BOSTON, Mass. – Senior forward Michael O’Brien (Royersford, Pa.) scored at 2:13 of the third period to snap a 2-all tie and classmate Justin Marriott (St. Clair Shores, Much.) turned aside 32 shots to win his school record 53rd career game as the Wentworth hockey team defeated Curry, 4-2, to claim its first ECAC Northeast regular season crown since the 2002-03 season.
The visiting Colonels, who won the first meeting between the two schools, 6-2, wasted little time taking advantage of a 5x3 power play as 10 seconds into the two-man advantage sophomore forward John Williams (Floutrown, Pa.) fed freshman forward George Isham (Lake Bluff, Ill.), whose shot eluded Marriott to the left side. The Leopards went without a shot for the first 10:32 of the contest, but were able to break the ice when senior defenseman Martin Winzer (Nuremburg, Germany) put home his own rebound at 11:52. Despite the early shot disparity, the period ended with shots even at 12.
Curry got the only goal of the middle period when sophomore forward Payden Benning (Estevan, Sask.) put home the rebound of a junior defenseman Ryan Warsofsky (Marshfield, Mass.) shot at 13:25. The Colonels outshot the Leopards by a 13-7 margin in the second period.
Wentworth rallied to take the lead with a pair of early goals in the third period. Sophomore forward Mike Paglino (Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich.) evened the game at 2-all at the 1:56 mark, as he was set up by sophomore forward Casey Shade (Anchorage, Alaska) and freshman defenseman Dylan Barbieri (Plainville, Mass.). Just 17 seconds later, O’Brien got a stick on a loose puck and found the back of the net to give the Leopards their first lead of the night.
With 1:25 remaining, freshman netminder Robert Dawson (Woodbury, Mich.) was pulled for an extra attacker. The Colonels were able to get a pair of shots off – one that was saved by Marriott, while the other was blocked. Clearing it out of the zone, freshman forward Anthony Principato (Holmdel, N.J.) and junior defenseman Kyle Richardson (San Jose, Calif.) set up senior forward Jeff Olitch (Calgary, Alberta), who scored an empty-net goal with 36.4 seconds left. A late penalty saw Dawson get pulled for the 6-on-4 advantage, but Curry was unable to capitalize.
Marriott turned aside 23 of his 32 saves over the first two periods to improve to 12-3-1 on the season. His 53rd career win surpasses the old mark of 52, set by Jeff Reid from 1997-2000. Dawson made 24 saves to fall to 3-2-1.
With the win Wentworth improves to 19-4-1 (11-3-0 ECAC Northeast) and will open up ECAC Northeast Tournament play on Saturday, Feb. 27, with a home game against eighth-seeded Salve Regina at 7:30 p.m. Curry falls to 16-8-1 (10-3-1) and finishes in second place. The Colonels will host seventh-seeded Western New England on Saturday afternoon.
