Men’s Ice Hockey Slipped Up by Salve Regina

WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (January 21, 2022) – The Western New England men's ice hockey team served 46 minutes in penalties, while the visiting Salve Regina University collected four goals in 40 minutes to defeat the Golden Bears 4-1 from the Olympia Ice Center on Friday night. 

Records:

• Western New England: 4-9-1 (2-8 CCC)
• Salve Regina University: 10-4-0 (8-2 CCC)

How it Happened:

Salve Regina was able to break the ice at nearly the midway point of the first period when John McLean took a pass from Spencer Stanley and picked the glove side of Golden Bears goalkeeper Colten Lancaster and scored the opening goal of the game. The Seahawks weren't done after their first goal as just 2:02 later, the Seahawks would strike for their second goal of the game when Sage Englund would tally for Salve to give the Seahawks the 2-0 lead. Salve Regina led 14-10 in first period shots, with the Golden Bears getting quality chances, though were unable to get the puck past Nicholas Latinovich in the opening 20 minutes of play. 

The Golden Bears were able to solve Latinovich in the second period as WNE would come out of the locker room and waste no time to get on the board. Billy Hefferle would wrap the puck around the boards which found the stick of Marko Bohatiuk. Bohatiuk would work the puck around the net before sending a pass just outside of the left post in front of the cage where Connor Geshan would tip a quick shot past the Salve Regina goaltender to give WNE their first goal of the game. Geshan recorded his fourth of the season to cut the Seahawks lead in half. 

Salve would not let WNE back into the contest as Ethan DeStefani would take over the second period from there scoring at the 8:03 mark of the period on assists from Garrett Szeremely and George Sennott to give Salve their two-goal lead back. DeStefani would score again late in the second period after he was able to push the puck up the ice on a shorthanded bid and slide the puck through the five hole of Lancaster to give Salve the 4-1 lead heading into the break. SRU would outshoot WNE 15-10 in the second period.

Neither team was able to record a goal in the third period though a total of 62 penalties minutes were handed out in the period with opportunities for both teams to score goals though neither team was able to take advantage of the advantage, ending the contest with a 4-1 score in favor of the Seahawks. 

Inside the Crease:

• WNE was 0-7 on the powerplay in the contest, costing them supreme opportunities to score. The Golden Bears penalty kill was 4-4. 
• Colten Lancaster made 33 saves in the losing effort. Lancaster has come up with 334 saves in nine starts this season. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Both team will meet tomorrow, Saturday, January 22 for a 7:00 pm puck drop.