North Smithfield, R.I. - Junior Domenic Recchia (Sterling Heights, Mich.) scored the game-winner with 2:21 left in regulation to lift the Johnson & Wales University hockey squad to a thrilling 5-4 victory against Salve Regina in an ECAC Northeast contest at the RI Sports Center on Saturday evening.

Johnson & Wales took the 1-0 lead when junior Jeremiah Ketts (Foristell, Mo.) put in a pass from sophomore Jason Pietrasiak (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and sophomore Max Carter (Royal Oaks, Mich.) for a power play goal at the 12:23 mark. Salve Regina answered quickly when senor Joe Colaianni (Monroe, N.Y.) scored at the 15:12 mark. The two teams headed into the locker room tied 1-1 after the first period of play.

In the second period, JWU regained the lead when Ketts tallied his second goal of the game, an unassisted short handed goal, to go ahead 2-1 just :34 into the stanza. Once again, Salve Regina responded and knotted the game at 2-2 when sophomore Jacob Hutt (Menlo Park, Calif.) put in a pass from senior Bryan Russell (Essex Junction, Vt.) for a power play goal at the 2:15 mark. The visiting Seahawks took their first lead of the game at 6:39 on another power play goal, this time from sophomore Mike Cenisio (Chadds Ford, Pa.) to go up 3-2. JWU answered with a power play goal of their own, this time from Pietrasiak at the 7:32 mark to knot the game at 3-3. The two teams took the tie game into the locker room after the second stanza.

After battling through most of the third period, JWU senior Joe Simeone (Cranston, R.I.) gave the Wildcats the 4-3 lead at the 14:42 mark. The lead would be short lived though as Salve Regina senior Kevin Sullivan (North Branford, Conn.) scored at 16:13 to tie the game at four apiece. Recchia then provided the heroics for the Wildcats as he put in a pass from sophomore Erick Vos (Kalamazoo, Mich.) with 2:21 on the clock to propel JWU to the 5-4 victory.

JWU sophomore Matt Cooper (Perrysburg, Ohio) made 19 saves in the victory while freshman J.C. Turgeon (Sherbrooke, Quebec) had 22 stops in the setback for Salve Regina.

With the win Johnson & Wales is now 11-9-1 overall and 8-2-0 in the ECAC Northeast and remains tied for first place in the league standings while Salve Regina falls to 1-16-1 for the season, 1-8-0 in league play. JWU will return to action on Thursday, February 9th when they travel to Becker for an ECAC Northeast contest at 8:30 p.m.

(Courtesy of Johnson & Wales sports information)