Box Score Boxscore

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.--Junior co-captain John Kelly was among three Golden Bears with three points, including a goal that proved to be the game-winner in the second period, and goaltender T.J. Fatse made his Senior Night a memorable one with 31 saves to lead the Western New England University men's hockey team to a 5-3 victory over Suffolk University on Thursday at Smead Rink.

The Golden Bears improve to 11-13 overall, but more importantly moves to 8-5 in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Northeast to secure home-ice in the first round of the league playoffs. The Rams fall to 6-13-5 on the season and cling to the sixth and final playoff spot (tied with Johnson & Wales) at 3-7-3 in the conference (with nine points apiece).

With WNE holding onto a 3-2 lead in the second period, Kelly scored the first of his two goals on the night on assists from junior co-captain Brian Prost and sophomore Brandon Stroud with 7 minutes and 16 seconds left.

The teams combined to score in bunches. Richard Woodworth tied the contest for Suffolk, 1-1, at the 2:54 mark of the second period until junior Chris Connors put the Golden Bears back in front with a power-play goal just 1:41 later. Later in the period, sophomore Andrew Cramer made it 3-1 in favor of WNE at 11:19, followed by Suffolk's Tyler Murray only 40 seconds later, and then Kelly 45 seconds after that.

Western New England led 4-2 in the final stanza when Kelly and Steve Drago traded goals 1 minute apart starting at 10:30 to account for the final two-goal margin.

Prost finished with three assists, Stroud gave WNE a 1-0 lead in the first period and added two assists, and Kelly also had three points.

Jon Stauffer and Charlie McGinnis led the Rams with two assists apiece.

Western New England went 2-for-6 on the power play while Suffolk was 0-for-1.

Fatse, a local product of Hampden who played juniors for the Springfield Pics, is the Golden Bears' lone senior this season. He is an exploratory business major.