Slow Start Does in Ice Hockey at Salem State

Salem, Mass. – The Salem State University ice hockey team ran its unbeaten streak to six games with a 5-2 victory over the Framingham State University Rams on Thursday evening at Salem's Rockett Arena.

The win improves Salem State to 10-5-2 overall on the season and 7-2-2 in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC), while Framingham State slides to 3-10-3 overall and 2-7-2 in the MASCAC.

The Vikings used a four-goal outburst in the first period to take a commanding  4-0 lead and rode the steady goaltending of  Ryan Sutliffe (Grand Forks, ND) the rest of the way to secure the win.

Sutton Wilson (Kalamazoo, MI) put Salem State on the board early when he tipped in his first career-goal just 2:03 into the game. Brian Hanafin (Burlington, MA) and Giancarlo Capodanno  (Mountainside, NJ) were credited with the assists.

Andrew Cetola  (Fishkill, NY) and Eric Defelice (Chalfont, PA) set up Nick Lampson (Groton, MA) with the junior's team-leading 11th goal of the season to give the Vikings a 2-0 lead less than six minutes into the game.

Later Matt Kenline ( Yarmouth, MA) took a feed from Wilson on the power-play and pushed the lead to 3-0 before Dan Smolinsky  (Plymouth, MA) with assists from Matthew Genovese  (Hingham, MA) and  Kyle Phelan  (Barnstable, MA)  added another goal on the power play at 16:43 to give Salem State a four-goal advantage.

After a scoreless second period Salem State's Andrew Cetola made it 5-0 with a one-timer from Chris Costigan (Salem, NH) before Framingham State added two goals to make the final 5-2.

Sophomore Bo Driscoll (Chelmsford, MA) connected on a power-play goal on an assist from Tom Tracy (Wakefield, MA) to break the shutout. Sophomore Peter Baldwin (Port Williams, Nova Scotia) then closed the scoring with a short-handed goal after senior Jon Vaillancourt (La Valle, WI) stole the puck and created a 2-on-1 advantage.

Nick Cafrelli (San Jose, CA) made 40 saves for the Rams, who had their two-game win streak snapped. Sutliffe stopped 21-of23 shots to record his eighth win of the year as Salem State outshot Framingham State 45-23.

Salem State travels to Worcester State for a 4:30 p.m. game on Saturday, while the Rams will host UMass-Dartmouth at 7:40 p.m. on the same night.