PAWTUCKET, R.I. – The Wentworth Institute of Technology ice hockey team scored a pair of unanswered tallies in the third period to earn its first victory of the season, a 2-1 triumph over Johnson & Wales in a Commonwealth Coast Conference contest played at Lynch Arena.
With the win the Leopards improve to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in CCC play while the Wildcats fall to 2-2 (1-2).
An evenly played first period had shots even at 13-all, however neither team would get on the board. At the 8:47 mark of the second period, Johnson & Wales broke the ice on a goal from sophomore Victor Carlsson (Kalmar, Sweden). Carlsson took a feed from sophomore Nicholas Pezza (Smithfield, R.I.) and fired a shot from the right point which beat junior Ryan Hubbard (West Bridgewater, Mass.). The Wildcats had a 7-5 shot advantage in the middle frame.
Two goals in a four-minute span early in the third period boosted the Leopard offense. At the 3:05 mark, freshman Dakoda Menslage (Orleans, Mass.) fed a pass up the right side to sophomore Angus Johnston (Calgary, Alta.) who went in on a breakaway and beat senior Joey Ballmer (Kalamazoo, Mich.) with a backhand shot.
Exactly four minutes later, senior Jake Flynn (Lino Lakes, Mich.) provided the game winner off assists from junior Ryan Sullivan (Whately, Mass.) and freshman Nate Chase (Plainfield, Ill.). Sullivan fed a pass to Chase, who sent a cross-ice pass to Flynn who beat Ballmer with a slap shot from the right point.
Hubbard was tested by Johnson & Wales in an attempt to get the equalizer, however he stopped all nine shots he faced. The Wildcats pulled Ballmer with under a minute left for an extra attacker and had one chance late but Hubbard came up with the save.
Hubbard made 28 stops to pick up the win. Ballmer turned aside 22 shots in the loss. Johnson & Wales had a 29-24 shot advantage for the game.
Wentworth travels to Suffolk on Saturday night while Johnson & Wales hosts Endicott, also on Saturday night.
