Box Score PORTSMOUTH, R.I. – John Scorcia (Hudson, Fla.) becomes the all-time leader in assists as the Salve Regina University men's ice hockey team defeats Suffolk University 7-3 for its third straight victory as part of the Second Annual Epilepsy Awareness game at the Abbey.
The Seahawks, who donned purple jerseys in support of Epilepsy Awareness, initially trailed 2-0 out of the gate but rallied back to take a 3-2 at the end of the first period and never looked back on their way to victory. Asides from the first three and a half minutes to start the first period the Seahawks controlled the game piling up zone time, and playing stifling defense in the neutral zone. Even with a man advantage the Rams had difficulty getting the puck through the neutral zone against the Seahawks defense.
Mike Cherpak (Enfield, Conn.) got things started for the Rams blasting a shot past Seahawks netminder Alexander Devine (Hampton, N.H.) at 1:25 of the first. The Rams struck again quickly when Stanton Turner (San Francisco, Calif.) took a perfect feed from Tim Sprague (Plymouth, Mass.) and backhanded it in to give the Rams an early 2-0 lead and the ice tilting strongly in their favor.
From that moment on though the Seahawks took control of the game. Joseph Yeadon (Burlington, Mass.) scored on a one-timer from Pat Thompson (Hellertown, Pa.) at 16:03 then Marc Biggs (Plano, Texas) followed that up 37 seconds later with a shot that rang of the post and in to tie the game. Biggs' shot was set-up by John Scorcia who earned his 60th career assist on the play, making him Salve Regina's all-time leader.
Then in the waning seconds of the period Lucas Sousa (Billerica, Mass.) centered a pass to Michael Naso (Londonderry, Conn.) who quickly shot it past Suffolk goalie Brandon Smolarek (Chesterfield, Mich.) to give the Seahawks a 3-2 after one.
Scorcia got things going in the second period, guiding the puck behind his back past Smolarek, who had gone down to the ice on shot that had come from Cameron Gaudet (Burlington, Mass.) in a four on four situation.
The Seahawks led 4-2 and looked ready to run away with the game but the Rams were able to calm things down and the middle portion of the second period was a lot of back and fourth neutral zone play with neither team sustaining much attacking zone time. The Rams finally broke through again at 14:28 of the second when a Devine could not control a rebound and it got knocked to the corner and eventually out to the point where Creg Cook (South Lancaster, Mass.) scored to make it a one-goal game again at 4-3.
The Seahawks answered swiftly though. Scorica muscled his way up the boards, slipping past a defender and saucering a pass to lead Biggs right to the front of the net where he buried the puck for a 5-3 Salve Regina lead.
Evan Schmidbauer (San Diego, Calif.) scored 50 seconds into the third period and Naso scored a powerplay goal in the final 50 seconds to bookend the third and give the Seahawks their third straight victory; All three coming against Eastern College Athletic Northeast (ECACNE) opponents.
The Seahawks outshot the Rams 47 to 28 including a dominant 20-9 second period. Devine made 25 saves and picked up his team-leading fourth win of the season between the pipes while Smolarek stopped 40 in a losing effort.
The Seahawks improve to 8-8-2 overall, 6-3 in the ECACNE, and will play Curry on Saturday February 7 at 2:35 p.m. That game will also mark the Seahawks senior day as the team honors its seven seniors.
The Rams are next in action against Nichols on Saturday back in Boston at 7 p.m.
