January 9, 2011

Wentworth, Plymouth State Skate to 2-2 Tie

BOSTON, Mass. – Junior forward Casey Shade's (Anchorage, Alaska) goal with 58 seconds remaining in regulation knotted the score at 2-all and despite both teams having chances in overtime, Wentworth and Plymouth State skated to a 2-2 tie in a non-conference game played Matthews Arena.

The visiting Panthers took a 1-0 lead at the 6:29 mark when sophomore forward Sean Foley (Weymouth, Mass.) poked home a shot to freshman netminder Chris Azzano's right side.  Foley was set up on the play by senior defenseman David Rose (Haddonfield, N.J.) and sophomore defenseman Kyle Weiland (Hamden, Conn.)

Plymouth State held an early, 7-1 shot advantage, but the Leopards would outshoot the visitors by an 11-9 margin.  Four of those shots came on a power play midway through the period.

Wentworth had a golden opportunity to tie the game at the five-minute mark of the middle stanza when there was a flurry of activity in front of an open net.  However, both of the Leopards' shots were blocked by defensemen in front.  The hosts were able to even the score on junior forward Skylur Jameson's (Long Beach, Calif.) goal at 10:52, which was assisted by freshman defenseman Andrew Moscardelli (Pearl River, N.Y.) and Shade.

Both teams would have chances to take the lead, but Azzano and his counterpart, sophomore Jack Astedt (Angelholm, Sweden) stood tall and kept the score deadloacked.  However, the stalemate ended with 1:11 left in the third period when sophomore forward Matt Aponte (Plano, Texas) put back a rebound of his own saved shot to give the visitors the lead.

The lead would be short-lived, however, as 13 seconds later Shade put home the rebound of a senior defenseman Kyle Richardson (San Jose, Calif.) shot.  Both teams had a shot on goal in the waning seconds of the period, but could not score.

In overtime, Wentworth went on a power play at the 1:22 mark and managed to get two shots on net, in addition to having a pair of attempts go wide and another two get blocked by PSU defensemen.  As was the case at the end of regulation, both teams also had a shot on goal late in overtime, but neither could put home the game-winner.

Azzano made 28 saves – including 11 in the third period – for the 6-5-3 Leopards, while Astedt turned aside 33 shots for the 7-1-3 Panthers.

The two teams complete their two-game series Monday night at 6:00.