Box Score
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SheetCHARLESTOWN, Mass.--Seniors
Andy Cramer and captain
Brandon Stroud each scored a goal and an assist in Western New England University's regular-season finale, but sophomore Danyil Medvedev scored 14 seconds into overtime to lift the Suffolk University men's hockey team to a 5-4 victory on Tuesday night at Emmons Horrigan O'Neill Memorial Rink. With the loss, the Golden Bears (5-16-3 overall, 5-9 ECAC Northeast) were eliminated from the Eastern College Athletic Conference Northeast Championship Tournament. The host Rams, who improve to 11-12-2 and 5-7-2 in the conference, clinched the sixth and final seed to move on to the postseason against third-seed Johnson & Wales University on Saturday.
Medvedev sped in from the red line and up the right wing ripping off a shot outside the faceoff circle to score his seventh goal of the season and fourth game winner as Suffolk overcame a two-goal deficit in the second period and then almost lost a two-goal lead in the third.
It was a slow first period of action but sophomore
Josh Twietmeyer scored the lone goal of the period when he put in a power-play goal with 57 seconds left in the opening frame for an early 1-0 Golden Bears lead. Junior
Chris Lembo and Cramer were credited with assists on Twietmeyer's fifth tally of the season. Twietmeyer finished with five goals and six assists for 11 points after scoring totals of 2+1=3 in 2013-14.
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Western New England's power-play unit was clicking to the tune of three goals on the man-advantage. The Golden Bears' second came just 1 minute and 33 seconds into the second period when sophomore
Dane Genord would strike for his team-leading eighth goal of the season. Freshman
David DiSchiavi and Stroud earned the assists on the play. Genord had a vastly improved season with 8+5=13 scoring totals after four assists as a freshman.
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While the opening 30 minutes of the contest were relatively mild, the following 30:14 would be physical and have back-and-forth action.
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Western New England would switch out goalies three times in the second period as Suffolk came storming back to take a 4-2 lead by the end of the stanza. Senior Tim Sprague got Suffolk on the board when he took a feed from sophomore Brett Lawson for the Rams' first goal. Junior Tyler Heineman would even the score at the midpoint when he let off a wrister from the blue line to make it a 2-2 game.
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Junior Stanton Turner scored his team-leading 16th goal at the 10:18 mark to give Suffolk its first lead, 3-2.
Golden Bears senior goaltender
Tim Carr, who returned to action after missing the previous three games due to injury, was replaced by freshman
Scott Brown late in the second period. Brown stopped all six shots he faced over an eight-minute span, but was forced to be removed from the game after a collision later in the stanza. Carr ends his career with 1,487 saves, which is fourth on the school's all-time list.
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Sophomore Connor Lawrence would put Suffolk up by two goals when he scored the Rams' lone power-play goal with 41 seconds remaining in the second period as he took an assist from Sprague to make it a 4-2 contest.
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The third period would be a physical one that saw the two teams rack up a combined 14 penalties, a pair of game misconducts and a pair of game disqualifications.
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With less than five minutes remaining in the period, Cramer cut the Suffolk lead to 4-3 at 14:36 when he knocked in his sixth goal of the season for the Golden Bears. Freshman
Will Norris and DiSchiavi got the assists. Cramer was another WNE skater to post a career year with personal records of six goals, 10 assists and 16 points.
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Following a timeout, Stroud scored WNE's third power-play goal of the contest and his seventh of the season to make it a 4-4 game with 2:54 remaining in regulation.
Freshman goalie
Kyle Wilkinson made 15 saves--a career best in only his second appearance--in the relief effort for WNE, including stopping all 13 shots he faced in the third period to help force the extra 5-minute session.
Junior Brandon Smolarek made 28 saves for Suffolk in the victory.
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(Editor's note: Suffolk Athletics contributed to this game recap.)