Seahawks travel to Wentworth for ECAC Quarterfinals

NEWPORT, R.I. - The Salve Regina University men's ice hockey team has earned the No. 8 seed in the 2010 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Northeast conference tournament and will travel to Boston to face No. 1 seed Wentworth this Saturday, February 27 at Matthews Arena at 7:45 p.m.

The two schools met twice this season, and both times Wentworth lit the lamp 10 times against the Seahawks. The Leopards (19-4-1, 11-3-0 ECAC) recorded a 10-3 win in Boston on January 25, then scored a 10-4 victory at Portsmouth Abbey Arena on February 17. Wentworth owns a 14-1-1 mark all-time against the Seahawks and is 8-0-1 in the last nine meetings. The lone Seahawk triumph was a 4-2 decision back on January 23, 2002.

The Seahawks (1-23-1, 0-13-1 ECAC) are led by senior captain Patrick Bambery (Braintree, Mass.) with 13 goals and 21 points. Junior Ryan Petersen (Shrewsbury, N.J.) boasts a team-high 14 assists and sits second with 19 points, while classmate Joe Colaianni (Monroe, N.Y.) is third in both goals (seven) and points (12) on the season.

Wentworth is led by a pair of nationally-ranked scorers in Jeff Olitch and Skylur Jameson. Olitch leads the Leopards with 20 goals and 38 points while Jameson has 16 goals and 21 assists for a total of 37 points . Olitch's 20 goals is the fifth-highest total amongst Division II/III student-athletes, and his 1.58 points per game (ppg) average is tied for 15th. Jameson, meanwhile, is scoring at a 1.54 ppg clip, which is 18th best in the nation. In goal, Justin Marriott is 12-3-1 with a 2.69 goals against average (GAA) and a .914 save percentage - good for 25th nationally. His win percentage of .781 is the 16th highest amongst Division II/III netminders.

Olitch has recorded eight points (1-7-8) against the Seahawks this season, followed by Jameson with seven points (2-5-7) and both Anthony Principato (4-1-5) and Casey Shade (1-4-5) with five points each. For the Seahawks, Petersen led the way with three points (2-1-3) while senior Nate Burns (Sandwich, Mass.) and junior Billy Sabia (Ridgefield, Conn.) each chalked up two points (1-1-2). Michael Jarboe stopped 20 shots to pick up the win in the first meeting between the two schools, and Marriott stopped 40 of 44 SRU shots to earn the win last week.