Western New England Tops Hockey in Overtime

WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Matthew Fortin scored with 1:28 left in overtime to lift the Western New England University ice hockey team to a 3-2 win over Wentworth Institute of Technology in Conference of New England action Friday night.

With the win, the Golden Bears end their season with a 6-19-0 overall record and a 4-16-0 mark in CNE play while the Leopards fall to 5-17-2 (4-14-1).

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Despite holding a 21-4 shot advantage, the Leopards found themselves trailing, 1-0, after one period of play. At the 11:14 mark of the period. Western New England goalie Luca Scaglione played the puck to Everest Schnieder, who found Camille Marcoux.
• At the 7:53 mark of the second period, the Golden Bears nearly took a 2-0 lead when Hunter Atkinson was awarded a penalty shot. His bid was denied by Jack McGovern, keeping the game 1-0. Nick Cullinan tied the game for Wentworth at the 13:14 mark when Seth Robinson and Ian Worthley set him up for his first goal of the season. The Black & Gold had a 15-5 shot advantage in the second period.
• After killing off a penalty that extended into third period, Western New England went on the power play. The man advantage paid off as Matty Zdanowicz scored from Gavin Mastodonato and Billy VanSumeren at the 2:40 mark. The Leopards kept applying pressure and at the 11:09 mark tied the game up at 2-all as Nolan Pecora potted his third of the season, assisted by Robinson and Nicholas Ramm.
• The Golden Bears had a pair of chances near the end of regulation. With 57 seconds left, Schneider hit the post, while Zdanowicz had a shot on net that McGovern saved with 17 seconds left. The latter saw Wentworth go on a power play after McGovern made the save. The man advantage carried over into overtime.
• In the extra session, Wentworth had three power-play shots that were all saved by Scaglione and added two more when the teams were back to even strength to go along with a shot that was blocked. With 1:36 left, Fortin won a faceoff in Wentworth's zone back to Marcoux. Marcoux gave the puck back to Fortin who skated in and beat McGovern for the game winner.
• Wentworth had a 49-27 shot advantage. McGovern made 23 saves on the night.

ALL-TIME SERIES:

• Tonight was the 53rd all-time meeting between the two teams. Wentworth leads 38-13-2.

NEXT UP:

• Wentworth wraps up the 2025-26 campaign tomorrow at home against Roger Williams.

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