Hockey Opens New Season With 3-2 Victory

The Suffolk University Hockey team opened the 2014-15 season with a 3-2 victory over Assumption College on Saturday evening.

Sophomore Stanton Turner (San Francisco, Calif.) netted a pair of goals while junior Brandon Smolarek (Chesterfield, Mich.) pushed aside 29 shots in goal to lead Suffolk to their season opening win.

Turner got on the board nearly six minutes into the game when he took feeds from the blueline with juniors Tyler Heineman (Randolph, N.J.) and Connor McCarthy (Hanover, Mass.) providing the assists.

Suffolk would tack on their second goal of the opening period when they took advantage of a power-play at the 15:25 marker. Sophomore Justin Selep (Pittsburgh, Pa.) scored his first goal in a Suffolk uniform as he was setup by junior Mike Cherpak (Enfield, Conn.) and senior Tim Sprague (Plymouth, Mass.).

Turner would net his second tally of the evening as that would goal would turn out to be the eventual game winner when he struck just 1:41 into the second period. Sophomore Simon Leahy (Milwaukee, Wis.) and freshman Jack Jenkins (Billerica, Mass.) provided the assists on Turner's goal.

Assumption would tack on a pair of goals in the second period to make things close. Brandon Bete would tack advantage of the extra-man when his goal at 7:28 would make it a 3-1 game. Trevor Plante would add a Greyhounds' goal six minutes later.

Smolarek would stop all 12 shots he faced in the third period to preserve the victory for Suffolk.

Assumption held a 31-24 edge in shots in the contest.

Suffolk will be back in action next Saturday when they host Salve Regina University in their 2014-15 home opener. The ECAC Northeast matchup will be played at the Charlestown DCR rink with faceoff set for 7:10pm.