Women's Ice Hockey Rallies Late to Earn 5-5 Tie with Johnson & Wales

EAST BOSTON – Suffolk women's ice hockey erased a three-goal deficit and rallied from as many as 4-1 down, scoring three times in the second period to battle Johnson & Wales to a thrilling 5-5 tie on Friday night at Louis E. Porrazzo Memorial Skating Rink.

The Wildcats secured the extra point with a 3-2 shootout victory that went 11 rounds.

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 5 | Johnson & Wales 5
RECORDS: Suffolk (5-10-2, 5-3-2 CNE) | Johnson & Wales (6-8-1, 4-5-1 CNE) 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Johnson & Wales capitalized on a rebound early to put Suffolk in a 1-0 hole 3:34 into the opening period. Grace Adams picked up the pieces of a denied Brynn Leahy attempt and chipped it past a laid out Katelyn Michals to give the Wildcats the upperhand early. Marissa Lafferty assisted on the game-opening goal as well.
• JWU pushed the gap to a pair a the 16:21 mark on the power play behind Ava Morgan. The Wildcats worked the puck around the zone before Morgan took a pass from Allyson Barry into the right face-off dot and sniped a shot over Michals' glove side shoulder to give the visitors a 2-0 lead. Kylie O'Keefe collected a helper on the strike.
• Suffolk would not go into the intermission scoreless as Alexia Hill buried a backdoor pass by Bella Schmidt into the back of the net with seven seconds remaining to trim the deficit down to one. Anya Nichipor picked up the puck off the won face off by Hill to help set-up the goal.
• With the Rams on the power play, Michael went behind the cage to collect the puck and tried to clear it out of the blue-and-gold's zone. Unfortunately for Michals and Suffolk, Sadie Davignon intercepted the puck and tipped it into the empty net to restore the two-goal margin in JWU's favor with 5:53 removed from the middle period.
• Another Suffolk turnover cost the host as Adams' second of the day came off a steal and an easy slot shot with just enough to sneak past Michals to give the Wildcats a 4-1 lead at the 11:51 mark of the second stanza.
• The case of two JWU goals followed by one Suffolk score from the first carried into the second as Nichipor cleaned up a cluster in front with her first marker of the night to cut the distance back to two, 4-2, at the 13:34 mark. Hill and Jenna Caballero aided in the score.
• Just 32 seconds later and it was a one-goal game thanks to Katie Newkirk. The senior captain redirected Abby Sandler's shot from the blue line and into the back of the net to make it a 4-3 game with 5:45 to go in the second. Laurel Potter handed out an assist on the goal as well.
• Momentum remained in the Rams' favor as Schmit put away the equalizer with 59 seconds left on the clock in the second. Hill won the face-off on the power play and Schmidt wasted no time to take it to the net and fire a shot and slip it past the keeper to make it 4-all.
• Johnson & Wales snapped Suffolk's scoring run with a goal at the 8:46 mark of the third period. The Rams answered on the power play, as Cassie Borowski buried a feed from Lily Abraham and Potter to knot the game at 5-5 and force overtime.
• After a scoreless overtime, the contest went to a shootout. The teams were deadlocked at two goals apiece through the first three rounds before the duel stretched into eight more rounds. Ashley Bergeron ultimately sealed the win with the deciding goal for JWU.

NETMINDER NOTES

• Katelyn Michals stopped 42 shots in the contest.
• Avery Hall made 23 saves on the night.

 STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Hill, Nichipor, Schmidt, Newkirk, and Borowski each scored one goal for the Rams.
• Potter and Hill each added two assists, while Nichipor, Cabellero, Abraham, Schmidt, and Sandler contributed one assist each.
• Liliana Moose and Hill led Suffolk with four shots each.
• The Wildcats outshot the Rams 47-28.

NOTEWORTHY

• Hill posted her first career three-point game, finishing with a goal and two assists to give her 13 points on the season (7g, 6a).
• Nichipor registered her first multi-point game of the year with a goal and an assist, bringing her totals to three goals and two assists.
• Schmidt added a goal and an assist, giving her four goals and eight assists for 12 points on the season.
• Newkirk netted her third goal of the year and has now scored in back-to-back games.
• Borowski found the back of the net for her fourth goal of the season.
• Cabellero and Abraham each recorded their third assists of the campaign.
• Potter chipped in her fourth assist of the year.
• The tie marked the first in the all-time series between Suffolk and Johnson & Wales.
• Suffolk now holds a 6-2-1 edge in the all-time series and is 4-0-1 against the Wildcats in East Boston.
• Head coach Abby Ostrom improved to 2-1-1 in her career against JWU.
• Tonight's contest was played as part of Hockey Fights Cancer, with the Rams raising funds and awareness through a 50/50 raffle, chuck-a-puck, and bake sale.

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk travels to Providence for the second leg of the series with JWU on Saturday, Jan 24 with puck drop set for 3:00 p.m.