Seahawks soar past Colonels

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. – After a 13-year drought, the Salve Regina men's ice hockey team defeated Curry 6-3 at the St. George's Ice Arena, Tuesday evening. Previously, the Seahawks had been without a win against the Colonels since January 19, 2000 when Salve Regina defeated Curry 6-2.

With the win, Salve Regina improved to 5-1 on the season and 3-1 in the ECAC Northeast while Curry falls to 2-4 and 1-3 in the league.

Sophomore Brandon Gilmore (Quincy, Mass.) wasted little time getting the Colonels on the board. After Curry won the opening face off, the Colonels took control of the puck in front of the net and Gilmore used a quick flip to sneak the puck past the Seahawk goalie just 24 seconds into the game.

With their first power play opportunity of the game however, sophomore Marc Biggs (Plano, Texas) evened the game for the Seahawks. After a save by junior Jake Williams (Montreal, Canada), freshman Jonathan Felteau (Peabody, Mass.) sent the puck down the ice for Biggs who launched it into the back of the net to even the score, 1-1, 1:41 into the first period.

Salve Regina used this momentum to net two more goals, the first from sophomore Cameron Gaudet (Burlington, Mass.) on the Seahawks power play just over half way through the period before junior Joe Kuta (Andover, Mass.) gave Salve Regina a 3-1 lead with 2:33 to play before the first intermission.

Salve Regina killed off four power plays in the first period alone and held the Colonels to just 1-for-11 on extra man chances.

After a scoreless second period that featured a total of 16 penalty minutes between the two teams, scoring came fast a furious in the final 20 minutes of action. Once again, Gilmore got the scoring going in the period. Gilmore collected the loose puck in front of the net after freshman Tyler Vankleef's (Dudas, Ontario) initial shot was saved by Williams. Gilmore found a hole to Williams' left to cut the Seahawk lead to just one goal, 3-2, 6:32 into the third.

Just over a minute later and the Seahawks down a skater, sophomore Peter Gintoli (Monroe, Conn.) found the puck at center ice and skated straight towards the goal and launched the puck past the Colonel goalie's left shoulder to give Salve Regina a two-goal lead, 4-2.

The Colonels answered right back as freshman Mike Sones (Waterdown, Ontario) took a pass from sophomores Dominic Puntillo (Amherst, N.Y.) and Ryan Gay (Nesconset, N.Y.)  off the face off win to get Curry within one goal, 4-3 with just over 12 minutes to play in regulation.

Junior Michael Naso (Londonberry, N.H.) gave the Seahawks a little breathing room with his third goal of the season off an assist from sophomore Lucas Sousa (Billerica, Mass.) on the Seahawks final power play chance of the game.

Junior John Scorcia (Hudson, Fla.) put the game away for the Seahawks with his third goal of the season. Immediately after stepping back on the ice after completing a two-minute penalty, Scorcia sent the puck into the empty net just past the blue line to give Salve Regina  a 6-3 lead with 1:04 to play. A pair of shots in the final 64 seconds both missed, with one being saved, to seal the victory for the Seahawks.

Williams finished the night with 29 saves while his Curry counterpart freshman Brett Sinclair (St. Catharines, Ontario) made 34 saves in the net.

Salve Regina continues its conference schedule as the Seahawks travel to Springfield, Mass. to face Western New England on Saturday, November 23 at 7:40 p.m. The Colonels will travel to Wentworth on Saturday for a 3 p.m. start.