BOSTON, Mass. – Juniors Andrew Yarber (Livonia, Mich.) and Cameron Gibson (Valencia, Calif.) and freshman Adam Frank (Clarkston, Mich.) each scored two goals and an assist, while senior Shaun Jameson's (Long Beach, Calif.) two assists made him the program's all-time leading scorer among defensemen as the Wentworth Institute of Technology hockey team defeated Johnson & Wales, 8-3, in ECAC Northeast play at Matthews Arena.
The Leopards got the only goal of the first period when freshman Mike Cox (Marlborough, Mass.) had the first of his four assists on the afternoon when he set up Yarber on the power play at 18:19 of the period. Wentworth held a 15-7 shot advantage after the game's first 20 minutes.
While the first period lacked offense, the middle stanza was a complete opposite as the two teams combined to score eight times. Junior Fred Gervasi (Mississauga, Ont.) got things going when he put home a rebound of a sophomore Sean McLaughlin (North Billerica, Mass.) shot at 1:46. Sophomore defenseman Curtis Heinz (Grand Rapids, Mich.) also picked up an assist on the goal. Wentworth extended its lead to 3-0 when Cox and Gibson set up Yarber at 3:50 and took a 4-0 lead when freshman netminder Joel Miller (Calgary, Alta.) cleared a puck to sophomore Mike Domsodi (Kirkland, Que.). Domsodi fired a pass to Frank, who blasted a shot from the blue line at 6:11
Just 48 seconds later the Wildcats scored their first of the game when senior Erick Vos (Kalamazoo, Mich.) set a pass to sophomore Alex Porrier (Rutland, Vt.), who beat Miller to the upper left corner. Cox and Jameson set up Gibson at 7:32 to make it a 5-1 game before Domsodi and sophomore Kevin Crowe (Galloway, N.J.) would assist on Frank's second of the contest, coming at 7:32.
Johnson & Wales scored the next two goals to cut the lead to 6-3. Senior Jason Pietrasiak (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and freshman Josh Obregon (Omaha, Neb.) assisted on senior Danny Kaufman's (Scotch Plains, N.J.) power play goal at 17:16, while Pietrasiak and classmate Eddie Patterson (Ciniminson, N.J.) set up freshman Luc Kilgore's (Phoenix, Ariz.) first collegiate tally with 42 seconds left in the period. The Leopards outshot the Wildcats by a 15-7 margin in the period.
Wentworth scored the only two goals of the third period as Crowe and Jameson set up Domsodi at 10:42. On that goal, Jameson picked up his 90th career point, breaking the program's career point total for defenseman, previously held by Blayne Goodman '06. The Leopards closed out the scoring when Gibson scored from Yarber and Cox at 12:53.
Miller made 14 saves in 55:07 of work before giving way to sophomore Jeff Giordani (Quincy, Mass.), who stopped the only shot he faced. Johnson & Wales senior Matt Cooper (Perrysburg, Ohio) made 27 saves on 35 shots before sophomore Ben Kantor (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) made a pair of saves over the final 7:07. Wentworth held a 37-18 shot advantage.
With the win the Leopards improve to 11-8-2 overall and remain in first place in league play with a 7-2-1 record. The Black & Gold play the second game in their three-game homestand on Wednesday when they host Becker. Johnson & Wales dropped its third straight and is now 0-3-1 in its last four games. The Wildcats (7-13-1, 3-6-1) host Western New England on Wednesday.
