Wentworth Institute of Technology: Athletics > Varsity Sports

Season In Review

Under the direction of first-year head coach R.J. Tolan, the Wentworth hockey team looked to improve upon a 2006 season that saw the Leopards finish 14-12 and not advance past the first round of the ECAC Northeast Tournament for the first time since 1999. With an underclassmen-laden team, the 2006-07 Leopards played its best hockey down the stretch and advanced to the ECAC Northeast title game before falling 4-3 to top-seeded (and nationally ranked) UMass Dartmouth to see the season end with a 16-9-3 record.

With a first semester schedule that consisted of four nationally ranked teams, Wentworth’s youthful squad certainly had its work cut for them. After opening the season with a 2-0-1 mark, the Leopards suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of national semifinalist Manhattanville. After re-grouping to defeat Suffolk, Wentworth would go 0-2-1 in its next three contests, with the losses coming to a pair of nationally ranked clubs in Hobart and Geneseo.

To close out the first semester, the Leopards won three of their final four games. With all four games being played against highly competitive ECAC East foes, Wentworth downed New England College and Salem State, before falling to perennial power, Norwich. The Leopards ended 2006 with a win over Castleton State, a team that would find itself in the national rankings during the second half of the season.

Sitting at 6-4-2 at the start of 2007, Wentworth got off to a slow start in the new year, going 1-3-1 in its first five games and saw its record stand at 7-7-3.

Coming off a 5-0 loss to Curry on Jan. 19, the Leopards put together a seven-game win streak that would give their season a boost. During the win streak Wentworth outscored its opponents 34-11 and pulled off a huge upset with a 5-2 win over eighth-ranked and defending conference champion UMass Dartmouth. In the regular-season finale the Leopards saw their impressive streak come to a halt with a 5-3 loss to Johnson & Wales.

With a 14-8-3 overall record and holding the number three seed (11-2-2) for the ECAC Northeast Tournament, Wentworth was paired up against sixth-seeded Johnson & Wales in the quarterfinals. In a complete reversal of the game played a week earlier, Wentworth cruised to a 5-1 win and would advance to face second-seeded Curry in the semifinals.

Having handed the Leopards just one of two league losses on the year, the Colonels were looking to advance to their fourth consecutive conference championship game, and by scoring three third period goals to erase a 2-0 deficit, had the momentum going into the third period. However, the youth of the Leopards that had matured considerably throughout the year had other plans. Sophomore Stephen Owens (Boston, Mass.) scored a shorthanded goal at the 7:14 mark and Owens would assist on freshman Michael O’Brien’s (Royersford, Pa.) goal with 1:13 left to lift Wentworth to a 4-3 win and a berth in the title game for the first time since 2004.

To claim its fifth league crown in eight seasons, Wentworth would have to beat UMass Dartmouth for a second time, but this time would have to be on the Corsairs’ home ice. The two teams would battle the entire game, with a 1-all score after one period and the game knotted at 2-all after 40:00. At the 2:12 mark of the final period the Leopards took their third lead of the game when freshman Doug Martin (Trumbull, Conn.) scored, which was set up by O’Brien and Owens, two of the heroes from the semifinal win. Just 49 seconds later, however, the hosts tied the game and with 3:36 left took a 4-3 win. With an extra attacker on the ice, Wentworth had a chance to tie the game late, but a shot went wide just before time expired, ending the Leopards’ season at 16-9-3.

Senior captain Ryan Singer (Kamloops, B.C.) and sophomore Dave Lewandowski (Glenmore, Pa.) led the team in scoring, each tallying 33 points. Singer, who ended his career with a ninth-best 98 points, had 12 goals and 21 assists for 33 points, while Lewandowski scored 10 times and assisted on 23 others.

Freshman Jeff Olitch (Calgary, Alberta) led the Leopard rookies by scoring 18 goals and 14 assists for 32 points, while sophomore captain Joey Sides (Sun Valley, Idaho), who played both forward and defense, chipped in with 22 points. Owens (21 points) helped the offensive attack, as did freshman defenseman Martin Winzer’s (Nuremburg, Germany) 20 points.

In between the pipes, freshman Justin Marriott (St. Clair Shores, Mich.) had a very impressive rookie campaign, posting a 14-7-2 record in 24 games, with a .902 save percentage and a 3.45 goals against average.

Post-season honors were bestowed upon Marriott, who was both a Second Team All-ECAC Northeast selection, as well as a member of the ECAC Northeast All-Rookie Team, Singer (Honorable Mention), and Olitch and Winzer (All-Rookie Team). Additionally, Tolan was named the ECAC Northeast Co-Coach of the Year as well as the New England Hockey Writers Coach of the Year.

As a team, the Leopards finished the season with the 13th highest scoring offense (4.14 goals per game) and ranked in the top 15 in power play percentage (ninth, .240) and penalty-kill percentage (15th, .848).

“The two main reasons for our success this season were first the leadership of my three seniors they did a tremendous job this year with a young team,” said Tolan. “The second would be the level of effort put in through out the season was second to none, no matter what the final outcome this group should be very proud of themselves.”

Looking Ahead

Wentworth graduates three players from this past season's team in Singer, Matt Buono (Ashburhnham, Mass.), and Adam Ysasi (Phoenix, Ariz.). WIth a very talented group of underclassmen, the Leopards hould be poinsed to make a run at conference title number five.

Schedule

The Leopards play a 25-game schedule, including 15 games within the framework of the ECAC Northeast against such teams as Fitchburg State, UMass Dartmouth, Curry, Nichols, and Plymouth State. The non-league schedule is highlighted with games against Hobart, Salem State, Norwich, Skidmore, and Babson.

Wentworth holds all of its practices and plays all of its home games at the oldest arena in the country, Matthews Arena.

History

The Wentworth hockey team was elevated to varsity status beginning with the 1992-93 season. After five straight (1992-97) sub-.500 seasons, Wentworth broke out during the 1997-98 season by winning the ECAC South title and advancing to the semifinals of the ECAC North/Central/South Tournament. The 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2004 squads captured the ECAC Northeast crown and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals, while in 2001 and 2007, the Leopards were finalists in the ECAC Northeast Tournament. Since the 1997-98 season Wentworth has compiled a 173-91-16 (.646) overall record and a 105-21-11 (.807) mark in conference play.

R.J. Tolan is entering his first season as the Leopards' head ice hockey coach, replacing Jonathan Deptula '00, who stepped down after two-plus seasons at the helm. Tolan served on the Leopard coaching staff last season as the associate head coach and has been an assistant coach at both Northeastern and Bentley. He was a four-year defenseman at UMass Lowell, graduating in 2002.