Department of athletics, physical education and recreation
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Engineers Defeat Endicott 7-1; Extend Unbeaten Streak To Eight Games
Feb. 10, 2006
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The men's hockey team (8-2-5) moved into first place in the NorthEast Collegiate Hockey Association Eastern Conference standings after defeating Endicott College (10-7-0) at home on Thursday night. Freshman Nick LaBounty recorded a natural hat trick and freshman Ryan Ballentine assisted on all three goals to give MIT a 4-1 advantage at the end of the first. The Engineers added three more in the third period en route to a 7-1 victory. The Engineers came out fast at Johnson Ice Arena looking to avenge their worst lost of the season (8-1) back on December 3 against Endicott. Just 2:50 into the game, LaBounty scored on a pass from Ballentine to give MIT an early 1-0 lead. That momentum was short-lived, as the Gulls' Brad Butcher answered with a goal of his own at 15:23. With the game knotted at 1-1 over halfway through the first period, Endicott's Ben Dodge was called for a game misconduct hitting from behind penalty at 7:49. The five minute major proved to be the turning point of the game. First at 7:13, junior Tim Studley found Mike Kozlowski for the go-ahead goal. Then at 4:48 and still with the man advantage, Ballentine dished a pass to LaBounty, who beat Gulls goalie Jeff Pardue for his second tally of the period. Endicott was back to full strength in the final minutes of the period, but that did not stop LaBounty from tallying his third of the period and 16th of the season to complete the natural hat trick at 1:47. The goal was also assisted by Ballentine, who finished the period with three helpers. Ahead 4-1 in the second period, the Engineers took three minor penalties in the first 12 minutes and gave the Gulls a chance to get back into the game. But after six minutes of power-play time, Endicott still found themselves down by three. Senior Adam Shabshelowitz closed the door on any ideas of an Endicott comeback with goals at 17:25 and 7:05 of the third session. The goals were his ninth and 10th of the season. For good measure, defenseman Jeremy Myers picked up his first goal of the season with 53 seconds left to close out a 7-1 MIT victory. The Engineers, now unbeaten in their last eight games (5-0-3), went three for four on the power-play. They will look to extend their unbeaten streak at home on Saturday against the University of Connecticut (9-6-0). The game is set to begin at 3:00 p.m. at Johnson Ice Arena. |
