Ward's Last Second Goal Lifts Ice Hockey to 5-4 Win Over UMass Dartmouth
North Dartmouth, Mass. – Senior forward Eric Ward (Haverhill, Mass.) tallied the game-winner with just seven seconds left in regulation to lift the Framingham State University ice hockey team to a 5-4 victory over the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth this evening in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action at Hetland Arena.
The victory is just the third for the Rams in 38 meetings with the Corsairs and the first for fifth year head coach T.J. Brown against his alma mater. With the win, the Rams improve to 2-1 and are now 2-0 in the conference, while the Corsairs slip below .500 at 1-2 overall and 1-1 in the MASCAC.
The Rams trailed 3-2 heading into the final period, but tallied a pair of goals to take a 4-3 midway through the frame. Ward converted off an assist from junior Ryan McDonald (Anchorage, AK) at 9:26 and sophomore Ricky O'Connor (North Andover, Mass.) took a feed from junior Dylan Cosford (Windsor, ON) and found the back of the net for the lead and his first of the season at 10:52.
The Rams would maintain the one goal advantage until the final minute of the third. With the goalkeeper out of the net and playing with an extra attacker, Nate Dupere converted a shot from the left point off assists from Greg Giratatos and Tammer Zacharewicz to tie the game with just 47 seconds remaining to tie the game at 4-4 setting the stage for Ward. The Rams created the game-winning rush along the left side of the attacking zone. O'connor sent a one-timer from left to right that Ward deposited in the top left corner of the net. Senior Bo Driscoll (Chelmsford, Mass.) was also credit with an assist on the decisive marker.
UMass Dartmouth took a 1-0 lead into the second period and extended it to 2-0 on a Shaun Walter's power play goal at 5:49. The Rams cut the deficit in half on Tom Tracy's (Wakefield, Mass.) first of the year midway through the frame. After another UMass Dartmouth power play goal, Cosford converted his first of the season off assists from senior Daniel Miressi (Monroe, Conn,) and Tracy to cut the deficit to one heading to the third.
Senior goaltender Nick Cafrelli (San Jose, CA) followed up his 40 saves performance on Tuesday evening in a win against Westfield State with 48 saves on the night including 18 in the third period. The Corsairs outshot the Rams 52-32 in the game and converted 2-of-5 with the man advantage, while the Rams were 0-for-6.
The Rams are back in action at home on Saturday evening when they host Salem State at 7:30 p.m.