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BOSTON--Sophomore Brandon Stroud led Western New England with two points, including the game-winning goal late in the third period, and junior goaltender Eric Sorenson made 40 saves to propel the Golden Bears to a 3-2 men's hockey victory Thursday over defending Eastern College Athletic Conference Northeast champion Wentworth. Western New England improves to 2-1 overall after its conference opener, while the league favorite Leopards fall to 2-1-1 (ECAC-NE) on the season.

The visiting Golden Bears, who were picked to finish in second place in the preseason coaches' poll, jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a pair of power-play goals in the first period. Junior Chris Connors took a feed from freshman William J. Preston and potted his first goal of the season just 42 seconds after the opening face-off. Then midway through the period, junior co-captains John Kelly and Brian Prost teamed up for another tally with Stroud getting the primary assist.

After the teams skated to a scoreless second stanza, Wentworth fought back to forge a 2-all tie in the third. Shaun Jameson cut the deficit in half at the 5:16 mark. After a WNE minor penalty for charging at the 15:30 mark, the Leopards called a timeout to discuss power-play strategy. Twelve seconds later, the plan worked as Mike Domsodi netted his first of the season on assists by Andrew Yarber and Kevin Crowe.

However, the Golden Bears responded to the adversity of giving up a 2-0 lead by getting the decisive goal off Stroud's stick on a feed from Kelly with 1 minute and 37 seconds to go in the game.

Wentworth pulled its goalie--Joel Miller, who finished with 24 saves--for the final 1:19 in favor of an extra skater. The Leopards certainly put the offensive pressure on in the Golden Bears end, but two shots went wide and Third Star Sorenson came up with three saves to keep WIT from forcing overtime.

In the second period, Wentworth had a golden opportunity to get on the scoreboard after a WNE delay of game penalty with less than 2 minutes was called, triggering a penalty shot. But the shot attempt failed and the Golden Bears maintained their 2-0 advantage at the time.