Men’s Ice Hockey Takes Care of JWU, 6-0, in First Semester Finale 

EAST BOSTON – Suffolk men's ice hockey saw six different players provide one goal as the Rams handled Conference of New England (CNE) foe Johnson & Wales, 6-0, Saturday to wrap up first semester action.  

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 6 | Johnson & Wales 0
RECORDS: Suffolk (5-3-1, 5-1-1 CNE) | Johnson & Wales (3-5-1, 1-4-0 CNE) 

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Defense turned into offense early on for Suffolk. Owen Hodgett blocked a Wildcat shot to regain possession for the Rams, who took the puck towards JWU's end. Nick Liotino dished ahead to Alex Ondos, in the neutral zone, who took it towards the right face-off dot. He found a diving Hodgett that shot towards the cage and his attempt tipped off Daniel McKiernan's stick and into the back of the twine to give the host a 1-0 edge 4:19 into the action. 
• Just over a minute later the blue-and-gold doubled the distance. Scott McManus won a face-off in the Wildcats zone and Jake Grace immediately sniped a shot from right in front that caught Maxim Zinchenko off guard to pad the margin to a pair at the 5:31 mark of the first. 
• Suffolk lengthened its lead to 5-0 in the second as it poured in three unanswered over a 3:31-span as Aidan O'Connell, Bobby Lachance and Ryan Webb etched their name on the scoresheet as goal scorers. 
• The Rams tacked on one more tally in the third as Josh Milso tapped the puck away for the 6-0 final. 

NETMINDER NOTES

• McNicholas registered 23 saves in the clean sheet. 
• Maxim Zinchenko took the loss after giving up two goals in the first 5:31 of action. 
• Jake Inzirillo posted a 41-save effort in the final 54:29 for the Wildcats. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Suffolk's goals came from MCKiernan, Grace, O'Connell, Lachance, Webb and Milso. 
• Grace had one assist as well as his one strike to finish with two points.
• Hodgett, Marko Giourof and Nolan Leonard had two assists apiece. 
• McNichols, Scott McManus, Ondos, and Michael Gallagher logged one helper each. 
• Suffolk outshot JWU, 49-23. 
• The Rams won the face-off battle, 44-26. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk won its third straight game against Johnson & Wales to move to 11-23-4 all-time in the series. 
• The Rams are 5-12-2 at home against JWU.
• Suffolk is undefeated, 3-0-0 versus JWU under head coach Shawn McEachern. 
• The blue-and-gold shutout the Wildcats for the third straight meeting and third time in the all-time series.
• The six goals scored against JWU is the most for Suffolk pouring in six in a 6-2 win Jan. 24, 2020. 
• The six-goal margin of victory is the largest for the Rams in the series with JWU and the largest margin since they posted a seven-goal margin of triumph in a 7-0 season-opening shutout of Franklin Pierce Oct. 26, 2008. 
• McNicholas had his second shutout of the season and of his collegiate career. 
• McNicholas recorded his first collegiate point. He is the first Suffolk goalie to produce a point since CJ Hapward registered one assist in a 4-1 win over Wentworth Jan. 19, 2024. 
• Leonard (7a) pushed his point streak to five games. 
• Leonard matched a career-high in points (2) and assists (2). 
• Giourof, who has produced two points in back-to-back games, tied a career-high two points and set a personal-best in assists with a pair. 
• Gallagher recorded his first collegiate point on one helper. 
• Grace tied a career-high two points. 
• Hodgett produced a career-high in points (2) and assists (2). 
• Milso scored his first goal of the season.  

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk will take a break from contests for finals and the holidays and will pick up the season in the New Year at the Comfort Inn Complex Winter Classic in Plattsburgh, New York, Jan. 2-3. The Rams will face Amherst Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena.