EVERETT, Mass. – Junior Connor Busch (Lake in the Hills, Ill.) scored with 13:18 remaining in regulation to snap a 5-all tie and senior Ethan Weiss (Troy, Mich.) had a five-point night, including scoring an empty-net goal to seal the game as the Wentworth Institute of Technology ice hockey team scored the final five goals of the contest to take a 7-5 win over the University of New England. The win was the first-ever in seven meetings between the two schools for the Leopards.
With the win the Leopards improve to 7-9-4 overall and 5-6-1 in Commonwealth Coast Conference play while the Nor'Easters, ranked 12th in the latest USCHO.com Division III Men's Poll and 13th in the D3Hockey.com Men's Top 15, see their six-game winning and eight-game (7-0-1) unbeaten streak come to an end, falling to 14-5-1 (8-4-0). This was the second win over a nationally ranked team in the last three games for Wentworth.
UNE wasted little time getting on the board, however, as the visitors took a 2-0 lead in the first 74 seconds of the game, including scoring just nine seconds in when junior Liam Neuman (Newmarket, Ont.) scored off the rebound of a sophomore Brett Mecrones (Medford, Mass.) shot with sophomore Derek Mecrones (Medford, Mass.) also picking up an assist. At the 1:14 mark, Neuman assisted on freshman Liam Darcy's (Alfred, Maine) goal before freshman Austin Morgan (Novi, Mich.) scored from freshman Jamey Zanca (Camden, Maine) and junior Dimitris Jones (Seattle, Wash.) to make it a 3-0 contest 3:09 into the game.
Wentworth got on the board nearly halfway through the period when senior Adam Lane (Sarnia, Ont.) scored from junior Nate Chase (Plainfield, Ill.) and Weiss before Morgan and freshman Aaron Aragon (Whittier, Calif.) set up senior Tucker Ross (Ashburn, Va.) on the power play at 12:48. The high-scoring period ended with freshman Jake McKenelley (Middleton, Mass.) scoring a power-play goal from Tracey and Weiss at 19:05.
The Nor'Easters extended their lead to 5-2 at the 4:59 mark of the second period when Morgan netted his second of the contest from freshman Alexander Vukota (Edgartown, Mass.). Nearly four minutes later, the hosts began their comeback with a power play goal from freshman Joey O'Leary (Boston, Mass.), which was set up by junior Georgy Gorodetsky (Yekaterinburg, Russia) and Weiss. Gorodetsky then brought Wentworth to with a goal when he scored from Tracey at 10:17. The Leopards, who had been outshot by a 16-11 margin in the first period, had an 18-1 shot advantage in the second period.
Just 20 seconds into the third period, McKenelley scored his second of the game, coming on the power play, as Weiss recorded his fourth assist of the contest on the goal. While both teams had chances to break the stalemate, Busch broke free through the zone and beat junior Tate Sproxton (Surrey, B.C.) to the left side, giving the Black & Gold their first lead of the night. With 1:10 remaining, Sproxton was pulled for an extra attacker and UNE had a pair of chances to tie the game; both of which were denied by freshman Ryan Bonnvie (Falmouth, Maine). With the Nor'Easters attacking one last time, senior Paul Filippone, III (Cranston, R.I.) and Lane helped clear the puck to Weiss, whose goal with seven seconds left from inside the neutral zone, iced the with for the hosts.
Bonnvie finished with 22 saves in just over 47 minutes of action. Classmate Thomas Draper (Binghamton, N.Y.) made 11 saves over the first 12:48. Sproxton turned aside 33 shots for UNE. Wentworth had a 40-38 shot advantage and was 3-for-7 on the power play.
Wentworth hosts Curry on Friday night.
For the latest on Wentworth Athletics, follow the Leopards via social media on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Fans can also download the Wentworth Leopards "Front Row" mobile app, powered by PrestoSports, on iTunes and the Android Market.
