Falcons Soar Past Owls on Senior Night, 5-3

Falcons Soar Past Owls on Senior Night, 5-3

Fitchburg, Mass. – The Fitchburg State men's ice hockey team downed the Owls of Westfield State 5-3 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action on Saturday night at Wallace Civic Center.

In a pre-game ceremony, the Falcons honored eight seniors that have made significant contributions to ice hockey program. Recognized were Connor McPherson, Nick DiNicola, Ricky Kramer, Brandon Ecklund, Patrick Germain, Michael Fretz, Josh Victor, and Alexander Joscelyn.

The Basics

Score: Fitchburg State 5, Westfield State 3
Records: Fitchburg State (12-10-2, 9-6-2 MASCAC) | Westfield State (13-8-3, 10-6-1 MASCAC)

How it Happened

Westfield jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage with goals from junior Daniel Backstrom (Helsinki, Finland) and senior Samuel Gagnon (Ille-Bizard, Que.). The Falcons cut the lead in half when freshman Ryan Murphy buried a backhand past Westfield's goaltender Thierry Messervier (Montreal, Que.) and senior Nick DiNicola (Wolcott, Conn.) evened the score after one period, with his eleventh goal of the season.

Each team potted a goal in the second frame. Freshman Paul Frys (Portland, Ore.) push the Owls ahead 3-2 with a short-handed tally at 14:41. However, exactly one-minute later sophomore Brian Glover (Baldwinville, Mass.) notched his first collegiate score with a power-play goal.

Knotted 3-3 heading into the third frame the Green and Gold exploded for two goals for the victory.  Murphy sent a lead pass to a streaking DiNicola for the seniors 2^nd goal of the game and Ecklund potted his third of the season with DiNicola and Joscelyn picking up the helpers.

Inside the Numbers

• Fitchburg State goalkeeper Brian McGrath (Worcester, Mass.) registered 44 saves between the pipes for the Falcons, while his counterpart Messervier posted 30 saves
• The Owls held the advantage in shots (47-35)
• Fitchburg State was 1-for-4 with the man-advantage while Westfield went 1-for-5 on the power-play
• DiNicola led the Falcons with 2 goals and 3 assists, while Murphy delivered a goal and 2 helpers. Josh Victor added two assists on the night
• Westfield was paced by Pearce Vance with two assists

Up Next

Fitchburg State University finishes up the regular season on Tuesday when they travel to Worcester State for a 6:00pm puck-drop. Westfield State will host Plymouth State at 7:35pm on the same night.