#5 Fitchburg State Drops To #1 Plymouth State, 7-1
Fourth seeded Fitchburg State fell to top seeded Plymouth State University, 7-1 in semifinal round action of the 2012-13 MASCAC Ice Hockey Tournament this evening at Hanaway rink.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
|
|
0 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
Team Stats
Plymouth St.
| Game Statistics | Fitchburg St. | Plymouth St. |
|---|---|---|
| PowerPlays | 1 for 7 | 0 for 3 |
| Shorthanded Goals | 0 | 0 |
| Penalties (min) | 8 (16) | 11 (22) |
| Shots on Goal | 28 | 35 |
| Face Offs Won | 0 | 0 |
Panthers advance to second straight MASCAC title game
PLYMOUTH, N.H. (February 26, 2013) – Fourth seeded Fitchburg State fell to top seeded Plymouth State University, 7-1 in semifinal round action of the 2012-13 MASCAC Ice Hockey Tournament this evening at Hanaway rink.
With the victory, Plymouth State improves to 19-6-1 on the season and will host the winner of the UMass Dartmouth/Salem State game on Saturday for MASCAC Championship at a time to be determined. Fitchburg State concludes its season with an overall record of 11-14-2 and a 9-8-1 mark in conference play.
In the opening period of play, Fitchburg State nearly took the lead at the 12:07 mark as sophomore forward Sean Loebs (Cresskill, N.J./Connecticut Jr. Wolfpack) raced up the right side and fired a wrist shot to the near side, but Panther net-minder Jack Astedt (Angelholm, Sweden/Rogle BK) turned away the breakaway attempt.
Minutes later, Plymouth State saw its best scoring opportunity when senior defenseman JC Richardson (Fort Collins, CO./Bay State Breakers) and freshman forward Andrew Wigg (Lantz, NS/Yarmouth Mariners) each blasted shots on target but Fitchburg State goaltender Randy Wolcott (East Haven, Conn./Wisconsin-Stevens Point) made a pair of sprawling saves to preserve the 0-0 stalemate, heading into the first intermission.
The Panthers broke the 0-0 deadlock at the 11:54 mark as freshman Zach Fox (Sandown, N.H./New England Wolves) converted a pass from senior Alex Cottle (West Chester, PA/Philadelphia Jr. Flyers) for his seventh marker of the season to the take the 1-0 advantage.
Plymouth State doubled their lead (2-0) with just under four and half minutes remaining in the stanza when sophomore Zach Sarig (Wyomissing, PA/Valley Jr. Warriors) struck for his ninth score on the year off an assist from senior Kyle Greco (Hillside, IL/St. Louis Bandits) going into the final frame.
In the third period, the hosts upped their lead, scoring just 2:29 into the frame as senior forward Kyle Weiland (Hamden, ME/Bay State Breakers) found the back of the for his fourth goal of the season for the 3-0 lead. Fitchburg State broke up the shut out at the 5:37 mark when senior Joseph Caveney (Fitchburg, Mass./New England Jr. Huskies) registered his team-leading 17th tally of the season on feeds from classmate Trevor Lawler (Fitchburg, Mass./New England Jr. Huskies) and freshman Max Lorenzen (Leesburg, Va./Valley Jr. Warriors) to the deficit to 3-1.
Plymouth State regained the three goal advantage 16 seconds later as Greco knocked home his 15th marker on the year for the 4-1 margin before the Panthers closed out the period with three straight scores by Cottle, Colt Smelstor (Fairfax, VT/Boston Bandits) and Greco resulting in the 7-1 final.
Throughout the contest, Plymouth State held a 35-28 advantage in shots, while the Falcons went 1-for-7 on the power play. Between the pipes, Wolcott collected 28 saves for Fitchburg State in the setback, while Astedt stopped 27 of the 28 shots he faced for the Panthers in the complete game effort.