Hockey to Open ECAC Northeast Tournament Play on Saturday

Roster | Schedule & Results | Team Statistics | ECAC Northeast Tournament Central

DANBURY, Conn. – After finishing the regular season with a 6-6-2 record in ECAC Northeast play (11-11-3 overall), the Wentworth Institute of Technology ice hockey team is the number five seed heading into the ECAC Northeast Tournament. The Leopards will travel to fourth-seeded Curry (14-9-2, 7-6-1) on Saturday (February 28) at 4:40 p.m., at the Max Ulin Rink in Milton, Mass.

For the second consecutive season, Nichols claimed the ECAC Northeast Hockey Regular Season Championship and will enter the league tournament as the top seed. The Bison finished the regular season with an 11-1-2 league record (19-3-3 overall) and will receive one of the two byes. Second-seeded Salve Regina (9-4-1 ECAC Northeast, 12-9-3 overall) earns the other bye. Both teams will host semifinal games on Wednesday evening.

The other first-round game will take place on Saturday night with third-seeded Johnson & Wales hosting sixth-seeded Suffolk. The Wildcats finished league play with an 8-6 league record (14-10-1 overall) while the Rams earned the final playoff spot with a 5-7-2 ECAC Northeast record (11-12-2 overall).

Making its 19th consecutive post-season appearance, Wentworth, under the direction of first-year head coach Jay Pecora, is opening the playoffs on the road for the first time since 2006 and just the second time during these 19 appearances. Additionally, it marks the first time since the current playoff format was adopted (2011-present) where the Black & Gold have not earned a bye into the semifinals. Wentworth has made four consecutive trips to the title game and has played for the championship 11 times, winning in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2012, and 2013.

Senior Mike Domsodi (Kirkland, Que.) leads the Leopards with 21 points (eight goals, 13 assists), while freshmen Chris Sattler (Whately, Mass.) and Erik Andersson (Madison, N.J.) are next in line with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Sattler has eight goals and five assists and Andersson has eight goals and four assists. Freshman Jake McDonough (Marshfield, Mass.) has 11 points on five goals and six assists and senior Ben Iwanowski (Dorval, Que.) leads all defenseman with 10 points (two goals, eight assists).

In between the pipes, junior Joel Miller (Calgary, Alta.) is 6-7-2 with a 2.57 goals against average and a .904 save percentage while senior Alex Peck (Kirkland, Que.) is 5-4-1 with a 3.16 goals against average and a .877 save percentage.

Saturday will mark the 35th time the two schools will meet with the Leopards holding a 16-14-4 series lead. During the regular season the two teams tied, 1-1, on November 22, while the Colonels took a 3-0 decision on February 18. This will be the sixth time the two schools will have met in the post-season with Wentworth holding a 4-1 edge in playoff meetings. All five previous playoff meetings have been decided by a single goal with the last two going into overtime. This will be the first time since the 2012 league championship the two have met in the post-season. The Leopards used a then-freshman Sean McLaughlin (North Billerica, Mass.) overtime penalty shot to prevail, 1-0, on the heels of falling, 2-1, in overtime in the 2011 title game.

Wednesday's (March 4) semifinal contests will feature the lowest remaining seed from the first-round games traveling to Nichols while the highest remaining seed from Saturday's games will travel to Salve Regina. The conference championship contest is set for Saturday, March 7, at the higher remaining seed. The conference champion receives an automatic berth into the 2015 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, which begins on Saturday, March 14.