference match-up in men's ice hockey action on Thursday night at the Max Ulin Rink in Milton, Mass., Curry College lost to Wentworth Institute, 3-1. With the win, the Leopards improve to 2-1-0 overall and 1-0-0 in the ECAC Northeast. The Colonels fell to 0-3-0 overall and 0-1-0 in the ECAC Northeast conference.
Despite the Colonels holding a slight edge in shots at 11-9, the Leopards were able to take a 2-0 lead in the first period. Wentworth's first score came just 4:40 into the game. Freshman Adam Lane (Sarnia, Ontario) netted his first collegiate goal off assists from freshmen Byron Carlisle (Orleans, Mass.) and Eric Eustace (Oakville, Ontario). The game-winning tally came with just 50 seconds left to play in the stanza. At the 18:36 minute mark senior Ryan Gay (Nesconset, N.Y.) was called for a two minute slashing penalty giving the Leopards a man-up advantage. Wentworth controlled the puck nicely in the Colonels defensive zone waiting patiently for a scoring opportunity. They got it 54 seconds into the power-play when sophomore Eric Andersson (Madison, N.J.) one-timed the puck past the glove of Curry's junior netminder Brett Sinclair (St. Catharines, Ontario.). Sophomore Ryan Sullivan (Whately, Mass.) was credited with the assist along with Eustace, his second on the night.
Solid play by Wentworth's senior goaltender Joel Miller (Calgary, Alta.) held Curry scoreless through the next 26:46 minutes of play. The Colonels once again lead in shots in the second at 18-13 but couldn't get on the board as he stopped all 18 shots he faced. Sinclair was strong as well coming up with 13 saves. Curry finally netted one 6:46 into the final period to cut the Leopards lead down to one. Junior Tyler Vankleef (Dundas, Ontario) took a slap shot that sailed over the shoulder of Miller. Junior Mike Vallescuro (Woodbridge, Ontario) saw an open Vankleef in front of the net sending the pass for the helper. The teams battled each other for the remainder of the game with Curry working hard to tally the tying score. Sinclair was pulled with 39 seconds left to play with a face-off in the defensive end of Wentworth. The Colonels won the face-off but the Leopards intercepted a pass at the blue-line by freshman Angus Johnston (Calgary, Alberta). Johnston sent a quick pass to Lane who skated up ice until he found sophomore Jake McDonough (Marshfield, Mass.) who scored on the empty net.
Curry went 0-4 on power plays while Wentworth was 1-4. The Colonels finished with a game-high 36 shots and the Leopards 33.
Curry's Sinclair made 30 saves in net for the Colonels in the loss. Miller made an impressive 35 stops in net for Wentworth for the win.
Both teams return to action on Saturday, November 7 to take on ECAC Northeast opponents. Curry will host Johnson & Wales in 4:45 p.m. game start while Wentworth will host Western New England at 5:00 p.m.
