CNE SEMIFINALS: No. 2 Endicott Turns Away No. 3 Suffolk, 4-1

BEVERLY, Mass. — The second-seeded Endicott men's ice hockey team defeated third-seeded Suffolk University, 4-1, in the Conference of New England (CNE) Tournament semifinal round on Saturday afternoon at Raymond J. Bourque Arena.

Tied 1-1 in the third period, the No. 7 nationally ranked Gulls potted back-to-back goals 1:49 seconds apart to punch their ticket to the CNE Championship.

Michael Casey (Media, Pa.) broke the stalemate at the 10:10 mark of the period with a second-effort goal on the penalty kill (20th career goal, fourth career short-handed tally).

John Goldowski (Buffalo, N.Y.) generated the scoring chance by intercepting a D-to-D pass before going coast-to-coast, but Suffolk's netminder made a stick save on his initial breakaway attempt. 

Casey didn't give up on the play, however, as the junior centerman crashed the net and punched home the rebound that rainbowed over the crossbar near the right post.

Less than two minutes later, Collin Kleiser (Churchville, Pa.) pounced on a neutral zone turnover and sniped his eighth career tally — low glove side from the left wing — to put the Gulls in complete control.

Noah Gibbs (Saint-Basile, New Brunswick, Canada) sealed the victory at the 18:53 mark with an empty-netter for his 12th of the season. 

In the first period, Anthony Cafarelli (Middleton, Mass.) opened the scoring at 13:11, beating Suffolk's netminder glove side from the right faceoff circle.

Kleiser initiated the tally by collecting a loose puck behind the Gulls' net before sliding a quick pass to Jack Costanzo (Gloucester, Mass.) at the left faceoff circle to set up the breakout.

From there, Costanzo ripped a tape-to-tape stretch pass to Cafarelli along the home side boards, freeing the sophomore right winger up ice. Cafarelli took care of the rest, speeding past his out-of-position defender before rifling home his 12th goal of the season. 

In goal, Peter Sterling (Manassas, Va.) made 27 saves to improve to 20-3-2 overall. 

The freshman is the third goalie in program history to win 20 or more games in a single season.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Endicott leads the all-time series, 17-3-2.
• The Gulls are 15-2-0 overall in conference postseason home games.
• Suffolk is 1-9-0 overall in the playoffs on the road.
• Kleiser finished the contest with a career-high three points (1g, 2a).
• Endicott has outscored the Rams 14-3 in two postseason meetings.
• The Gulls have advanced to their eighth conference title game in program history (15-16, 16-17, 19-20, 21-22, 22-23, 23-24, 24-25, 25-26).

WHAT'S NEXT

Second-seeded Endicott (20-3-3) will play the winner of first-seeded UNE and fifth-seeded Nichols in the CNE Championship next Saturday (time/location TBD).

Third-seeded Suffolk sees its season come to a close at 17-9-1 overall. 

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(Photo Credit - Jonah Bean '28)