Ice Hockey Loses Overtime Thriller to Salem State
Framingham, Mass. – Junior Eric Defelice (Chalfont, PA) tallied the game winner 1:13 into overtime as the Salem State University ice hockey team came from behind to defeat the Framingham State University Rams 5-4 in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) ice hockey contest at Loring Arena.
With the win, the Vikings improve to 9-7-1 on the season and 6-4-1 in the MASCAC, while the Rams slip to 2-14-1 overall and 0-10-1 in the conference.
Sophomore Ryan McDonald (Anchorage, AK) tallied a pair of goals to lead the Rams offensive effort, while classmate Brendan McCarron (Millbury, Mass.) added a goal and a helper and junior Jay Nicholls (Middleton, Mass.) chipped in the other goal.
The Vikings were led by freshman Cam Moniz (Seekonk, Mass.) and sophomore Chad Goodwin (Whitinsville, Mass.) who tallied two goals apiece, while freshman Stephen McManus (Westwood, Mass.) assisted on three of the Vikings five goals including the game winner.
Salem jumped out to a 1-0 lead midway through the first on Muniz's first goal of the game, but the Rams answered with three goals to open a 3-1 advantage. McDonald put the Rams on the board at 10:56 with his 14th marker of the season and McCarron put the Rams on top at 13:02. Nicholls finished off the Rams scoring in the first period with his 7th of the season at 14:53. The Vikings added a power play goal; Muniz's second of the game and period at 19:41 to go into the first intermission down one.
Goodwin tallied his first of the game on the power play with just under five minutes remaining in the second to tie the game at 3-3 after two.
McDonald put the Rams back in the lead just 3:29 into the third with a power play goal, but Goodwin tied the score with a power play goal of his own at 7:33.
The game would remain deadlocked at 3 all until Defelice tallied his 12th marker of the season 1:13 into extra time to give the Vikings the victory. The game winner was the Vikings only goal that was not scored on the power play in the game.
The Vikings held a 51-33 advantage in shots and converted 4-of-8 with the man advantage, while the Rams were 2-of-6 on the power play. Junior Ryan Sutliffe (Las Vegas, NV) recorded the victory in net for the visitors making 29 saves, while junior Nick Cafrelli (San Jose, CA) made 46 stops but was tagged with the loss between the pipes for the Rams.
The Rams return to action on Saturday evening when they travel to UMass Dartmouth in MASCAC matchup beginning at 7:30 p.m., while the Vikings host Worcester State on Saturday at 2 p.m.