PORTSMOUTH, R.I. - The Salve Regina University men's ice hockey team earned its first victory of the season with a 7-1 victory over the Wentworth Institute of Technology at Portsmouth Abbey on Thursday night.

After a scoreless first period the Seahawks exploded for five goals in the second period including three goals in 71 seconds. 

Matthew Carroll (Hackensack, N.J.) scored first for Salve Regina 1:23 into the second period, assisted by Michael Naso (Londonberry, N.H.) and Dominic DiMascia (Wrightstown, Pa.). Shortly afterwards Naso would sustain an injury on the ice after a scary hit to his head during a collision at the blue-line. The Seahawks, who had already picked up their physical play towards the end of the first period and at the beginning of the second, found an extra gear and took full advantage of a five-minute major penalty.

The Seahawks scored three quick goals in 71 seconds. Peter Gintoli (Monroe, Conn.) took a feed from Evan Schultz (Durham, N.H.) and snuck it past Leopards net minder Alex Peck (Kirkland, Que.) for the Seahawks second goal. Then during a 4-4 situation Cameron Gaudet (Burlington, Mass.) scored unassisted resulting in Peck being called to the bench in favor of junior goaltender Joel Miller (Calgary, Alta.). Miller was immediately test and Gintoli scored again this time on a pass from Jonathan Felteau (Peabody, Mass.) to make it 4-0 Salve Regina.

Alex Pompeo (Hingham, Mass.) scored his second goal of the season, this time on the power play for the Seahawks to cap off a dominant second period, the best period of the season for Salve Regina.

The Seahawks did not take their foot off the pedal and continued to pressure the Leopards despite holding a commanding lead. Eventually with fewer than nine minutes to play, trailing 5-0, and on the power play, the Leopards pulled their goalie in an attempt to generate any offense. However the move backfired as the Seahawks won a defensive zone faceoff and Lucas Sousa (Billerica, Mass.) wristed a shot all the way down the ice for an empty net score. Wentworth would pull it's net-minder again later in the third, this time allowing freshman James Malone (Beachwood, N.J.) to score his first goal as a Seahawk on an empty netter.

Wentworth would tack on a late goal when Nick Newman (Saugus, Calif.) scored during a 5-3 power play to steal a shutout away from Salve Regina goalie Jake Williams (Montreal, Que.). Making his first start of the season, Williams saved 25 of 26 shots for a .961 save percentage.

Salve Regina had lost twelve matches in a row to Wentworth, and trailed 1-24-1 in the all-time series. The Seahawks erased that history tonight with their largest victory ever over Wentworth, and more than doubled their season output for goals.

The Seahawks, now 1-1-2 (1-1 ECACNE) will hit the road to take on Becker on Saturday November 15 at 7:50 p.m.

Wentworth gets handed their first loss of the season as they fall to 3-1 (1-1 ECACNE). Wentworth hosts the defending champions, Nichols College on Saturday.