January 20, 2011

Curry Rallies to Defeat Wentworth, 4-3

BOSTON, Mass. – Sophomore forward George Isham's (Lake Bluff, Ill.) second goal of the game, coming with 4:15 left in the third period capped off a three-goal period and lifted the Curry hockey team to a 4-3 win over Wentworth in an ECAC Northeast contest played at Matthews Arena.

The Colonels, who snapped a four-game losing streak, scored the game's first goal when senior forward Ray Nicks (Surrey, B.C.) tipped home a junior forward Payden Benning (Estevan, Sask.) pass to the right side.

Wentworth used three goals in the second period, starting with a power play goal from junior forward Mike Paglino (Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich.), which was assisted by sophomore defenseman Dylan Barbieri (Plainville, Mass.) and senior defenseman Kyle Richardson (San Jose, Calif.) at 1:18.  Barbieri put the Leopards ahead on a power play goal, which was set up by freshman forward Andrew Yarber (Livonia, Mich.) and Paglino.  Wentworth rounded out the scoring in the middle stanza when sophomore forward Joel Vastl (North Salem, N.H.) buried a shot to the left side off a pass from freshman forward Patrick Rice (West Des Moines, Iowa) at 12:59.

Curry pulled within a goal at 7:37 when Isham scored from junior forward Jonathan Miller (Freehold, N.J.) and tied the score at 3-all 1:05 later when Nicks and sophomore forward Ian DeLong (Lions, Pa.) set up junior forward Shane Geib (Stony Plain, Alberta).

Isham put the Colonels ahead for good off passes from junior forward Christopher Atkinson (Spurta, N.J.) and DeLong, as his shot beat Leopard freshman netminder Chris Azzano (Oshawm Ont.) to the glove side with a power play tally.

With 56 seconds left Azzano was pulled for an extra attacker, however the hosts were unable to get the equalizer.

Sophomore Robert Dowson (Woodbury, Minn.) made 12 saves in 33:13 to pick up the win.  He came on in relief of freshman Travis Owens (Burbank, Calif.), who made 11 saves in 26:17 of work.  Azzano made 34 saves for Wentworth, which was outshot, 38-26, including 18-5 over the final 20:00.

With the win Curry improves to 6-7-2 overall and 3-1-1 in ECAC Northeast play.  Wentworth dropped its second straight and is winless in its last five (0-3-2), falling to 6-7-4 (3-2-1).  The Colonels host Salve Regina on Saturday, while Wentworth is idle until it travels to Salve Regina a week from tonight.