At the end of the first period, Suffolk University men’s hockey held a slim 2-1 lead over the Western New England University Golden Bears in what was a highly intense and physical game.
By the end of the second period, the game had gone from a close tilt to a laugher in the span of 20 minutes.
Behind four points from Daniel McKiernan, five from Alex Ondos and a seven-goal second period, the Rams stomped the Golden Bears with a decisive and dominant 10-1 victory Feb. 14 at Porrazzo Rink in East Boston.
“I think guys played well,” said head coach Shawn McEachern. “I think we played good defensively, we were moving the puck pretty well. Last night, it just wouldn’t go in for us. We had a lot of chances last night but tonight we found the back of the net, so it was good for our guys to do that.”
After a night in which they scored three goals despite firing 65 shots on goal at the Golden Bears, the Rams scored 10 times on 57 shots sent at WNE goalie Lochlan Lauer. The 10 goals are the highest offensive output of the season and the highest in a game in program history. The Rams extended their current win streak to a program-best nine games, and their winning streak against the Golden Bears to five.
Despite all the strong offensive numbers, it didn’t start off that way. McKiernan and Nolan Leonard scored in the first for Suffolk, while Beau Helmeczi scored for the Golden Bears. The highlight of the first period was a boatload of penalties. The Rams had 16 penalty minutes in the opening 20 minutes, which doesn’t come close to the 36 penalty minutes the Golden Bears had, largely on the back of two 10-minute misconducts.
McKiernan said the Rams knew they had to get back to the way they play in the second period to shake off all the penalties in a tension-filled first period.
“We knew that if we just played our game and stuck to our systems that they were going to have to take penalties to stop us,” said McKiernan. “Not getting into it with them and skating away from the piles in the last two periods really helped us force them to haul us down and take penalties.”
Suffolk’s first goal of the second period and third of the game came from Ryan Webb on the power play, with Ondos and Michael Gallagher getting assists. Quinn Booth, Aidan O’Connell, Ondos, McKiernan, Matt Pimental and Nick Liotino also lit the lamp in the second period to make it a 9-1 Suffolk lead after 40 minutes. O’Connell scored in the third to make it a double-digit goal day for Suffolk.
“A couple guys got their first goal of the season, Liotino got his first goal,” said McEachern. “I think everybody played well, all four lines were getting it deep and moving the puck and playing unselfish. It was fun to watch.”
While 15 different Rams produced at least one point on the day, the most productive line was the second line of McKiernan and Ondos on the wings and Pimental down the middle at center. Between two goals and two assists from McKiernan, a goal and four assists from Ondos and a goal by Pimental, the trio combined for 10 points on the night.
McKiernan talked about the good mix of his line and the dynamic the three of them have, which features himself as a junior, Pimental a senior and Ondos a freshman.
“With ‘Pim’ being a senior, it’s nice to have senior leadership there and he’s able to provide some guidance for me and Ondos,” said McKiernan. “At the same time I also help Ondos being a freshman, he’s still figuring out the system. It’s good that we were all on the same page tonight, seeing it work and everybody was doing their job.”
On the back end, five of the seven defensemen for the Rams combined for seven points, though Liotino was the only one who scored a goal among the Rams’ blueliners. Freshman goalie Austin McNicholas stopped all but one of the 18 shots on goal he faced.
With the win, the 15-7-1 Rams sit in third place in the Conference of New England standings with a 14-3-1 CNE record, just one point behind Endicott College for second place. Both teams have two games left, giving the Rams a chance to jump the Gulls and get into second place, which would also give them a first-round bye in the CNE playoffs.
However, the road won’t be easy for the Rams. They wrap up the regular season with two games against Curry College, who are five points back of the Rams and currently sit in fourth place in the CNE standings.
Curry, currently ranked No. 15 in the latest national poll, have beaten the Rams each of the last 13 times the two have met, including a 5-2 win earlier this season. The last Suffolk win over Curry was a 3-2 win in November 2015.
These two games will play massive parts in deciding how the CNE playoff seeding shakes out, and who will have a first-round bye when all is said and done. If Suffolk wins even one of the two games, it will not be the first long losing streak against a top-tier CNE team the Rams have snapped this season. Suffolk snapped a 10-game skid against Endicott in November and a 12-game winless drought against the University of New England in January.
McEachern and McKiernan both acknowledged the need for the 19 skaters in the lineup for each game to be at their best if they want to stand a chance at beating the high-powered Colonels.
“We went up to UNE earlier in the season and had a really good game,” said McKiernan. “Everyone played their role and did their job that night and it wasn’t one particular person, it was everyone pulling on the rope together. I think a very similar effort is what we need to do next weekend.”
Suffolk welcomes the Colonels to East Boston for their regular season home finale Feb. 20 at 6 p.m. before heading to Canton for a 3 p.m. puck drop the next day.
Michael Najarian Jr • Feb 15, 2026 at 10:26 am
Another GOOD read. It’s nice being able to know whats gone on in the game. This accurate description gives you the feel of being there, even if it was days ago !!!