Leopards Pull Away From Western New England, 6-2

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Wentworth men's hockey team broke open a close game with three goals in the final period, including two with less than two minutes remaining, for a 6-2 victory over Western New England Saturday afternoon (Jan. 29) at Smead Arena.
 
The Leopards raised their record to 8-7-4 and 5-2-1 in the ECAC Northeast. The Golden Bears fall to 5-13-1 and 2-6.
 
Sophomore forward Anthony Principato (Holmdel, NJ) scored goals with his last score coming at 7:43 of the third period that gave the visitors a 4-2 advantage.
 
Sophomore defenseman Dylan Barbieri (Plainville, MA) then hit the back of the net at the 18:18 mark and sophomore forward Joel Vasti (North Salem, NH) added the final goal with 36 seconds left to complete the scoring.
 
Senior defenseman Kyle Richardson (San Jose, CA) had three assists for Wentworth while junior forward Casey Shade (Anchorage, AK) and freshman forward Andrew Yarber (Livonia, MI) each chipped-in with two assists.
 
Western New England took a 1-0 lead when junior forward Kory Grahl (San Diego, CA) just 16 seconds into the game with assists from sophomore forward Blake Lucier (Scarborough, ME) and junior forward Rory Hansen (Noblesville, IN). Freshman forward Cameron Gibson (Valencia, CA) tied the game on a power play at 9:08 and went ahead for when Principato netted another power play shot at ironically at 9:08 of the second period that gave the Leopards the lead for good.
 
Freshman forward Dan Monahan (Monroe, NJ) scored at 17:57 to get the Golden Bears within 3-2 after two periods.
 
Freshman goalie Chris Azzano (Oshawa, ONT) finished with 30 saves for Wentworth while freshman Eric Sorenson (Fairport, NY) compiled 46 saves for the Golden bears.  Wentworth held a 52-32 shot advantage on the afternoon.

-story courtesy of Western New England Sports Information-