BOSTON, Mass. – Senior Kevin Crowe (Galloway, N.J.) scored a pair of goals and junior Jake Diamond (Lakewood, Colo.) tallied a pair of assists for Wentworth Institute of Technology men's ice hockey team as the Leopards defeated ECAC Northeast foe Johnson & Wales University 3-2 in its first home game of the season at Walter Brown Arena Saturday afternoon.
With the win, Wentworth improves to 3-0 (1-0 ECAC Northeast) while the Wildcats now stand at 1-1 overall and 0-1 in the conference.
The Leopards were able to strike first five minutes into the game thanks to a Crowe goal. Diamond gathered the puck in the defensive zone and sent it to sophomore Jake Flynn (Lino Lakes, Minn.) in the right side neutral zone. Flynn shot the puck on net, but sophomore goalie Joey Ballmer (Kalamazoo, Mich.) was not able to control the rebound and Crowe sent the puck to the back of the net for the early 1-0 lead. Wentworth extended the lead to two goals, as junior Stephen McManus (Westwood, Mass.) fired a shot from the right circle past Ballmer in net, which was set up by sophomore Kyle Lebrun (Bridgewater, Mass.) and Diamond.
Johnson & Wales got on the board in the second period by taking advantage of a penalty against the Leopards. After winning the face-off, the Wildcats set up junior Luke Vetch (Lewis Center, Ohio) for a shot from the blue line that found the back of the net to cut the deficit to one. Four minutes later with 16.6 seconds left on the clock, Crowe scored another goal for the Leopards, this time a slapper from the right circle to make the score 3-1. Assising on that goal were senior Ben Iwanowski (Dorval, Que.) and freshman Nick Newman (Saugus, Calif.)
Halfway through the third period, the Wildcats made things interesting with another goal to come within one. Sophomore Fran Mackin (Philadelphia, Pa.) was able to connect with classmate Ben Brouillard (Somerset, Mass.) at the blue line of Wentworth's zone. Brouillard broke free past two Leopard defensemen and put the wrister in goal. Wentworth's strong forecheck and ability to keep the puck deep in the Wildcat zone gave the Leopards the 3-2 victory.
Senior goalie Alex Peck (Kirkland, Que.) made 30 saves on route to his third win of the season, while Ballmer also made 30 saves in the game. Wentworth had six penalties for 12 minutes, while Johnson & Wales committed three infractions for six minutes. The Wildcats were 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Leopards scored on one of their two power plays.
Wentworth makes the trip to Salve Regina for an ECAC Northeast matchup on Thursday night. Johnson & Wales continues conference play on Thursday night, as the Wildcats will host Suffolk at 7:45 p.m.
Goals by Period 1 2 3 Tot
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Johnson & Wales..... 0 1 1 - 2
Wentworth........... 2 1 0 - 3
1st period - 1, WIT, Kevin Crowe/2 (Jake Flynn/1, Jake Diamond/1) 5:04. 2, WIT, Stephen McManus/1 (Kyle Lebrun/2, Jake Diamond/2) 13:36. Penalties - Alan Boozer, JWU (tripping) 7:27; Jake Diamond, WIT
(interference) 14:11.
2nd period - 3, JWU, Luke Veitch/2 (Jason Healey/2, Drew Kariofiles/3) 15:47 (pp). 4, WIT, Kevin Crowe/3 (Ben Iwanowski/3, Nick Newman/2) 19:43 (pp). Penalties - Ben Iwanowski, WIT (cross-checking) 1:35; Jake Flynn, WIT (interference) 3:59; Jordan Bourgonje, WIT (boarding) 10:41; Kyle Lebrun, WIT (interference) 15:34; Luke Veitch, JWU (elbowing) 19:33.
3rd period - 5, JWU, Ben Brouillard/1 (Fran Mackin/1) 11:42. Penalties - Alex Porrier, JWU (roughing) 19:54; Jake McDonough, WIT (roughing) 19:54.
Shots on goal - JWU 10-13-9 32; WIT 16-7-10 33.
Power plays - JWU 1 of 5; WIT 1 of 2.
Penalties - JWU 3 (6 min); WIT 6 (12 min).
Goalies - JWU, Joey Ballmer 1-1 (59:48 minutes, 33 shots-30 saves), EMPTY NET (00:12, 0-0); WIT, Alex Peck 3-0 (60:00, 32-30).
