BEVERLY — It took 83 minutes and 12 seconds of game play, a total of 108 shots on net, and a seeing-eye shot by a defensive defenseman to end the Endicott men’s hockey team’s 2025-26 season Saturday night.
Visiting Aurora University scored three minutes into the second overtime before a packed barn at Bourque Arena Saturday night, sending the Gulls home for the season with a 3-2 defeat in the NCAA Division 3 quarterfinals.
Stepping up into the play, Spartans blue liner Andrew Schultz took a pass from Lukas Sedlacek, took a stride to his left and fired a shot that beat Endicott netminder Peter Sterling for the game-winner.
“We have a lot of guys who score goals on our team, so why not me?,” a smiling Schultz, a sophomore from Dexter, Mich., noted after the game. His was the Spartans’ 146 goal in 31 contests this season.
Endicott, ranked No. 3 in the country, finished its season at 21-4-3, including 13-2 on home ice. Fourth ranked Aurora (now 25-5-1) advances to the Frozen Four in Utica, N.Y. this Friday for the first time in program history, where they’ll face Norwich in a national semifinal.
Sterling, a 6-foot-5, 195-pound freshman goalie, was immense between the pipes for Endicott, finishing with 47 saves against the nation’s No. 4 team in offense — including 16 stops in overtime.
“Throughout the game we were really strong on defense,” said Sterling. “But credit to Aurora; they had some really nice goals.”
His counterpart, Aurora’s Matt O’Donnell, was equally stellar in stopping 56 shots. He didn’t allow a goal for nearly 60 full minutes of action after the hosts had take a 2-1 lead early in the second period.
“We’re not in that game without our goalie,” Schultz acknowledged.
Endicott head coach RJ Tolan, who has led the Gulls to a 199-61-21 mark in his 11 years, praised his players for what they achieved this season, especially after losing more than a dozen players from last season. He talked about the sheer joy of just watching his players play.
“We take so much pride in what we do,” said Tolan. “Those that come here, they take a lot of pride too and know what the expectations are of playing here.”
Taking advantage of the evening’s first power play, Endicott took a 2-1 lead early in the middle stanza … and it remained that way until the two teams went to their respective dressing rooms for the second intermission.
Parking himself in front of the Aurora net, junior first line center Michael Casey was in perfect position to grab the rebound of linemate Primo Self’s shot from along the right wall. After O’Donnell made the initial stop, Casey wasted no time in procuring the rebound and popping it past the netminder for his eighth tally of the season.
“We’ve got a strong offensive core,” acknowledged Casey, whose goal was the 21st of his collegiate career. “We were working to get pucks low to high and get bodies to the net.”
But a goal from Aurora’s Jaden Davis, in which he deked past two Endicott defenders low in the offensive zone, tied the proceedings eight minutes into the third period, and it remained that way when the buzzer sounded to end regulation.
After being outshot in each of the first three periods, Aurora managed to flip that script once overtime began. That, said Spartans head coach Jason Bloominburg, was not by accident.
“One hundred percent,” he said, when asked if liked his team’s chances the longer into OT it went Saturday night.
“I’ll put our mental toughness against anybody,” he continued. “A few years ago we changed the mindset here, everything and every day (putting an emphasis) on embracing things that suck … and at the end of the day, a tiger doesn’t change its stripes. We kept doing what were doing, our mental toughness was still there, and it was just a matter of time for us.”
Having lost in this very same round a year ago to Geneseo State (7-4), the Spartan players and coaches said they were hell bent on not having that same scenario repeat itself this season.
The visitors didn’t waste much time getting on the scoreboard early in the first period. Off an offensive zone draw to the right of Sterling, center Chayce Schmidt drew the puck back to Jakson Kirk, and the junior left wing snapped home his 23rd goal of the season just 3:33 in.
But Endicott responded just a minute-and-a-half later. In a scene familiar to followers of North Shore hockey, it was Gloucester’s Jack Costanzo, centering the Gulls’ third line, who earned the lamplighter.
Picking up a loose puck, Costanzo worked his way into the Aurora zone with two defenders on his back, yet still managed to fire off a shot. It had enough mustard on it to beat O’Donnell 5-hole, giving Costanzo his seventh goal and 25th point of his sophomore season.
“You’re trying to have someone like Jack on the ice as much as possible,” said Tolan. “He’s really an electric athlete … he’s one of the best players I’ve had in a long time. He’s a special guy and player.”
While certainly disappointed in Saturday’s end result, the Gulls — with 11 freshmen and 10 sophomores as part of this year’s roster — love what the future holds.
“We have all these pieces coming back, and I know we’re going to be back in this position,” said Sterling.
Aurora 3, Endicott 2 (2 OT)
NCAA Division 3 quarterfinal
at Bourque Arena, Beverly
Aurora;1;0;1;0;1;3
Endicott;1;1;0;0;0;2
First period: A, Jakson Kirk (Chayce Schmidt), 3:33; E, Jack Costanzo (un), 5:14.
Second period: E, Michael Casey (Primo Self, Annti Autere), ppg, 4:20.
Third period: A, Jaden Davis (Hassan Akl, Ryder Many Grey Horses), 8:10.
Overtime: No scoring.
Second overtime: A, Andrew Schultz (Lukas Sedlacek, Kirk), 3:12.
Saves: A, Matt O’Donnell 56; E, Peter Sterling 47.
Records: E, 21-4-3; A, 25-5-1.