Salve’s Late Third Period Goals Stun Golden Bears in CCC Play

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (January 13, 2023) – The Western New England men's ice hockey team returned home for the first time in 2023, hosting the Seahawks of Salve Regina University. After scoring the first goal of the game, Western New England would see Salve Regina record two late third period goals in one minute and eleven seconds to turn the fate, sending the Seahawks to a 2-1 win over the Golden Bears on Friday night from the Olympia Ice Center. 

Records:

• Western New England: 5-8-1, 3-6-1 CCC
• Salve Regina: 6-5-1, 5-4-1 CCC

How it Happened:
The Golden Bears got off to a promising start after matching Salve Regina's shot total in the first period, as both teams took ten shots in the period. No scoring would be had in the opening frame with Western New England and Salve Regina each collecting a powerplay chance each in the period. 

The Golden Bears came away with the first goal of the game when Dalton Garcia netted his first career goal with Western New England at the 12:54 mark of the second period. After the puck was played into the far-right corner of the rink, Billy Hefferle would place a neat pass around the boards to Jason Diamond, who then cut towards the front of the cage and found an open Garcia who received the puck and took a quick shot that found the back of the net to give Western New England the 1-0 lead. Salve Regina would grab the better of the play in the second 20 minutes of play, though Colten Lancaster would come up large for WNE, making 13 saves in the period. The Golden Bears took just five shots in the second period. 

Western New England attempted to hold onto their one goal lead heading into the final five minutes of the game, though Salve Regina had other thoughts. The Seahawks, after not scoring on four powerplay chances in the contest, broke their zero on the scoreboard when Walter Baumann found the back of the net on assist from Damon Zimmer and Brendan Kim to get Salve Regina on the board with 3:12 remaining in the contest. The Seahawks put two back-to-back quality shifts together that would again result in a goal after Logan Calder ripped the puck into the back of the net from the right-side circle to get Salve Regina their second goal of the game and first lead of the game with 2:01 remaining. Seth Benson and Josh Kroon would grab assists on the goal. Western New England would battle, down by one and two minutes remaining, though would come up short, taking just three shots on goal in the final period, falling to the Seahawks by a final score of 2-1. 

Around the Lines:

• Dalton Garcia scored his first goal of the season and first collegiate goal of his career to open the scoring tonight. 
• Colten Lancaster made 37 saves on 39 shots faced. 
• Neither team scored a PP goal, with Salve going 0-4 on the advantage and WNE going 0-3.
• Salve outshot WNE 39-18 in the game. 

Up Next on the Schedule:

• Both teams will meet on Saturday, January 14 at 7:00 pm at Salve Regina University for the CCC rematch.