EVERETT, Mass. – Trailing by two goals entering the third period, the Wentworth Institute of Technology hockey team scored three times in a span of 2:22 to take the lead and held on for a 3-2 win over Western New England in Commonwealth Coast Conference action Thursday night.
With the win the Leopards halt a three-game losing streak and improve to 6-11-3 overall and 4-6-3 in league play. The six wins surpasses last season's total number of wins (five). With the loss the Golden Bears see their two-game winning and five-game (4-0-1) unbeaten streak come to a halt.
Just under three minutes into the contest, Western New England staked a 1-0 lead, thanks to a rebound goal from junior Matt O'Dea (Orland Park, Ill.), which was assisted by senior Matt Smethurst (Rexford, N.Y.) and junior Edmund Rogers (Creve Coeur, Mo.). The remainder of the period was a back-and-forth affair with both teams having scoring chances. However, the Golden bears had a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of action.
O'Dea gave his team a 2-0 lead with his second of the game, coming off a feed from freshman Adamo Giocomin (Richmond Hill, Ont.). Wentworth had chances to cut into the lead, however Golden Bear junior Kevin Gollmer (Flourtown, Pa.) stopped all 12 shots he faced in the second period.
On the power play to start the third period, Wentworth made the most of the man advantage, making it a 2-1 game at the 1:11 mark as junior Adam Lane (Sarnia, Ont.) scored from sophomore Georgy Gorodetskii (Yekaterinburg, Russia) and junior Ethan Weiss (Troy, Mich.). Just 80 seconds later, freshman Jake Hallisey's (Quincy, Mass.) putback of a Gorodetskii shot evened the score at 2-all. Freshman Brenden Lloyd (Merrick, N.Y.) picked up the secondary assist on the goal.
Wentworth completed its comeback at 3:33 of the period when sophomore Nate Chase (Plainfield, Ill.) scored from classmates Adam Tracey (Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.) and CJ Grinnell (Burlington, Mass.).
Western New England nearly tied the game midway through the period, however, senior Ryan Hubbard (West Roxbury, Mass.) made a huge stop of a one-timer off the stick of junior David Kleyman (Brooklyn, N.Y.) from in front of the net. With 39 seconds left, Gollmer was pulled for an extra attacker and put two shots on goal during that stretch, however, Hubbard turned the both aside to preserve the win.
Hubbard made 29 saves, while Gollmer made 37 saves. Wentworth had a 40-31 shot advantage which included 17 in the third period.
The two teams square off again on Saturday in West Springfield, Mass.
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