Westfield State Uses Two Third Period Goals to Defeat Ice Hockey 5-3
Framingham, Mass. – The Westfield State University ice hockey team tallied a pair of third period goals to defeat the Framingham State University Rams 5-3 in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) ice hockey contest at Loring Arena.
With the win, the Owls improve to 9-6 on the year and 5-4 in the conference, while the Rams are now 2-12 overall and 0-9 in the MASCAC.
The Rams staked themselves a 2-0 lead in the game's first six minutes. Sophomore Ryan McDonald (Anchorage, AK) tallied his 10th of the season off assists from sophomore Brendan McCarron (Millbury, Mass.) and junior Daniel Miressi (Monroe, Conn.) at 4:09 and junior Jay Nicholls (Middleton, Mass.) notched his fifth of the season at 5:55. Junior Roy Monson (Stoneham, Mass.) and senior Eric Walsh (Haverhill, Mass.) assisted on the marker.
The Owls answered with three straight goals to close the period and take a 3-2 advantage at the first intermission. Nic Vidoni (Stittsville, ON) scored a power play goal at 15:45 off feeds from Billy Miller (Morgan Hill, CA) and Vince Perreault (Braeside, ON). Junior Taylor Murphy (Toronto, ON) added his fourth of the year at 18:08 and T.J. Powers (East Greenwich, RI) added a goal at 19:20 in the first.
The Rams tied the score midway through the second on McDonald's second of the game. His line mates Miressi and McCarron once again picked up the assists.
It would take the Owls just over six minutes into the third to score the game winner as P.J. McCadden (Mount Sinai, NY) scored off helpers from Steve Evans (Kingston, ON) and Mike Puddifant (Salmon Arm, BC). Perreault added an insurance marker for the Owls at 8:15 to reach the final margin.
The Owls held a slim 36-31 edge in shots for the game and went 1-of-4 on the power play, while the Rams did not score in their three chances with the man advantage.
Sophomore Ian Perrier (Whitehorse, YT) picked up the victory in net for the Owls making 28 saves including 15 in the final period, while junior Nick Cafrelli (San Jose, CA) was tagged with the loss despite making 31 stops.
The Rams return to action on Thursday evening at Worcester State at 5:30 p.m., while the Owls travel to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth also on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.