Men’s Hockey Travels to #9/10 Endicott Thursday

BOSTON – The Suffolk men's hockey team makes the trip to Beverly, Massachusetts, Thursday, Feb. 9 to face its first nationally ranked opponent of the season in #9/10 Endicott. Puck drop inside Raymond J. Bourque arena is scheduled for 7 p.m.   

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LAST TIME OUT
The Suffolk men's hockey team fell to Curry, 6-3, Saturday night in Commonwealth Coast Conference action at Emmons Horrigan O'Neil Rink.       

MORE READING: Curry Crushes Men's Hockey, 6-3

RUNDOWN ON THE RAMS
Suffolk sits just outside playoff contention with eight points with a 3-9-2 league ledger and 5-11-4 overall mark. 

Tommy Bishop is the lone Ram recording double figures with 15 thanks to 10 helpers and five marks. Justin Holliday has also found the back of the net five times this season and sits second on the squad with Danyil Medvedev (4-5-9) in points, each with nine. 

Michael Levine and Kevin Venturoso each have seen plenty of action in between the pipes this season. Venturoso is 3-6-1 on the year with a .908 save percentage and a 3.20 GAA, while Levine sits at 2-5-3, allowing 3.65 goals per game and stopping 89.9 percent of his shots faced. 

GET TO KNOW THE GULLS
Endicott has picked up nationally recognition as off late with a 16-3-2 record and 10-3-1 CCC mark to rank No. 9 in the D3Hockey.com and No. 10 by the USCHO.com. The Gulls, who are tied for first place in the conference standings with Nichols, ride a four-game win streak into Thursday's tilt. 

The Gulls are netting 4.57 goals per game thanks in large part to Ross Olsson's 13 tallies and Tommy Besinger's and Cam Bleck's 11 goals apiece. Besinger paces the pack with 32 points, good for second in the CCC, with a team-best 21 set-ups. Olsson and Beck have each dished out 13 assists for 26 points and 24 points, respectively. The sophomores are three of five Endicott skaters who have accumulated 20-plus points this season with freshman Jason Kalinowski (9-16-25) and classmate Logan Day (9-13-22) joining the ranks. 

Endicott's success this season has been in large part to their defense and performance in net, giving up just 1.74 goals per outing, a league best. The Gulls net starter, Kevin Aldridge, holds down the conference's best numbers in goals-against average (1.82) and save percentage (.940) to collect the most wins among CCC netminders this season, 14.  

WE MEET AGAIN
The Suffolk men's hockey team pulled within one with 48 seconds remaining in regulation, but could not complete the comeback as Endicott beat the Rams, 3-2, in CCC action at Emmons Horrigan O'Neil Memorial Rink Nov. 19. 

MORE READING: Men's Hockey Comes Up Short Against Endicott, Falls 3-2

INSIDE THE SERIES
In a series that began last season, Suffolk trails the Gulls, 2-0-1.    

EYES ON THE GAME

SHUTOUT
Kevin Venturoso turned aside 28 pucks Saturday night at Becker to record his first collegiate shutout. He is the first Suffolk netminder to tally a cleansheet since Michael Levine blanked Becker Feb. 13, 2016. Just three games later the senior did it again with a 23-save effort against Wentworth. 

SERIES SWEEP
For the first time since 2009, Suffolk swept the regular-season series versus Wentworth. The Rams took the first meeting versus the Leopards, 2-1, Nov. 12, and shutout WIT 1-0 Feb. 2. 

CLEANSHEETS
For the first time since 2007-08, Suffolk has two shutout victories as the Rams blanked Becker, 3-0, Jan. 21, and recorded a 1-0 victory over Wentworth Feb. 2. 

ONE-GOAL GAMES
Suffolk landed on the right side of a one-goal game thanks to Luke Miller's first period marker versus Wentworth Feb. 2. The 1-0 victory over the Leopards marks the first time that the Rams won a 1-0 game since downing Becker 1-0 Feb. 13, 2016. 

HATS OFF
In his Suffolk debut Jackson Tucker registered a hat trick showing, scoring all three of Suffolk's goals in the 3-0 win at Becker. Tucker, the first Ram to pot three pucks in one game since Stanton Turner did so in a 7-2 win over the Hawks Nov. 11, 2014, grabbed CCC Player of the Week accolades for his three-goal game performance. 

MORE READING: Tucker Grabs CCC Player of the Week 

FROZEN FENWAY
Thursday, Jan. 5 will go inside Suffolk men's hockey record books as the Rams took the ice at legendary Fenway Park apart of the Capital One Frozen Fenway 2017. 

MORE READING: Men's Hockey Holds Intersquad Scrimmage at Frozen Fenway

SHORT-HANDED
Luke Miller's first goal of the season came in short-handed fashion at Western New England Nov. 10. The junior forward is the first Ram to net a man-down score since Justin Selep '16 put one away in a 5-2 win at Nichols Jan. 16, 2016. 

CCC FROZEN FIRST
Simon Leahy's first goal of the season turned out to be a historic one as the senior from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was the first player across the CCC to find the back of the netting on the inaugural night of play for the first-year league. Since the tally was on the power play, he added to the historics, as the forward also became the first CCC skater to put one away on the man advantage opportunity. 

CCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Tommy Bishop of the Suffolk men's hockey team will go down in history as the first-ever Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Player of the Week as the sophomore grabbed the initial award of the inaugural season after a career opening night, the conference office announced Oct. 31.

MORE READING: Bishop Grabs First-Ever CCC Player of the Week Nod

UP NEXT
Suffolk is set for back-to-back contests this weekend as the University of New England and Franklin Pierce head to the Bay State. The Nor'Easters stop by Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with the Ravens set for an 8 p.m. visit Sunday night.