Golden Bears Score Five Times, Fall on the Road at Salve Regina

NEWPORT, R.I. (February 4, 2023) – The Western New England men's ice hockey team fell on the road Saturday night, dropping a 7-5 contest to the hosting Salve Regina Seahawks. Sam Mitchell scored twice for the Golden Bears in the loss.

Records:

• Western New England: 7-12-1, 5-10-1 CCC
• Salve Regina University: 10-8-1, 8-7-1 CCC

How it Happened:
The Golden Bears were able to get off to a hot start off an early error from the Seahawks after a turnover from the Salve defense led Dalton Garcia in all alone where Garcia was able to rip a shot past Salve GK Anthony Del Tufo, giving Western New England a 1-0 lead. Garcia scores his third goal of the season for Western New England to put the Golden Bears ahead early. Both teams collected two powerplay chances in the period, with WNE unable to find the back of the net of either of their chances. Salve Regina would capitalize late in the opening frame on the powerplay after Jason Diamond was whistled to the box on a penalty. Salve's Logan Calder would whistle a shot from the tops of the blueline to get the Seahawks on the board. Brendan Kim and Johnny Mulera would assist on Calder's eighth of the season to even the score 1-1 at the end of the first period. Salve Regina would lead 13-10 in shots after the first 20 minutes of play.

Western New England would see the Seahawks burry four goals in the second period as Salve would take a lead after two periods of play. Just 2:37 into the period, Salve's Joseph Kile would collect his ninth goal of the season on an assist from Mitch Walinski to give the Seahawks their first lead of the game. Salve needed less than five minutes to register their second powerplay goal of the night when Mitch Walinski was on the scoresheet again, firing a shot past Colten Lancaster to give the Seahawks a two goal lead, 3-1. 44 seconds later, Western New England would respond with a goal of their own when John D'Aniello punched home a rebound chance off the stick of Cam Gaylor to get WNE back in the game. Matt Dougherty came away with the secondary assist which gave WNE their second goal of the game. SRU would grab the next two goals, taking their first three goal lead of the game. Joseph Kile would register a natural hat trick for Salve Regina, scoring three goals in the period to give the Seahawks a 5-2 lead. Western New England would strike back and bounce Salve's lead to two goals when Sam Mitchell finished a goal on a perfect pass from John D'Aniello to give WNE a 5-3 deficit. Matt Dougherty would register another secondary assist, his second of the night. Salve Regina ripped 22 shots in the period, while the Golden Bears came away with seven. Colten Lancaster stopped 18 shots in the period for WNE.

Both teams would grab two goals each in the third period, as Western New England would fall 7-5 at the hands of the Seahawks. Joel Shoemaker opened the scoring for Salve Regina in the third period, followed by a late tally from Mitch Walinski who scored twice and picked up two assists for Salve in the win. WNE would score two quick goals in the final minute of the game after Peter Izzo ripped a shot past the Salve keeper while Justin Sullivan would pick up an assist to move to score to 7-4. Sam Mitchell would end the scoring for WNE, getting assists from John D'Aniello and Jordan Giacomin on the powerplay for WNE's fifth goal of the night. Western New England would fall to Salve Regina 7-5.

Inside the Numbers:

• Sam Mitchell scored twice for the Golden Bears, taking five total shots.
• WNE outshot Salve 11-7 in the final period, though were outshot 42-28 in the game.
• Colten Lancaster made 35 saves for WNE in the setback.

Up Next on the Schedule:

• WNE travels to Nichols College on Friday, February 10 at 5:40 pm.