Hockey Falls at Johnson & Wales, 4-3

(Release Courtesy of Johnson & Wales University)

NORTH SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Johnson & Wales University hockey team scored with 2:26 left in the final period to snap a 3-all tie and lift the Wildcats to a 4-3 win in an ECAC Northeast contest at the Rhode Island Sports Center on Wednesday evening.

Johnson & Wales took the early lead when sophomore Danny Kaufmann (Scotch Plains, N.J.) put in a pass from senior Joe Simeone (Cranston, R.I.) to put the Wildcats up 1-0 just 6:28 into the contest.  Wentworth responded with a power play goal by sophomore Shaun Jameson (Long Beach, Calif.) at the 11:34 mark.  The Leopards struck again quickly when junior Mike Paglino (Grosse Point Shores, Mich.) tallied a goal at the 12:06 mark.  Both teams registered 7 shots on goal in the first period of play with Wentworth holding the 2-1 lead.

JWU knotted the game at 2-2 when sophomore Jason Pietrasiak (Shrewsbury, Mass.) put in a pass from freshman Ian DePasquale (Buffalo, N.Y.) at the 3:13 mark.  After Wentworth was able to kill off several penalties midway through the second period, Wildcats junior Jeremiah Ketts (Foristell, Mo.) tallied an unassisted goal with just 0:40 left on the clock in the period to give squad the 3-2 lead.  The Wildcats controlled the action in the second twenty minutes, holding a commanding 19-4 advantage in shots for the stanza.

Wentworth knotted the game at 3-3 midway through the third period when freshman Corey Lillie (East Hampton, N.Y.) scored at the 10:29 mark.  After battling back and forth for the next seven minutes, sophomore Max Carter (Royal Oak, Mich.) scored what would prove to be the game-winning goal, putting in a pass from Simeone and sophomore Ryan Kelly (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) to give the Wildcats the 4-3 victory at the 17:34 mark.

JWU sophomore Matt Cooper (Perrysburg, Ohio) recorded 13 stops in the win while sophomore Mike Jarboe (Grosse Point Park, Mich.) had 12 saves and freshman Chris Azzano (Oshawa, Ontario) 17 saves in net for Wentworth.