SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Sophomore Josh Twietmeyer recorded his first points of the season in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Northeast home opener, but the Western New England University men's hockey team couldn't hold on to an early lead and fell 7-2 to Curry College at Smead Rink on Thursday. The visiting Colonels improve to 2-3 overall while the Golden Bears slip to 1-2-1; both teams are now 1-1 in the ECAC Northeast.

Western New England jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first period. Sophomore Dane Genord got the scoring started with his second goal of the season at the 11:04 mark. Twietmeyer won a battle from behind the Curry net and fed a pass to Genord between the circles, where he one-timed a shot past the blocker of sophomore goalie Brett Sinclair into the lower right corner of the net. Then 3 minutes and 42 seconds later, Twietmeyer added a power play goal on assists from junior Ryan Taylor and senior captain Brandon Stroud.

Freshman Phil Kiss led a balanced Curry offense with a goal and an assist as 13 different Colonels notched at least one point. Senior captain Braeden Ruud matched Kiss with his scoring totals on the night, while junior Brian White, sophomore Joe Scarfo and freshman Shane Tracy also had a multi-point game with two assists apiece. Curry's other tallies came from senior Chris Mason and sophomores Dan McGinnis, James Murphy, Mike Vallescuro and Jake Heisinger.

After trailing 2-0 in the opening frame, the Colonels went on to net seven goals over the remaining 40 minutes.  Sinclair was solid between the pipes for Curry making 21 total saves, 14 in the final two periods. 

The Colonels led in shots 33-23 and were 2-5 on the power play while the Golden Bears were 1-3.

Western New England is back in action on Saturday, November 15 when they host ECAC Northeast opponent Suffolk University in a 1:45 game start.  Curry also plays on Saturday in an ECAC Northeast conference game at Johnson & Wales at 7:10 p.m.  (Game recap courtesy of Western New England Sports Information)