CNE CHAMPIONSHIP: No. 12 Men's Ice Hockey Falls Short At No. 3 Curry, 5-2

CANTON, Mass. — The No. 12 Endicott men's ice hockey team fell to No. 3 Curry, 5-2, in Saturday afternoon's Conference of New England (CNE) championship matchup at Canton Ice House.

In a back-and-forth, competitive first period, it was the Colonels who were able to capitalize first. They set up a deep wrist shot that made its way through to break the scoreless tie at the 14:37 mark.

Primo Self (Grand Rapids, Mich.) evened things up in the second, as he cashed in a transition tally off of Jackson Sterrett (Hendersonville, Tenn.) and Collin Kleiser's (Churchville, Pa.) feed (8:11).

Just two minutes later, the Colonels regained the lead off of a rebound in front of the net. 

They padded the lead 1:21 into the third with a snipe from the right side of the net past the outstretched blocker of Atticus Kelly (St. Paul, Minn.). They then sealed the deal with a deflection in front of the net with just 4:39 remaining and tapped in an empty-netter in the 17th minute.

Freshman Cade Baker (York, Pa.) tucked in Endicott's second goal of the day with just 43 seconds remaining, but it wasn't enough, as the Gulls ultimately fell 5-2 to the Colonels.

Kelly saved a total of 27 shots in the contest and saw his record fall to 13-5-0 this season.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• The Gulls still lead the all-time series, 17-10-1.
• Self's goal was his 14th of the season, which ties Andrew Kurapov (Corvallis, Ore.) for second-most on the roster.
• Baker's goal was the third of his career.
• The Colonels ended the Gulls' run as back-to-back conference champions. The last champion outside of the Gulls was UNE in 2021-22.

WHAT'S NEXT

No. 12 Endicott (19-8-1) awaits the NCAA Selection Show to see if they earned an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. The selection show airs Monday, March 10 at 10 AM.

No. 3 Curry (24-3-0) receives an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, and also awaits the selection show to see who they face in the first round. 

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(Photo Credit - Jonah Bean '28)