Men’s Hockey Ties WNE, 4-4, Wins Shootout

WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Suffolk men's hockey team played to a 2-2 draw against Western New England Wednesday afternoon at Olympia Ice Center. Devin Lowe and Kyle Valiquette scored one goal each in a three-round shootout to give the Rams an extra point in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) standings. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 4 | Western New England 4
RECORDS: Suffolk (3-8-3, 3-6-3 CCC) | Western New England (4-10-2, 2-9-1 CCC) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
It as an action-packed outing from the get going with four goals and penalties in the first 20 minutes. 

Suffolk took the first penalty on the day as Samuel Rand was whistled for holding just 1:49 in. The Golden Bears turned that power play into a one-goal gap at the 3:55 minute mark. A little over 2:30 later, the Rams righted that wrong with a man-up marker of their own to even the playing field at one apiece. The blue-and-gold worked the puck around the zone. From the right face-off dot Billy Roche dished it out Olle Akermark station at the blue line, who slid it over to Samuel Rand at the left of WNE's net. Samuel Rand sniped a shot over Anthony Aureliano's glove shoulder.  

As penalties continued so did the scoring. On Suffolk's second power play of the day, Ryan Harrigan hung out in front of the Golden Bears cage waiting for the perfect opportunity to put a shot on target. That came when Lowe feed in a pass and the sophomore shot past Aureliano to give the blue-and-gold a 2-1 edge at the midway point. Alex Kolowrat assisted on the go-ahead goal as well.  

Western New England managed to lock up matters 3:27 later when Knight found Cal Wilcox out of position on a near breakaway. That goal sent the teams into the first intermission even at 2-2.   

Suffolk found itself down 3-2 as WNE was the first to find the back of the twine after peppering Wilcox with four shots in a row in the second stanza just under nine minutes into the middle period. 

Once again Samuel Rand stepped up to level the playing field and again on the power play. This time the sophomore sent a one-timer from Lowe home on a 5-on-3 to tie it 3-all. Akermark assisted on the game-tying goal for the second-time on the afternoon. 

Not to be out played by his younger brother, Max Rand etched his name on the scoresheet with the go-ahead goal with 44.3 seconds left in the second period. Max Rand entered the zone on the left-hand side and ripped a shot past a Golden Bear defender and Aurelianos glove into the top right corner to give Suffolk a 4-3 edge as the team's headed to the locker room for the second time. 

WNE pulled Aureliano from between the pipes with 2:18 to go in regulation to get the boost from the extra skater. The added attacked aided the Golden Bears, who tested Wilcox with five shots in a row. The Rams' junior was able to stop the first four, but the fifth, put on target by Knight, scooted past the netminder to equalize the outing at 4-all.  

In the 3-on-3 overtime, both sides saw three chances, all of which were gobbled up by the respective goalies for the 4-4 draw to force a shootout for the conference extra point.  

Lowe and Valiquette each snuck in their shootout attempts, while Wilcox did his job denying both of the Golden Bears shots, to give the Rams an added booth in the league standings. 

NETMINDER NOTES

• Wilcox (3-7-3) secured 29 stops in the stalemate. 
• Aureliano (1-4-1) registered 42 saves.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Lowe logged three assists to pace Suffolk's three-goal offense. 
• Samuel Rand scored twice, while his brother, Max Rand and Harrigan each chipped in one goal. 
• Akermark finished with a pair of assists. 
• Kolowrat, Peter Nugent and Jared Newell had one helper apiece. 
• Suffolk outshot Western New England, 47-33. 
• The Rams won the face-off battle, 38-28. 
• The blue-and-gold went 3-for-7 on the power play and successfully killed off its three penalities.   

NOTEWORTHY

• The Rams went into overtime for the fourth time this season. 
• The blue-and-gold is 0-1-3 in an extra-setting outing this year. 
• Suffolk moved to 21-13-4 all-time against Western New England. 
• The Rams and Golden Bears went into overtime for the first time since Nov. 10, 2016, which ended in a 2-2 draw. 
• Suffolk is now 9-6-3 when playing at WNE. 
• Samuel Rand registered a career-high two goals and matched a personal-best two points.
• Lowe recorded a career-high three helpers and matched a personal-high three points. 
• Nugent (3g, 1a) had notched a point in the last four games. 
• Akermark (2g, 3a) stretched his point streak to three games. 
• Harrigan (2g, 1a) and Max rand (2g) are on a two-game point streak. 
• Newell matched a personal-best one point on one assist.  

POST-GAME PIC
 

COMING UP
Suffolk has an action-packed weekend in store with a CCC home-and-home series against No. 14 Endicott. The Rams will host the Gulls Friday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m., before a rematch battle in Beverly, Massachusetts Saturday, Jan. 22 at 4 p.m.