BOSTON, Mass. – Freshman Erik Andersson (Madison, N.J.) recorded a goal and an assist and junior Joel Miller made 20 saves to record his third career shutout as the Wentworth Institute of Technology ice hockey team blanked Johnson & Wales, 2-0, in an ECACECAC Northeast contest played at Lynch Arena.
With the win the Leopards improve to 9-8-2 overall and 4-3-1 in league play while the Wildcats fall to 11-8-1 (5-4-0) with the defeat.
Wentworth held a 7-3 shot advantage after one period, however was unable to find the back of the net. The Leopards briefly had a 5-on-3 advantage late in the period and put two shots on goal, however Sophomore Joey Ballmer (Kalamazoo, Mich.) kept it a scoreless tie.
The Leopards broke the stalemate midway through the second period as Andersson carried the puck into the neutral zone and fed senior Michael Heffner (Lloydminster, Sask.), who put a shot towards the Wildcat net where senior Mike Domsodi (Kirkland, Que.) redirected it past Ballmer. Shots were even at 8-all in the second period.
Both teams had chances in the third period as the hosts held a 9-7 shot advantage. While killing a major penalty, Ballmer was pulled for an extra skater in hopes of tying the game. However, Andersson would seal the win with an empty-net tally with 13 ticks remaining in the contest.
Ballmer finished with 20 saves as the Leopards held a 22-20 shot advantage. Wentworth was 2-for-6 on the power play while killing off all five shorthanded situations.
The Leopards are at Western New England on Saturday while the Wildcats are at Becker.
