Salem State Spoils Men’s Ice Hockey’s Opener, 4-3

EAST BOSTON – Suffolk men's ice hockey's fell in its season opener as the Rams dropped a back-and-forth affair to Salem State, 4-3, Saturday at Louis E. Porrazzo Memorial Skating Rink. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 3 | Salem State 4
RECORDS: Suffolk (0-1-0) | Salem State (1-0-0)  

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Salem State lit the lamp first as it capitalized on a power play 5:29 into the opening period. Mitch Wilkie converted a pass from James Tatro into the first goal of the game. Landyn Greatorex had a hand in the marker as well.   
• The Rams responded 2:24 with a power play puck of its own. Nolan Leonard was responsible for Suffolk's first goal of the season thanks to help from Dimitri Voyatzis and Marko Giourof. 
• The Vikings regained the one-goal advantage with 2:17 left in the first frame. Jon Waselko potted the goa-head goal thanks to help from Nick Sweet and Aren Francis to give SSU a 2-1 edge that it took into the locker room. 
• Less than two minutes out of the intermission Ryan Meagher turned offense into defense as he intercepted a Rams' pass in the blue-and-gold's zone and quickly figured out Austin McNicholas to give the Vikings a 3-1 cushion 1:45 into the second. 
• Suffolk got the gap back to one at the 10:27 mark of the second stanza thanks to another power play strike. Daniel McKiernan took a shot from just inside the blue line on the left hand side of the ice that bounced off Quinn Booth and landed in front of Bobby Lachance, who tucked it home to trim the margin to 3-2 at the midway point of the middle period. 
• SSU padded its lead at the 9:58 mark of the third. Cam Strykowski won the puck on the boards in the Rams' zone, passed ahead to Ryan Barret, who went on a 2-on-1 with Bill Doughherty, that finished by McNicholas to give the Vikings a 4-2 upperhand. 
• The Rams made things interesting as Shawn McEachern pulled McNicholas from his post out of a timeout with 2:44 to go. The extra skater paid off as Leonard tapped his second strike of the day away to cut the distance back to one, 4-3, with 2:03 to play. Booth and Aidan O'Connell aided in the goal. 
• With just over two minutes remaining, Suffolk had time to tie things up. Once again McNicholas went to the bench to give the host a sixth skater. William Npeveu stood tall the rest of the way for the Vikings, however, has he stopped three shots down the stretch and his defense blocked a pair to seal the 4-3 final. 

NETMINDER NOTES

• McNicholas registered 21 saves in his collegiate debut. 
• Nepveu notched 36 stops in the victory for the Vikings. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Leonard scored two goals. 
• Lachance put away one goal. 
• Booth handed out to assists. 
• Giourof, McKiernan, O'Connell and Voyatzias dished out one helper apiece. 
• Suffolk outshot Salem, 39-25. 
• The Rams went 2-for-3 on the power play, while Vikings converted one of their three man-up chances. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk opened its season on its own ice for the first time since 2023-24. 
• The Rams moved to 12-13-1 in season debuts dating back to 1999. 
• Suffolk is now 7-9-0 in front of its home crowd in the first game of the season.
• The blue-and-gold moved to 1-3-0 in season openers in the McEachern era. 
• Suffolk is now 5-3-2 all-time against Salem State. 
• The Rams and Vikings met in Suffolk's season opener for the second straight season.
• There has never been a shutout between Suffolk and Salem State.
• Suffolk poured in three goals in its season debut for the second straight season. 
• Leonard recorded a career-high two goals and matched a personal-best two points. 
• Booth and Lachance tallied the first points of their collegiate career. 
• GIourof, O'Connell and Voyatzias notched the first points of their Suffolk careers. 
• McNicholas made his collegiate debut in between the pipes. 
• Giourof, O'Connell, and Voyatzis competed in a Suffolk sweater for the first time. 
• Lachance, Alex Ondos, Booth, and Owen Hodgett all made their collegiate debuts.  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk starts Conference of New England (CNE) competition Friday, Nov. 7 as it travels to Roger Williams for a 5:00 puck drop.