Men’s Ice Hockey Drops Wentworth, 4-1

EAST BOSTON – Suffolk men's ice hockey scored four unanswered en route to a convincing 4-1 triumph over Conference of New England foe Wentworth Saturday night at Louis E. Porrazzo Memorial Skating Rink. The win locked up not only the home-and-home series sweep for the Rams, but kept the blue-and-gold undefeated versus the Leopards in the season series. 

THE BASICS
SCORE: Suffolk 4 | Wentworth 1
RECORDS: Suffolk (8-7-1, 8-3-1 CNE) | Wentworth (4-11-1, 3-9-0 CNE)

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Suffolk opened the scoring just 27 seconds into the contest as Nolan Leonard stripped the puck from a Leopards defender and fed Marko Giourof in the crease, where he finished from point-blank range to give the Rams a 1-0 lead.
• Alex Ondos doubled the advantage at 11:26 of the first period, burying a rebound from the goaltender's box after Jack Kircher's initial shot was turned aside, with Giourof picking up the assist.
• Joe O'Brien pushed the lead to 3-0 late in the second period, capitalizing on a loose puck in the WIT defensive zone and converting in front with 5:27 remaining.
• Aidan O'Connell intercepted a Leopards' dump out and sent it across the ice for an incoming Giourof, who flipped it to the back of the cage to extend the edge to four at the midway point of the third.
• Ian Worthley eliminated the shutout with a shorthanded strike at the 13:57 mark to round out the scoring on the night. 

NETMINDER NOTES

• Austin McNicholas registered 18 saves in the win. 
• Topher Chirico notched 35 stops over 53:21 of action. 
• Will Seagrave tallied five saves in 6:39 of relief.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

• Giourof put away two goals, while Ondos and O'Brien supplied one each. 
• Giourof added one assist to his stat line as well. 
• O'Connell recorded two helpers.
• Leonard and Kircher pitched in one assist apiece. 
• Suffolk commanded the pace of play, outshooting Wentworth, 44-19. 
• The Rams won the face-off battle, 41-24. 

NOTEWORTHY

• Suffolk extended its win streak over Wentworth to five to move to 24-25-3 all-time in the series. 
• The blue-and-gold has one 10 of its last 12 meetings (10-1-1) with WIT.
• As the home team, Suffolk is now 13-13-3 against the Leopards.
• With Shawn McEachern on the bench, the Rams are 7-2-0 versus Wentworth. 
• Giourof stretched his point streak to three contests. Over that span he has three goals and three helpers.
• Ondos and O'Brien each netted their third strike on the year with the latter scoring in two consecutive contests.
• Leonard notched his 15th helper on the year and has assisted in three straight games.
• Kircher picked up his first point of the season and tenth of his Suffolk career.
• O'Connell pushed his point streak to three games. In that span he has four goals and three assists. 

WHAT'S NEXT?
Suffolk returns to the ice with another CNE home-and-home, Jan. 23-24, facing Johnson & Wales. Action begins on the road Friday at 7:00 p.m., before the Rams welcome the Wildcats to Porrazzo Rink on Saturday for a 5:00 p.m. puck drop.