Golden Bears down Seahawks, 5-2

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Western New England College men's hockey team presented rookie coach Greg Heffernan with his first collegiate win after defeating visiting Salve Regina 5-2 in an ECAC Northeast contest Saturday afternoon at Smead Arena.

This also was the first victory of the season for the Golden Bears who are now 1-7-1 overall and 1-3 in the league.

Freshman forward Chris Snyder (Clinton, N.Y.) scored the first two goals of his collegiate career, with his shot giving the hosts a 1-0 lead just 2:13 into the game. Senior forward Michael St. Lawrence (Holyoke, Mass.) and junior forward Tyler Kwalek (Wallingford, Conn.) had the assists.

The Seahawks tied the game on a power play goal by junior forward Ryan Petersen (Shrewsbury, N.J.) at the 6:07 mark. Senior forward Patrick Bambery (Braintree, Mass.) and senior forward Tyler Trott (Rehoboth, Mass.) assisted on the play.

Sophomore forward Mike Kaselouskas (East Longmeadow, Mass.) gave Western New England College the lead for good 1:38 later with assists from junior Chris Beaudoin (Enfield, Conn.) and freshman forward Nico Santaniello (East Longmeadow, Mass.).

Snyder tallied an unassisted goal at 12:06 to give the Golden Bears a 3-1 advantage.

Salve Regina scored again on a power play, this time by Bambery at 17:39 as Petersen and Trott earned assists to pull with 3-2 after the opening 20 minutes.

After a scoreless second period, sophomore forward Rory Hansen (Noblesville, Ind.) scored two big insurance goals in the final period. He netted a short-handed goal with an assist from sophomore forward Kory Grahl (San Diego, Calif.) at 6:29 and scored the final goal of the game on a power play with an assist from freshman forward Anthony Willett (Springfield, Mass.) at 16:01.

WNEC junior goalie Justin Richards (Somers, Conn.) compiled 34 saves with 14 coming in the middle period. One of his best stops was on a breakaway by junior forward Billy Sabia (Ridgefield, Conn.) when the Golden Bears'
were on the power play.

Western New England College's defense came through in the clutch holding the Seahawks scoreless three times (one in each period) when SRU held a two-man advantage.

Sophomore goalie Ben Bradley (Newburyport, Mass.) turned away 30 shots for Salve Regina who slips to 1-6 overall and 0-4 in the league.

Courtesy of Western New England sports information