Sweeney Caps Wild Third Period in Final Minute to Lift Men’s Ice Hockey to Season-Opening, 5-4 Win at Johnson & Wales

McCarron, Russell, Sweeney finish with two points each

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (November 3, 2012) – Senior forward Roscoe Sweeney (Falmouth, Mass.) scored Franklin Pierce's fourth goal of the period with 57 seconds to play in regulation on Saturday night to cap a dramatic comeback, as the Franklin Pierce University men's ice hockey team rallied from a 3-1 deficit to post a 5-4 win over Johnson & Wales in non-conference play at Lynch Arena. Three different Franklin Pierce players finished with a goal and an assist each in the furious third-period rally.

With the win, Franklin Pierce opens its season at 1-0-0 (0-0-0 Northeast-10), while Johnson & Wales falls to 0-2-0 (0-0-0 ECAC Northeast). Johnson & Wales finished the game with a 34-32 advantage in shots on goal.

Earlier in the third period, Franklin Pierce had rallied from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game at 3-3, only to see a Johnson & Wales shorthanded goal reclaim the lead for the Wildcats. After a shorthanded goal of their own tied the game with 3:44 to play, the Ravens took the only lead they would have all night on Sweeney's game-winner. Senior forward Adam Dallaire (Waltham, Mass.) picked up the lone assist on Sweeney's first game-winning goal since his sophomore campaign.

Earlier in the night, Johnson & Wales opened the scoring on the power play at the 11:53 mark of the first period, when sophomore forward Alex Porrier netted his first goal of the season, off assists from junior forward Ian DePasquale and freshman forward Cody Sarmiento, who picked up his first career point on the play. Franklin Pierce would strike back just over four minutes later, at the 16:02 mark, as senior forward Michael Carr (South Boston, Mass.) scored the first Ravens goal of the season. Freshman forward Doug Usseglio (Waltham, Mass.) picked up the lone assist for his first collegiate point.

Another 2:33 after the Carr goal, Johnson & Wales struck again on the power play to reclaim the one-goal lead heading into the first intermission. This one came with a boarding major to sophomore defenseman Brendan Fitzpatrick (Winthrop, Mass.) on the board, and Fitzpatrick received a game misconduct for the hit as well. Freshman defenseman Aaron Arm struck for his first career goal 2:12 into the man advantage, with the assist going to Porrier, who notched his second point of the evening.

Much of the second period would go scoreless before the Wildcats struck with 4:56 to play in the stanza to stretch the lead to 3-1. It would be the third power-play tally of the night for Johnson & Wales, this one coming with freshman forward Paddy Murphy (York, Maine) in the box for roughing. Freshman forward Daniel Chang put home his first career goal, with fellow freshman forward Josh Obregon and senior forward Danny Kaufmann adding the assists.

Johnson & Wales would get into penalty trouble in the middle of the third period, enabling the Franklin Pierce comeback by giving away multiple power-play chances. At the 10:07 mark, junior forward Justin Decowski was whistled for a major penalty for contact to the head, and was issued a game misconduct as well. Only nine seconds later, Kaufmann was called for boarding and senior defenseman Adam Bolotin picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct minor. The latter two calls would set the Ravens up with four full minutes of two-man advantage, which would have been followed by another 56 seconds of power-play time.

The Wildcats would kill off the Kaufmann penalty, but then Franklin Pierce struck to pull within a goal while still on the two-man advantage at 13:34. Senior defenseman Brendan McCarron (Andover, Mass.) blasted home his first goal of the season, with senior defenseman Wes Russell (Marlboro, Mass.) and Sweeney adding the assists. The goal wiped out the remainder of the Bolotin penalty, though Franklin Pierce still had 1:33 on the Decowski major. Just 27 seconds after the McCarron goal, Russell picked up a power-play marker of his own, with McCarron contributing the assist this time.

Franklin Pierce still had 66 seconds of power-play time remaining, but Johnson & Wales would stop the bleeding emphatically with a shorthanded goal just 28 seconds after the equalizer. Porrier put home his second of the night, as he put away a feed from Chang, who notched his second point of the night as well.

After the Wildcats killed off the rest of the Decowski penalty, Usseglio committed a roughing penalty at 15:27 to put the Ravens shorthanded while down a goal with under five minutes to play, seemingly setting up Johnson & Wales to melt some time off the clock. However, junior forward Ted Walsh (Quincy, Mass.) had other ideas, as he scored just his second career goal with an unassisted, shorthanded tally at the 16:16 mark, to tie the game at 4-4 and set the stage for Sweeney's final-minute heroics.

Senior goaltender Pat Dunn (Quincy, Mass.) made 30 saves against 34 shots to pick up the win (1-0-0) in net for Franklin Pierce; it was his first victory as a Raven. Senior Matt Cooper stopped 27 of the 32 shots sent his way and took the loss (0-2-0) between the pipes for Johnson & Wales.

The Ravens return to the ice on Wednesday, Nov. 7, when they return home to hold their home opener against Suffolk in a non-conference contest. Opening faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Jason Ritchie Ice Arena in Winchendon, Mass.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce men's ice hockey apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' brand new online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).