Ice Hockey Drops Season Opener at Southern New Hampshire

HOOKSETT, N.H. – Four different players scored for the Southern New Hampshire University ice hockey team as they earned a hard-fought, 6-4, victory over Framingham State University on Tuesday night. The Penmen improve to 1-1 on the young season, while the Rams start off their 2014-15 campaign at 0-1. 

Southern New Hampshire opened the scoring just 2:51 into the first period as senior Dane Caracino (Belmont, Mass.) converted on the powerplay for his first goal of the season. Junior Joe Collins (Mansfield, Mass.) collected a pass at the bottom of the right face-off circle and slid the puck across the front of the goal to sophomore Jay Sylvia (Acushnet, Mass.). Sylvia's initial bid was turned aside, but Caracino crashed the net and sent the rebound past Alessio Muggli to give the Penmen a 1-0 lead. 

Less than 10 minutes later, SNHU pushed its lead to a pair of goals. Collins dug the puck out from behind the Framingham State goal and cycled it up the boards to junior Jim Gabrione (Boca Raton, Fla.), who then fed senior Casey Goll (Winthrop, Mass.) at the point. Goll walked across the blue line and fired a shot through traffic that found its way into the back of the net, making it 2-0 Southern New Hampshire at intermission.

The Rams cut the Penmen lead in half midway through the second when junior Cameron Hoffman (Fort Stevens, WA) scored an unassisted goal. SNHU answered when Caracino struck again on the powerplay. Collins started the play by stepping around a Framingham State defender at the offensive blue line before driving the net and dropping a pass off for Sylvia. Sylvia then sent a one-touch pass to a streaking Caracino on the far post, where he finished the play to extend the Southern New Hampshire lead to 3-1 with 7:41 left in the period.

Freshman Timothy Baylis (West Haven, Conn.) gave the Penmen their largest lead of the night just 48 seconds later. Baylis gathered a loose puck at the red line, took off down the right wing and unloaded a wrist shot from the top of the circle over Muggli's shoulder for his first collegiate goal. Framingham State responded with just under 90 seconds left in the second with a 5-on-3 goal when Ryan McDonald (Anchorage, AK) found the back of the net. The Rams followed it up with a powerplay goal by Keith Barnaby (Leominster, MA) with 10 seconds remaining to make it a 4-3 game heading into the third.

In the third period, Anthony Laperriere (Winchendon, Mass.) put the game away. Six minutes into the final stanza, Laperriere netted the eventual game-winner on the powerplay. Senior Steven Berry (Ashburn, Va.) picked up a loose puck behind the net and sent it to senior Bryan Wright (Reading, Mass.) at the blue line. Wright snapped a shot into traffic, and Laperriere was there to redirect it to the back of the net to make it 5-3. After Framingham State made it a one-goal game with 4:47 left in regulation on a Ryan McDonald power play goal, Laperriere sealed the victory with his second of the period to give Southern New Hampshire a 6-4 victory.

Laperriere and Caracino each registered two goals to lead the Penmen, while Collins dished out three assists in the victory. Sylvia also generated a multi-point performance with two assists in front of junior goaltender David Letarte (Salem, Mass.), who turned away 16 shots in his first start of the season.

Ryan McDonald notched two goals and an assist in the setback for Framingham State, and Keith Barnaby added a goal and an assist.

Southern New Hampshire will remain idle until Nov. 14 when it welcomes Daniel Webster College to the Ice Den for a 7 p.m. face-off. Framingham State returns to the ice on Nov. 8 with a home contest against the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.

*Portions of release courtesy of SNHU sports information*