Hockey Defeats Western New England, 6-4

The hockey team defeated Western New England, 6-4 in an ECAC Northeast contest at the Dennis Lynch Arena on Wednesday evening.

Johnson & Wales took the early 1-0 lead when senior All-American Jeremiah Ketts (Foristell, Mo.) put in a pass from juniors Danny Kaufmann (Scotch Plains, N.J.) and Jason Pietrasiak (Shrewsbury, Mass.) just 6:49 into the contest.  The Wildcats extended their advantage on a goal by freshman Alex Porrier (Rutland, Vt.) at the 11:35 mark and took the 2-0 lead into the locker room at the first intermission.

Freshman Brandon Stroud (Clarksville, Ind.) put WNEU on the board with an unassisted goal at the 4:23 mark to cut the lead to 2-1.  The visiting Golden Bears then knotted the game at 2-2 on a power play goal by sophomore Brian Prost (Parma, Ohio) less than a minute later.  The Wildcats regained the lead when junior Trevor Jewell (Muskegon, Mich,) blasted in a shot from the point with a power play goal to make the score 3-2 midway through the second stanza.  The Wildcats took the one goal lead heading into the locker room after two periods of play.

Stroud's second goal of the game, this time a power play tally after an assist by sophomore John Kelly (Staten Island, N.Y.) at the 6:26 mark of the third made tied the game at 3-3.  The visiting Golden Bears would then take their first lead of the game when sophomore Chris Connors (Albany, N.Y.) put in a pass from senior Mike Kaselouskas (East Longmeadow, Mass.) at the 7:09 mark for the 4-3 advantage.  The lead would be short lived, however as senior Tony Galante (Buffalo, N.Y.) tied the game at 4-4 when he put in a pass from Ketts and Kaufmann at the 10:16 mark.  JWU regained the lead just over a minute later when a goal by Kaufmann, again on an assist by Ketts, put the Wildcats up 5-4 with what would prove to be the game-winning goal.  Pietrasiak added an empty net goal late in the contest to propel JWU to the 6-4 victory.

Junior Matt Cooper (Perrysburg, Ohio) made 19 saves in the win for JWU while sophomore Eric Sorensen (Fairport, N.Y.) had 27 stops for WNEU in the setback.

With the win Johnson & Wales is now 10-4-2 for the year and 4-0-1 in the ECAC Northeast while Western New England falls to 8-7 on the year, 3-2-0 in league play.  The Wildcats will return to action on Saturday, January 21^st when they travel to Nichols for an ECAC Northeast contest at 7:40 p.m.