WORCESTER, Mass. – Freshman Alec Taillon (Terrebone, Que.) recorded his first career hat trick and senior Georgy Gorodetsky (Yekaterinburg, Russia) added a pair of goals and assisted on two others as the Wentworth Institute of Technology ice hockey team picked up three crucial points with a 9-4 win over Becker in Commonwealth Coast Conference action.
THE BASICS:
RECORDS: WIT (7-11-3, 3-8-3 CCC); BC (5-15-1, 2-11-1 CCC)
SHOTS: WIT 44; BC 30
PENALTIES/MINUTES: WIT 4-8; BC 4-8
POWER PLAYS: WIT 2-4; BC 0-4
GOALIE SAVES: WIT – Connor Carbo, 26; BC – Cody Foster, 19 (31:29); Zach Skop (28:08), 16
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Taillon got things started as part of a four-goal first period for Wentworth when he scored from junior Dante Flori (Watertown, Mass.) and Gorodetsky at 3:28. Junior Jake McKenelley (Middleton, Mass.) gave the Leopards a 2-0 lead on a power-play goal which was assisted by freshman Carter Stephenson (West Vancouver, B.C.) and senior Nate Chase (Plainfield, Ill.)
- Becker trimmed the lead to 2-1 just eight seconds later on a goal from senior Trey McMillen (Grapevine, Texas). Gorodetsky gave Wentworth a 3-1 lead when he scored from sophomore Joey O'Leary (Boston, Mass.) and junior Brenden Lloyd (Merrick, N.Y.). Lloyd completed the first period scoring when he scored from O'Leary and Gorodetsky with 1:29 left in the period.
- The Leopards broke the game open with three goals in the first 11:29 of the second period. Junior Jake Hallisey (Quincy, Mass.) scored from Chase and McKenelley at 3:19, Taillon recorded his second of the game from senior Liam McKay (Calgary, Alta.) at 9:37, while Gorodetsky added his second of the game – from freshman Guillaume Bose (San Jose, Calif.) – on the power play at 11:29. The Hawks cut the lead to 7-2 after a goal from freshman Colby Audette (Colchester, Vt.) at 15:28 before Bose gave the Black & Gold an 8-2 lead when he scored from classmates Matt Ernster (Barrington, R.I.) and Rhett Rampinelli (Lakewood Ranch, Fla.) with 33 seconds left in the period. Wentworth had a 24-6 shot advantage.
- A pair of Becker goals coming 1:58 apart pulled the hosts within four as sophomore Jason Diamond (Lakeville, Conn.) scored at 6:48 and junior Romain Wild (Mex, Switzerland) scored at 9:46. With the Leopards on the penalty kill and Becker pulling the goalie for an extra attacker, Taillon completed his hat trick off an assist from freshman Sam Milnes (Middletown, R.I.) at 19:13.
- Freshman Connor Carbo (Berlin, Vt.) made 26 saves in the win. Senior Cody Foster (Saugus, Calif.) stopped 19 shots in the first 31:29 before junior Zach Skop (Pittstown, N.J.) made 16 in 28:08 of work. Wentworth had a 44-30 shot advantage and was 2-for-4 on the power play while killing off all four shorthanded situations it faced.
NOTEWORTHY:
- The Leopards picked up a win for the first time since January 18 as the Black & Gold snapped a five-game (0-3-2) winless streak.
The nine goals scored were the most by the Black & Gold in a game since defeating Post, 9-0, on January 13, 2017.
SERIES NOTES:
- Today marked the 27th all-time meeting between the two programs with Wentworth holding a 19-5-3 advantage. The teams split the season series, going 1-1-1 against each other.
NEXT UP:
- Wentworth hosts Endicott in its penultimate home game of the season on Friday, February 14, at 7:00 p.m.
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