Knight’s Late Tally Draws Men’s Ice Hockey with Suffolk, 4-4

WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (January 26, 2022) – The Western New England men's ice hockey team took the ice in a rare weekday matinee on Wednesday afternoon, hosting the visiting Suffolk University Rams from the Olympia Ice Center. Neither team was able to score in the OT session after Kyle Knight tied the game for the Golden Bears with under 40 seconds to play, evening the score at four, which came to be the final score of the contest. 

Records:

• Western New England: 4-10-2 (2-9-1 CCC)
• Suffolk University: 3-8-3 (3-6-3 CCC)

How it Happened:
Western New England, who is looking for their first win in two months, got off to a good start, picking up the first goal of the game. Kyle Knight would find Lliam Christiano, who took the original shot that was saved by Suffolk goaltender Cal Wilcox. Shane Miller would find the puck along the boards and take a quick shot on Wilcox that found its way into the net to give WNE the 1-0 lead. Miller scores his third tally of the season for Western New England. Not long after the Miller tally, WNE would be whistled for a penalty, giving Suffolk a powerplay opportunity, which they were able to convert on. Samuel Rand would score the first goal of the afternoon for Suffolk, giving the Rams a powerplay goal. Rand would be assisted by Devin Lowe and Olle Akermark to get Suffolk on the board. Western New England would be called for another penalty at the midway point of the game and again the Rams would take advantage of the man up opportunity, grabbing their second powerplay goal of the game. Ryan Harrigan would collect the powerplay goal for Suffolk from Lowe and Alex Kolowrat to give Suffolk their first lead of the game. Western New England would respond three minutes later to even the score at two when Josh Bliss made a stretch pass to Knight who was able to walk into the zone and take a blistering wrist shot that was picked into the top right corner of the net to tie the game at two between the two teams. In the period, Suffolk would shoot 14 times towards goal, while WNE came away with six shots. 

Western New England would retake the lead at the 8:44 mark of the second period when John D'Aniello was able to pick up a loose puck in front of the goal and cash in for his second goal of the season. Christiano was able to make a backwards pass to the stick of D'Aniello would jam the puck into the goal to give WNE the 3-2 lead, their first lead since the 1-0 score in the first four minutes of the game. The lead, however, did not stay for Western New England as Suffolk was able to capitalize on yet another powerplay goal, their third of the afternoon. Rand would score his second of the afternoon on the PP on assists from Lowe and Akermark to again even the score, this time at three all. Suffolk would grab their first even strength goal of the afternoon when Max Rand scored on a rush for Suffolk. Rand was able to pick the glove side of Anthony Aureliano, which found twine to give Suffolk their lead back. WNE and Suffolk took 12 shots each in the period. 

Both teams battled for momentum in the third period with Suffolk taking 16 third period shots, and WNE adding an additional 12 shots in the period. Aureliano would come up with all 16 saves in the third period to give Western New England a chance to tie the game. Late in the third period with the goalie pulled, Western New England would find twine when Knight scored his second of the afternoon to tie the game at four with 37 seconds remaining. Sam Mitchell and Christiano would tally assists on the goal to send Suffolk and Western New England into the overtime session. In the overtime frame, Suffolk would come away with five shots on goal, while Western New England took three shots on goal. Neither team was able to put the puck into the back of the goal, ending the game in a 4-4 tie. WNE and Suffolk would go into the shootout, with Suffolk taking the 2-0 win. 

Inside the Crease:

• Kyle Knight would lead the way for the Golden Bears scoring two goals and adding an assist in the tie. Knight now has nine goals on the season to go along with three assists, good for 12 points in 15 games played. 
• Lliam Christiano assisted on three of the four Western New England goals on the afternoon, while picking up a +4 on the ice. Christiano has six assists on the season, as well as five goals for 11 points on the season. 
• Anthony Aureliano, who made his sixth start of the season for the Golden Bears, came away with 43 saves and a .915 save percentage on the afternoon. Aureliano has made 239 saves this season while collecting an impressive .905 save percentage. 
• Western New England was unable to score any of their four goals on the powerplay, going 0-3 on the afternoon. Suffolk netted three of their four goals on the man advantage, finishing the afternoon 3-7.
• In total, Western New England came away with 33 shots on goals, while Suffolk shot 47 times on net. 
• Suffolk would win the game in the shootout by a final score of 2-0 with Devin Lowe and Kyle Valiquette scoring in the extra frame for the Rams. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Western New England meets Nichols College on Saturday, January 29 at 4:40 pm for the first time this season. WNE will return home the next night to host the same Bison for Hockey Fights Cancer Night at 6:00 pm. 
• Suffolk hosts No. 14 Endicott College on Friday, January 28 in Boston.