No.9 Nor'easters weather the storm for 4-3 overtime win over No.15 Seahawks

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. (Saturday, January 20, 2024)--No.15 men's ice hockey fell 4-3 in overtime to the No.9 University of New England program after three highly competitive, aggressive periods. The CCC loss means the Nor'easters move to 7-1-3 in the conference and Salve Regina falls to 7-2-2. 

Three different Seahawks scored in the encounter. Walter Baumann, Logan Calder and Matthew Fawcett all found the back of the net, making it past Nor'easters' Billy Girard. 

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Salve Regina 3, University of New England 4
Records: Salve Regina (12-4-2, 7-2-2 CCC), University of New England (13-2-3, 7-1-3 CCC)
All-Time Series: The Seahawks are 8-11-1 all-time against the Nor'easters. Yesterday when the teams played it was a 1-1 tie. 

BREAKDOWN: 

Much like yesterday, the teams paralleled each other's energy in period one. The rivalry motivated the Seahawks and Nor'easters to act and counteract on every line shift. Just when it looked like the first 20 minutes would go in the books scoreless, Walter Baumann poked the puck away from a Nor'easter winger and skated down center ice, slapping the puck to just in front of the net. Although the puck did not make it in initially, Baumann's momentum together with UNE's crowding of the net slid the puck in for a shorthanded goal. Just two minutes into the second period Logan DiScanio countered Salve Regina's move and made it a 1-1 game. The second period brought increased physicality on behalf of both sides, skaters tripping over each other and sliding across the ice to prevent anyone from reaching the back of the net or getting in a solid shot on net. Just under 12 minutes in Logan Calder (from Johnny Mulera and Matthew Fawcett) got the Seahawks ahead once again, but it was short-lived because Nor'easters' Kevin O'Keefe brought it to a 2-2 game with 16:13 down in period two. 

Less than one minute into the third period, taking advantage of a power play opportunity, Matthew Fawcett (from Johnny Mulera and Logan Calder) took a slap shot from the right-side faceoff dot and just like that the Seahawks were ahead once again with a 3-2 score. For eight minutes it looked like the final score would be 3-2, but at 9:09 into the contest Logan DiScanio made it a 3-3 tie game. When the game moved to a three-on-three overtime, sudden death period it was the Nor'easters who defended their No.9 ranking and scored at 2:45 in for a 4-3 final score.

NOTEWORTHY:

• The Nor'easters outshot the Seahawks 55-25.
• Cayden Bailey stood in the net for the full 62:45, making 51 saves. 
• Nor'easters' Billy Girard left the ice for five seconds, guarding the net for 62:40 with 22 saves. 

THOUGHTS FROM COACH KLANN: 

"It's a rivalry. It's a really healthy rivalry. Anytime you take points from them it's great. It's going to come down to the wire, it always does between us. We will see them the last game of the regular season. We just have to keep getting better. We have to take some positives from this. We took the number nine team in the country to overtime both nights and won in a shootout last night, we're a bounce away. The guys played really well this weekend, lots of good to come from it. We just have to stay positive and keep knocking for next week." - head coach Zech Klann

ON THE HORIZON: 

Next week the Seahawks will be in Harrisville, Rhode Island on Friday, January 26, for a 5:40 puck drop against CCC competitor, Nichols College.