Statistics

BEVERLY, Mass. -- In a battle of nationally-ranked squads, No. 7 Endicott College overcame a 1-0 first-period deficit to earn a 4-1 win over No. 8 University of New England in a Conference of New England men's ice hockey game Friday evening (Jan. 16) at Raymond J. Bourque Arena.

UNE got on the board first when Nathan Chickering skated the puck from behind the cage and slid a pass across to Dominic Murphy, who poked it home from the left doorstep midway through the first frame. Drew Olivieri was credited with a secondary assist on the scoring play.

The Gulls (12-1-1, 7-1-1 CNE) drew even less than three minutes later as Sebastian Speck converted a rebound of his own shot from the right circle just after a Gulls' power play opportunity had expired.

Endicott took the lead for good in the closing stages of the middle period when Kyle Fuery took a pass from Jack Constanzo and sniped a wrist shot from the high slot for his first collegiate goal. 

The Gulls got an insurance goal at 2:48 of the third period as Costanzo skated in from the neutral zone and split the defense before roofing a wrist shot from point-blank range.

On a power play late in the third period, UNE (10-5-0, 7-3-0) pulled goaltender Harrison Chesney for an extra skater but was unable to convert before John Goldowski put home an empty-net goal in the final minute to secure the win.

Chesney finished with 32 saves for the Nor'easters, while Peter Sterling earned the win with 30 stops for Endicott.

UNE, which suffered its first road setback of the season (6-1), extended its nation-best penalty kill percentage with success of all three of its short-handed situations to improve to 50-for-50 on the penalty kill.

The rivals will be back at it tomorrow evening, wrapping up their home-and-home series with a 7 p.m. puck drop at the Harold Alfond Forum.