HENNIKER, N.H. – The New England College hockey team scored a power-play goal in each of the first two periods and junior Brett Killar (Coto de Caza, Calif.) picked up his second shutout of the season as the Pilgrims defeated Wentworth Institute of Technology, 2-0, in a non-conference matchup played at Lee Clement Arena.
With the win the Pilgrims improve to 3-2-1 while the Leopards suffered their third straight setback, falling to 3-4-1.
New England College would get the only goal it would need on its second power-play opportunity of the first period when junior Conor Crouse (West Haven, Conn.) played the puck to classmate Scott Cornfield (Brea, Calif.). Cornfield sent a pass to junior Chris Santello (Fairfield, Conn.), who beat Leopard freshman Matt Jenkins (Mount Pearl, N.L.) to the upper left corner. The Pilgrims held a slight 11-10 shot advantage.
A penalty at 1:13 of the second period put New England College on the man advantage and with six seconds left on the advantage the Pilgrims doubled their lead. Senior Kyle Manlow (Murrieta, Calif.) found Crouse who would set up sophomore Bryce Nielsen (Laguna Hills, Calif.). New England College had a 15-3 advantage on shots in the second period.
Both teams had chances in the third period, including when Wentworth went on the power play with 6:41 left and when Jenkins was pulled with 1:16 left for an extra attacker, however neither team would score. Shots were even at 5-all in the third period.
Killar made 18 stops for the Pilgrims while Jenkins made 29 stops for the Leopards. New England College had a 31-18 shot advantage for the game.
Wentworth hosts Saint Anselm on Saturday at 5:00 while New England College is at Framingham State on Tuesday.
