SALEM, Mass. – Freshman Billy McGwin's (Rochester, N.Y.) second goal of the game, coming 3:56 into the third period, held up as the game winner as the Salem State University ice hockey team held on to defeat Wentworth Institute of Technology, 3-2, Thursday night at Rocket Arena.
With the win the Vikings improve to 5-6-1 on the season while the Leopards fall to 4-7-4. The contest was the first for both teams since early December.
Wentworth nearly took an early, 1-0 lead after a delay of game penalty was called when a Salem State skater covered the puck up in the crease. Junior Georgy Gorodetsky (Yekaterinburg, Russia) took the ensuing penalty shot, however, was denied by junior Sean Cleary (Barnstable, Mass.) a little over five minutes into the contest. The game remained tied until the 17:41 mark when McGwin scored from senior Parker Wood (Rochester Hills, Mich.). Despite the Vikings holding the lead after one period of play, the Leopards had a 13-11 advantage in shots.
Salem State scored the lone goal of the season period to extend its lead to 2-0 as Wood was setup by McGwin on the power play. Wentworth had a 14-6 shot advantage in the middle stanza.
Just 24 seconds into the third period, Wentworth got on the board, thanks to a power-play goal from junior Connor Busch (Lake in the Hills, Ill.). Busch scored off a rebound of a classmate Adam Tracey (Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.) shot. Three minutes and 32 seconds later, McGwin put the hosts ahead 3-1 after he scored off a feed from sophomore Landon Hasenfuss (Hanover, Mass.).
Wentworth pulled back within a goal as sophomore Jake Hallisey (Quincy, Mass.) set up freshman Jake McKenelley (Middleton, Mass.) to make it 3-2 at the 7:08 mark. The Leopards, who outshot the Vikings 12-3 in the third period, kept peppering Cleary and nearly tied the game on a 6-on-4 power-play situation late in the contest but could not get the equalizer.
Cleary made 37 saves while freshman Thomas Draper (Binghamton, N.Y.) turned aside 17 shots in the loss. Wentworth had a 39-20 shot advantage in the game.
Wentworth is at Fitchburg State on January 12.
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