Endicott College To Host Division III NCAA Men's Hockey Championships

BEVERLY, MA — The Endicott College men's hockey team will get a chance to play for a national championship in front of the home crowd at Raymond J. Bourque Arena after the Gulls were picked to host the 2023 NCAA Division III men's hockey national championships this weekend.

No. 4-ranked Endicott (23-2-2) will host No. 2 Hobart College (27-2) in the NCAA semifinals Friday night at 7 after No. 10 University of New England (21-6-2) faces No. 3 Adrian (24-4-2) at 3 p.m.

The winners will play for the NCAA title on Sunday.

The rink will be cleared of all spectators between semifinal games with Game 2 beginning at least 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first semifinal game, in case of overtime.

The national title game is set for Sunday night at 7 p.m. with the arena opening 90 minutes before puck drop.

This is the first time Endicott will host the national championships.

The Gulls reached the NCAA semifinals with a 3-0 victory against No. 9 Norwick on Saturday night in front of a capacity crowd on campus.

The game was scoreless entering the third period before Ryan Willett, Noah Strawn and Cam Speck all scored to send the Gulls into the final four. Willett put Endicott up 1-0 with 16:34 left in regulation and Strawn made it a two-goal game with 2:30 left.

Speck scored an empty-net goal 19 seconds later to ice this historic vehicle.

Atticus Kelly earned the victory in net with a 25-save effort. He was especially outstanding in the first period when he turned away all 13 shots he faced.

Endicott improved to 13-1-1 at home this season with that victory and has outscored opponents 51-11 in the third period this season.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)