EVERETT, Mass. – Trailing 4-2 with 7:38 remaining in the second period, the Wentworth Institute of Technology ice hockey team rolled off five unanswered goals in a span of 11:45 to take a 7-4 victory over Endicott in Commonwealth Coast Conference action Friday night. The win for the Leopards over the Gulls was just the second in nine series meetings between the two schools and snaps a six-game series losing streak.
Freshman Joey O'Leary (Boston, Mass.) had all three of his points in the third period, including scoring the game winner early in the third period while junior Georgy Gorodetsky (Yekaterinburg, Russia) also finished the night with three points, including scoring the goal which started the run.
Endicott used a pair of special teams goals 64 seconds apart in the opening frame to take a 2-0 lead. Senior Josh Bowes (Edmonton, Alta.) got things started with a shorthanded goal at 12:49, which was followed by a senior Tommy Besinger (Milton, Mass.) power-play goal at 13:53. Besinger's goal was just 18 seconds into the man advantage.
Wentworth cut the lead to 2-1 just 32 seconds into the second period when Gorodetsky and sophomore Dante Flori (Waltham, Mass.) set up junior Adam Tracey (Sleepy Hollow, N.Y). However, the Gulls pushed their lead back to two when junior Jason Kalinowski (Stamford, Conn.) scored a power-play tally at the 3:23 mark. The Black & Gold cut back into the lead when Tracey and junior Nate Chase (Plainfield, Ill.) set up Gorodetsky for his first of the night at 7:44 of the period. Endicott's Ross Olsson (Billerica, Mass.) took advantage of a turnover and scored to make it 4-2 at 12:22.
Gorodetsky started the Leopard comeback when he was sent a pass from junior Connor Beaudet (Buffalo, N.Y.) and went in alone at 18:07. Just 33 seconds later, Beaudet poked the puck home after being set up by senior Jonny Spada (Glen Rock, N.J.) and sophomore Jake Hallisey (Quincy, Mass.). Wentworth had a commanding, 18-10 shot advantage in the second period.
O'Leary gave the Black & Gold the lead for good as he scored 1:51 into the third period from sophomore Brenden Lloyd (Merrick, N.Y.) and freshman Jake McKenelley (Middleton, Mass.). Three minutes and seven seconds later, O'Leary set up Flori and, at 9:52, O'Leary picked up his third point of the period when he and senior Byron Carlisle (Orleans, Mass.) assisted on a goal from Lloyd. With 3:16 remaining and on the power play, Endicott pulled freshman Conor O'Brien (Pinellas Park, Fla.) for an extra attacker. Despite having chances, the visitors were unable to get any closer.
Freshman Thomas Draper (Binghamton, N.Y.) made 33 saves for Wentworth (8-11-4, 6-8-1 CCC) while O'Brien made 30 stops for Endicott (14-7-2, 8-7-0). Shots were even at 37-all.
The two teams round out their weekend series tomorrow night in Beverly.
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