Men’s Hockey Ties WNE, 3-3, Drops Shootout

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Suffolk men's hockey went goal-for-goal over the first two periods. Neither the Rams nor the Golden Bears were able to gain the edge in the third or the five-minute overtime to have the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) contest end in a 3-3 deadlock Saturday night at the Olympia Ice Center. WNE went on to grab the shootout, 2-1.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3 | Western New England 3
RECORDS: Suffolk (2-9-1, 1-6-1 CCC) | Western New England (2-7-2, 1-5-2 CCC) 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Things were even at 1-all after the first 20 minutes. WNE found its way on the board first, 11:56 into the game. Finn Bambery's wrister from the top of the right faceoff dot flew past Kannon Flageolle and into the back of the netting 

The Rams wasted little time to respond as Ryan Webb leveled the playing field 1:31 later. Suffolk's sophomore picked up the rebound of Olle Akermark's shot that was denied by and flipped it over the Golden Bears' blocker to make it a 1-1 game. 

Suffolk went ahead 1:28 into the middle period. Carter Schram went on a breakaway. His initial attempt went wide, but he picked it up and chipped it away to give the Rams the go-ahead, 2-1. Josh Milso assisted on the goal. 

Western New England evened things up 5:29 later. Kyle Knight sniped a high shot over Flageolle's shoulder to lock things up at 2-2. 

Jake Grace regained the edge for the blue-and-gold. On the power play the Rams worked the puck around the zone and the freshman fired a shot from the point that sailed through WNE's defense and into the net to push Suffolk in front 3-2 with less than five minutes to go before the second intermission.  

The back-and-forth patterned continued when WNE's Justin Sullivan snuck the puck past the goal line with 27 seconds remaining in the second to make it for an interesting third. 

The 3-3 score remained through the third and at the end of regulation to send the conference counterparts to overtime.  

In the shootout, both sides were denied through the first five rounds. Gavin Havens was the first skater to light the lamp, but WNE's Sullivan had a response to keep thing going. Four more skaters are on each side were stopped by the opposing netminders to keep everyone on the edge of their edges. Grace's shot was turned aside by Antony Aureliano, before Nolan Dawson put on his hero cape and snuck a shot by Flageolle to help the Golden Bears get the extra conference point.  

NETMINDER NOTES

• Flageolle finished with 39 saves. 
• Aureliano stopped 54 shots.  

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Grace, Schram and Webb scored one goal apiece for the Rams. 
• Akermark, Milso, Havens and Lowe all dished out one assist. 
• Suffolk outshot WNE, 57-42. 
• The Rams won the face-off battle, 50-33. 
• WNE went 1-for-1 on the power play. 
• Suffolk went 1-for-3 on the power play. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Since 2000, Suffolk is 24-14-16 against Western New England. 
• The Rams are unbeaten in back-to-back battles versus WNE since going 5-0-2 over seven meetings Nov. 16, 2017 through Jan. 27, 2023. 
• On the road, the Rams are 9-10-5 against the Golden Bears. 
• Suffolk moved to 2-1-1 versus the Golden Bears in the Shawn McEachern era. 
• Suffolk played in overtime for the second time this year. 
• The Rams are 0-1-1 in OT outings this season. 
• Suffolk is now 2-2-4 when exceeding regulation with McEachern on the bench. 
• Suffolk skated to a stalemate for the first time since a 1-1 draw at Western New England, Dec. 9, 2022. 
• Suffolk and WNE needed overtime to decide a winner for the first time since Dec. 9, 2002, a 1-1 draw. 
• The last four overtime outings between Suffolk and WNE have ended in stalemates. 
• The Rams went to a shootout for the first time this season and first time since Dec. 9, 2022.   
• Suffolk has gone into a CCC shootout for the sixth time in program history, first since Dec. 9, 2002 at WNE. 
• Suffolk is now 3-3 in a CCC shootout in program history. 
• Suffolk went into a shootout for the second time under McEachern's guidance, first since Dec. 9, 2022. 
• Both CCC shootouts in the McEachern era have come versus WNE. 
• The Rams went into a CCC shootout versus WNE three times in program history. 
• Suffolk is 2-1 in CCC shootouts against the Golden Bears. 
• Schram supplied his fourth goal of the year. 
• Webb has found the back of the net in back-to-back games. He has racked up three goals this year. 
• Havens (3a), Lowe (2a) and Akermark (2a) have set up shots in the last two games. 
• Milso has produced a point in the last three games. In that span he has one goal and two assists.  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk concludes first semester action at Southern Maine Friday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m.