BOSTON, Mass. – Sophomore forward Patrick Bellew's (Newington, Conn.) goal at 10:10 of the second period held up as the game winner and sophomore netminder Jake Rosenthal (Wantagh, N.Y.) made 43 saves as the Becker College hockey team held on to defeat 13th-ranked Wentworth, 2-1, in an ECAC Northeast contest played at Matthews Arena.
The Hawks got the only goal of the first period when freshman forward Alex Young fed a pass to senior defenseman Jim Ceglarek (Chicago, Ill.), who found sophomore forward Nate Sayer (Dracut, Mass.) just outside of the blue line. Sayer skated in and rifled a shot from outside of the left face-off circle that eluded Wentworth freshman Michael Jarboe (Grosse Pointe Park, Mich.). The Leopards applied pressure for most of the period, putting 20 shots on Rosenthal, but came up empty.
Bellew received a pass from sophomore forward Robert Johnson (Fenton, Mich.) and put home a shot to Jarboe's right side that would put Becker up 2-0. Also assisting on the goal was freshman forward Branden Parkhouse (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.). Wentworth trimmed the lead to 2-1 when senior forward Jeff Olitch (Calgary, Alberta) put home a shot passed a screened Rosenthal with 2:32 left in the period. Freshman defenseman Jackson Spivey (Anchorage, Alaska) and sophomore forward Skylur Jameson (Long Beach, Calif.) picked up helpers on Olitch's team leading 18th marker of the season.
Despite there not being any scoring in the third period, the Leopards went on a five-minute power play with 6:09 remaining. The leopards put five shots on target during the man advantage, but Rosenthal would stop them all. Down a man due to a penalty called with 51.1 seconds left, Wentworth pulled Jarboe with 41 seconds left, but could not get a shot on goal.
Rosenthal improves to 9-8 on the season, while Jarboe, who made 16 saves, suffered his first defeat of the season (7-1). Wentworth held a 44-18 shot advantage.
Becker wins its second straight to improve to 10-10-1 overall and 6-5 in ECAC Northeast play. Wentworth, which saw its 11-game home win streak come to an end, lost back-to-back games for the first time this season to fall to 17-4-1 overall and 9-3 in league play. Both teams are in action on Wednesday night; Becker hosts Suffolk at 8:00, while Wentworth travels to Salve Regina at 7:15.
