WNE comes back against men's ice hockey

PORTSMOUTH, R.I. – Western New England scored five unanswered goals spanning the second and third period to defeat the Salve Regina men's ice hockey team, 6-4, Sunday evening at Portsmouth Abbey.

Sophomore Michael Naso (Londonberry, N.H.) took a quick feed from freshman Marc Biggs (Plano, Texas) and sophomore John Scorcia (Hudson, Fla.) and shot the puck past the Western New England goaltender to put the Seahawks up, 4-1 with 11:21 to play in the second period.

Sophomore Matt Dore (Shelburne, Mass.) took advantage of the Golden Bears power play with less than two minutes to play in the second period to kick off the 5-0 run for WNE. While the Golden Bears still head a 5-4 advantage in skaters to open the third period, junior Eric Gethers (Ashburn, Va.) cut the Seahawk lead to 4-3 after taking a pass from sophomore Rance Vukovic (Lansdale, Pa.).

Junior John Kelly (Staten Island, N.Y.) and sophomore Brandon Stroud (Clarksville, Ind.) scored back-to-back goals within 16 seconds of each other to give WNE its first lead of the game, 5-4, with 7:59 to play.

Junior goalie Eric Sorenson (Fairpoint, N.Y.) turned away eight Seahawk shots over the final eight minutes to keep Salve Regina from finding its equalizer. Kelly sealed the game for WNE with an empty net goal with 47 seconds left in the game.

It took almost the entire first period before Salve Regina got on the board, but with just two ticks left on the clock, Scorcia took a pass from Biggs right in front of the net to give SRU a 1-0 lead. Naso pushed the Seahawk lead to 2-0 just five minutes into the second period off an assist from freshman Cameron Gaudet (Burlington, Mass.) and junior David Watkins (Natick, Mass.).

Junior Kenny Craig (Manchester, N.H.) gave Salve Regina a 3-0 lead with 13 minutes to play in the second period off a quick assist from freshman Lucas Sousa (Billerica, Mass.). Kelly cut the lead to 3-1 with his first goal of the game before Naso's goal to make it 4-1.

Senior goaltender Mike McDonald (Whitby, Ontario) turned away 18 shots in net while Sorenson made 42 saves for the Golden Bears.

Salve Regina returns to the ice Wednesday, February 13 when the Seahawks host Becker at Portsmouth Abbey with a 7:35 puck drop.