Vikings Lose Hard Fought Opener 3-0 to Gulls

SALEM, Mass. -- Eric Manoukian (Manalapan, N.J) broke a scoreless tie with a second period power play goal to help Endicott open the 2021-22 season with a hard fought 3-0 victory over the Salem State Vikings at Rockett Arena on Friday evening.

Salem State honored teammate Billy Hickey with a moment of silence before the game.

A scoreless first period was dominated by Endicott (1-0), who outshot the Vikings 13-2 in the period. However, goalie Joona Sato-Hunsula (Turku, Finland) making just his third career start in net for the Vikings, played a spectacular opening period to keep the game tied 0-0.    

Endicott's Noah Strawn (Wareham, Mass.) just missed a breakaway to open the second, preventing the Gulls the game's first goal. Salem State's Keagan O'Donoghue (Frisco, Texas) narrowly missed putting home his own rebound nine minutes into the second as both offenses picked up the tempo. Late in the period, two penalties by the Vikings gave Endicott a two-man advantage, which saw Manoukian fire in a rebound for the game's first goal at 19:30 of the second.

Sato-Hunsula kept the deficit to just one goal early in the third after making a brilliant save off the stick of Ryan Gaulin (Kingston, N.H.). The Vikings (0-1) played the Gulls evenly over the final 15 minutes, but Kevin Craig (Hyannis, Mass.) gave Endicott some breathing room with a goal at the 16:20 mark. Both teams were issued misconduct penalties and a major penalty to Endiott gave Salem State a power-play opportunity for the final 2:20 minutes of the game. With the Vikings pulling their goalie, Endicott capitalized, as Matt Giroux (Bedford, N.H.) iced the game with an empty-net, shorthanded goal with 57 seconds left.

Conor O'Brien (Pinellas Park, Fla.) made 18 saves in the win while Sato-Hunsula had 39 saves in the loss.