Men’s Ice Hockey’s Late Surge Falls Short at Westfield State

Westfield took a 1-0 lead 12:11 into the first period with Lenny Caglianone scoring on a rebound off a Jackson Leef shot.  Leef had taken a nice breakout pass from Jay and streaked down the left side of the ice to get the initial shot, which was saved by Framingham goalie Alessio Muggli (Rueti, Switzerland), but Caglianone stuffed the rebound of the shot in near the right post.

Framingham answered with a 5-on-3 power play tally with 2:06 left in the period, as Ricky O'Conner (North Andover) finished a nice passing sequence, one timing a pass from Vaughn Guetens (Cheshire, CT).

The Owls opened up the game in the second period with goals from Cory Wilson and Jeremy Young, then Jay tallied what proved to be the game winner with a blast from the left side with 5:59 left in the second period to give Westfield a 4-1 lead.

The Rams made the game interesting in the third period, tallying just 1:02 into the period on a Brendan McCarron (Millbury) goal to cut the lead to 4-2.  Ryan McDonald (Anchorage, AK) added the Rams third goal 8:14 into the third, scoring a power play goal on a scrum in front of the net.

The Rams pulled Muggli in the final minute, and generated an excellent scoring try on a blast from McCarron with 43 seconds left, but Westfield state netminder Ian Perrier came up with a big glove save to stop a certain goal.

Jay added his second marker of the game with 35 seconds left on an empty netter to secure the win for the Owls.

Westfield snapped a three-game skid in the conference with the win. 

Westfield is now 10-9 overall and 7-5 in the MASCAC. Perrier stopped 27 shots in net for the Owls. Framingham falls to 4-13-2, 3-9-1 in the MASCAC. Muggli made 26 saves for the Rams.

The Rams will return to the ice on Saturday when they host UMass.- Dartmouth scheduled for a 7:40 p.m. faceoff.

*Release courtesy of Westfield St. sports information*