BIDDEFORD, Maine – Freshman Jeff Eppright (Barrington, N.J.) scored a pair of goals and assisted on two others as the 12th-ranked University of New England ice hockey team fended off Wentworth Institute of Technology, 6-5, in Commonwealth Coast Conference action Saturday night.
With the win the Nor'Easters run their win streak to nine and their unbeaten streak to 13 (12-0-1) as they improve to 14-3-2 overall and 7-3-2 in CCC play while the Leopards fall to 5-11-3 (3-6-3).
UNE jumped out to an early, 2-0 lead as the hosts tallied twice in a span of 1:01. Eppright and sophomore Dimitrius Jones (Seattle, Wash.) set up freshman Tyler Seltenreich (Littleton, Colo.). At the 2:22 mark, just 14 seconds into a man advantage, junior Tucker Ross (Ashburn, Va.) scored from freshman Max Rasberg (Columbus, Ohio) and sophomore Ryan Burr (Toms River, N.J.).
Junior Adam Lane (Sarnia, Ont.) got Wentworth on the board 95 seconds into the middle frame as he was set up by classmates Matthew Kennedy (Mount Pearl, N.L.) and Ethan Weiss (Troy, Mich.) before a sophomore Adam Tracey (Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.) marker at 9:10 evened the score at 2-all. However, just 14 seconds later, Burr and junior Brady Fleurent (Biddeford, Maine) assisted on the go-ahead goal from sophomore Ryan Bloom (Northville, Mich.).
Eppright scored the next two UNE goals to give the hosts a 5-2 lead at the end of the second period. At 14:07 he scored from Rasberg and freshman Brett Mecrones (Medford, Mass.) before Jones set him up on the power play at 18:45.
The Leopards battled back and pulled within a goal, scoring twice in a span of 2:44. Kennedy scored on the power play at 3:14 from sophomores CJ Grinnell (Burlington, Mass.) and Georgy Gorodetskii (Yekaterinburg, Russia) before Grinnell made it 5-4 with his goal from sophomore Nate Chase (Plainfield, Ill.) and freshman Brenden Lloyd (Merrick, N.Y.).
A power-play goal by Bloom, assisted by Fleurent and Eppright, at 13:01 gave the Nor'Easters a two-goal cushion. However, with 4:33 remaining, UNE was called for a major penalty. With 2:45 remaining, senior Ryan Hubbard (West Roxbury, Mass.) was pulled for an extra attacker. Twelve seconds later, Gorodetskii scored the extra attacker, power-play goal, which was set up by freshman Jake Hallisey (Quincy, Mass.). After 59 seconds, Hubbard was again pulled for an extra attacker, however Wentworth was unable to get the equalizer.
Freshman Ben Churchfield (Newcastle, England) picked up the win, making 37 saves, including 16 in the third period. Hubbard made 21 saves as Wentworth had a 42-27 shot advantage.
Wentworth hosts Western New England on Thursday night.
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