The Badgers ended their season today falling 7-6 to Green Mountain in overtime. Green Mountain gained its first win on the year improving to 1-12. Johnson State finishes the year 0-11 overall and 0-8 in the North Atlantic Conference (NAC).
The Badgers recognized their four seniors Ryan Belen, Matt Dekens, Dalton Gomez and Matthew Malek.
For the Eagles, Mike Smith finished with four goals and two assists for a game-high 6 points, while Nick Parsons added 2 goals, including the game winning overtime goal, and one assist to help drive home the win for Green Mountain.
Two Badger seniors, Matthew Malek and Matt Dekens led the team in its final game, each finishing with two goals for the Badgers, with Dekens adding two assists as well. Senior Ryan Belen and sophomore Jacob Eustis each notched a goal. In net, Jay Palmisano made eight saves on the evening on 15 shots from the Eagles.
Both teams struggled to find the net in the first frame until the Eagles caught fire scoring four goals in the last 2:28, including two back to back goals from Nick Parsons and Mike Smith within 30 seconds of each other. The Badgers finally got on the board off the stick of Matt Dekens in the 2nd period to give the Badgers some life after the slow start.
In the third frame, Green Mountain came out strong again with Mike Smith scoring the first two goals of the half, but that would be the last goal the Eagles scored as Matthew Malek answered with a goal of his own in the third making the score 6-2 with one period to go.
In the fourth frame, the Badgers came out strong with stifling defense and scoring four unanswered goals by Eustis, Dekens, and Malek. The fourth goal came with just 46 seconds remaining in the game when the Badgers caused a key turnover while the goalie was out of position, and Belen was able to scoop the ground ball and score before the goalie could recover sending the game into overtime.
In overtime Nick Parsons sealed the game for the Eagles off an assist from Mike Smith to give the Badgers a heartbreaking loss to end the season.