Four-Goal Third Period Sends Western New England Past UMass Dartmouth, 6-4

O'Dea leads Golden Bears with three goals and one assist

HOOKSETT, N.H. (November 26, 2017) – The Western New England University ice hockey team overcame a late deficit with four third period goals to earn a 6-4 victory over the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth on Sunday afternoon in the consolation contest of the Manchester PAL/Stovepipe tournament at the Ice Den. 

Top Performers
• Junior forward Matt O'Dea (Orland Park, Ill.) led the way for the Golden Bears with a four-point effort, as he registered his first career hat trick and added an assist.
• Juniors Steve Beck (Milton, N.Y.) and CJ Totillo (Brooklyn, N.Y.) both posted three-point performances with one goal and two assists each.

• UMass Dartmouth junior Jonathan Ruiz (Williamstown, N.J.) was among four different goal scorers for the Corsairs, as he found the back of the net and tallied an assist.
• Junior Kenny Tencza (Naples, Fla.), sophomore Steven Leonard (Rockaway Park, N.Y.) and freshman Kai Kapossy (For Lauderdale, Fla.) also recorded goals for UMass Dartmouth.

Game Review
• O'Dea staked the Golden Bears to a 1-0 lead with a power play tally just under two minutes into the contest, but UMass Dartmouth answered with goals from Leonard (6:36), Kapossy (19:05) and Tencza (19:30) to open up a 3-1 advantage at the first intermission.
• Western New England capitalized on another power play chance to cut its lead in half at the 13:22 mark of the second period, as Beck found the back of the net to make it 3-2.
• Ruiz restored UMass Dartmouth's two-goal lead late in the second period as the Corsairs led 4-2 heading into the third.
• Trailing by the same margin midway through the final period, Western New England pulled back to within a goal when O'Dea set up Totillo at the 10:11 mark.
• Sophomore Andrew Green (Plainview, N.Y.) scored the game-tying goal just 1:06 later, before O'Dea notched the go-ahead score on a feed from Totillo with 6:19 remaining in the contest.
• O'Dea then buried an empty-net goal in the final seconds to seal the win for the Golden Bears.

Notes
• UMass Dartmouth outshot Western New England 53-31 and held a 48-43 advantage in the faceoff circle.
• The Golden Bears went 2-for-4 with a man advantage.
• Western New England junior goaltender Kevin Gollmer (Flourtown, Pa.) finished with a season-high 49 saves.
• Through ten games this season, Beck and O'Dea are tied for the team lead with 14 points each. 

Up Next
Western New England (4-5-1) returns to action on Friday night, when the Golden Bears host Endicott at 7 p.m. UMass Dartmouth (3-5-1) travels to Worcester State on Thursday night.