Men's Ice Hockey's Comeback Bid Falls Short to #12 UNE

EVERETT, Mass. – A fast start in the first period, tallying three goals in a span of 7:11, helped the No. 12-ranked University of New England Nor'Easters men's ice hockey team to a narrow 3-2 win over the Wentworth Institute of Technology Friday night despite a late comeback attempt by the Leopards.

With the win, the Nor'Easters boost their overall and conference marks to 11-5-1 and 7-3-0, respectively. Wentworth slips to 5-10-2 and 3-6-1 in Conference of New England play.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• UNE opened the scoring just 2:48 into the contest on the powerplay as a tic-tac-toe passing play landed on the stick of Jacob Pellerin, who ripped one to the twine to gain an initial 1-0 lead.
• The Nor'Easters pushed their lead to 2-0 as a spin-o-rama pass from Drew Olivieri found a back-door tap-in by Ryan Kuzmich at the 7:06 mark. A two-on-one break with a Jayden Price shot finding the goal mouth extended the lead to 3-0 at the 9:59 mark.
• Wentworth cut the deficit to 3-1 at the 6:32 mark of the second frame as Max Pineo took a pass across the high slot from Ethan Lim and waited for his shot to ripple twine. Just 1:15 later, the Leopards cut the lead to just one as Shea Thibault tapped home a slick give-and-go play with Desmond Johnson along the end boards.
• The two teams juked out most of the third, with Wentworth pulling Topher Chirico for the extra skater in the later going. However, the Nor'Easters fended off the attack, holding on for a 3-2 win.
• Joey Stanizzi made 18 saves in goal for the Nor'Easters. Chirico turned aside 28 shots for the Leopards.

SERIES NOTES:

• Tonight marked the 22^nd all-time meeting between the two teams.

NEXT UP:

• The Black & Gold travel to UNE for a rematch tomorrow night.

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