SALEM, Mass. – For the fourth straight season and 11th time in program history, the Wentworth Institute of Technology hockey team is headed to the ECAC Northeast championship game. The second-seeded Leopards received a pair of goals from sophomore Dan Szerlip (Newton, Mass.) and a 24-save performance from sophomore Joel Miller (Calgary, Alta.) to defeat fourth-seeded Johnson & Wales, 4-0, in a semifinal at Salem State University.
With the win the Leopards even their record at 12-12-2 and will at Nichols, a 4-3 winner over Curry, for the league championship on Saturday. Johnson & Wales ends its season with an 18-8-2 mark. The win is also the 128th of eighth-year head coach R.J. Tolan's career, making him the winningest coach in program history.
Szerlip provided the only goal of the first period, scoring all the Leopards would need as he took a feed from freshman Connor Crowe (Galloway, N.J.) and fired a shot under freshman Joey Ballmer's (Kalamazoo, Mich.) right pad at 15:13 of the first period.
After a scoreless second period the Leopards took a 2-0 lead when sophomore Adam Frank (Clarkston, Mich.) intercepted a pass at center ice and fed junior Szerlip for a shorthanded marker at 3:36. Wentworth upped its lead to 3-0 at 11:01 when junior Mike Domsodi (Kirkland, Que.) fed classmate Kevin Crowe, who found the back of the net at 11:01. Senior Andrew Yarber (Livonia, Mich.) rounded out the scoring when his slapshot from the right point went top shelf at 15:35.
Miller made 11 of his 28 saves in the third period as the Wildcats had an 11-9 edge in shots over the final 20 minutes. Ballmer made 24 saves in the game as Wentworth held a 28-24 shot advantage.