Men's Hockey Beats Curry 3-2 in Major Overtime Upset

MILTON, MA --Senior Pat Welch scored his second goal of the game on a power-play 55 seconds into overtime and Jeff Rose made 40 saves as Suffolk (8-10-3) upset conference No. 1 Curry 3-2 at the Max Ulin Memorial Ice Rink.

Welch took a pass from Pat Flynn off a broken play and uncorked a low wrist shot that beat Colonel netminder Steven Jankiel (18 saves) low blocker-side to give Suffolk the win.

Welch also bagged the opener on the power-play, heading in on a breakaway on a nice feed from Zack Barron. From the slot, Welch buried a wrister off the underside of the crossbar to give Suffolk a 1-0 lead.

Curry however would not go away quietly, using an aggressive and speedy forecheck to give Suffolk fits clearing the puck and forcing some strategy changes from the Rams.

“They were sending two guys hard at the puck. We basically brought guys in on the wall to wrap the puck around the boards to get it out (of our defensive zone)," said Suffolk head coach Chris Glionna.

It only took the Colonels 22 seconds to equalize through Michael Cenisio. 4:12 later, Curry took the lead after a rocket shot went back off the end-boards back to Connor Hendry who beat Rose with a wrist shot blocker side.

Despite being out-shot 18 to 6 in the third period, the Rams to grab a goal against the run of play, Matt Robertson putting in a loose puck four minutes into the third period.

“I told them heading into the third that we were down 2-1 with 20 minutes to go at Curry. That’s a good situation. We can come back. We scored three goals in the third period to come back against Salve (on Wednesday). If we can get three goals there, why can’t we get one goal here?” said Glionna.

Suffolk had a major break late on, as freshman Andrew Monesi drew a 5-minute major penalty (hitting from behind) that put the Rams on the power-play heading into the extra session.

“I think it’s a big statement win because we tied them in December when they were in the top-15, and I think some people though it was a fluke” Glionna said, adding “now that we came down there and beat them in their own rink, it shows we can play with (nationally ranked) teams”.

“Andrew Flynn made a nice pass, and drew the defenseman his way. I was thinking pass first but the defenseman took the pass away, so I just shot it hoping for a rebound and it went in,” Welch said about his late-game heroics also saying “we need to bring that intensity the rest of the season and we’ll be fine”.

With the win, Suffolk (8-10-3, 4-4-2 conference) sits in 4th place in the conference and is now slated to host a playoff game for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Despite the loss, Curry is still #1 in the conference (14-6-1, 8-1-1 conference). G

lionna also said they are looking forward to some potential payback at home against city-rival #13 Wentworth, a team that beat them 4-3 in December (Thursday 7 p.m., Walter Brown Arena).