Falcons Fly Past Owls In MASCAC Action

Fitchburg, Mass. The Fitchburg State ice hockey team defeated the Owls of Westfield State, 9-3 this evening in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action from the Wallace Civic Center.

The Basics

Score: Fitchburg State 9, Westfield State 3

Records: Fitchburg State (12-9-3, 9-5-3 MASCAC) I Westfield State (9-13-2, 5-11-1 MASCAC)

How It Happened

Fitchburg State opened the scoring at the 9:18 mark as senior Anthony Ceolin (Simsbury, Conn.) gathered a feed from classmates Joshua Miller (Saint Augustine, Fla.) and Hunter Fortin (Westerville, Ohio) and one timed a shot inside the near post for his fifth goal on the season for the 1-0 edge.

Westfield State knotted the score at 1-1 four minutes later with freshman Brett Williams (Middleboro, Mass.) found the back of the net for his sixth tally of the year with assists from classmate Nicholas Coppola (Glendale, Ariz.) and senior Mathieu Jones (Gatineau, Que.).

The Owls grabbed the 2-1 edge at the 15:54 mark when sophomore Kasper Korhonen (Helsinki, Finland) deposited a shot into the right side of net for his third goal of the 2023-23 campaign with an assist from Jojo Carbone (Marshfield, Mass.).

The Falcons quickly retied the contest (2-2) with just over a minute remaining in the first period as senior Rece Bergeman (Newark, Del.) converted a power-play mark off assists from Miller and graduate student Antoine Gignac (Quebec City, Que.).

In the middle stanza, Fitchburg State regained the advantage four minutes into the period when Ceolin settled a feed from senior Wyatt Wilmshurst (Massena, N.Y.) and Gignac and wristed a shot near post for his second marker of the contest to make the score 3-2.

The Green and Gold upped the lead to 4-2 midway through the frame with Gignac blasting a shot into the upper left corner for his seventh goal of the year with assists from Ceolin and Fortin. The Falcons pushed the lead to 7-2 as Ceolin connected on back-to-back tallies, while Fortin added his tenth goal on the year in the span of two and half minutes.

In the third period of play, Westfield State cut the deficit to 7-3 when freshman Cooper Board (Salem, Mass.) fired a shot into the left side of the net for his team-leading 13th score of the campaign. Fitchburg State secured the victory at the 12:50 mark with Fortin netting his second tally on the evening, resulting in the 8-3 final.

By the Numbers

• 44th meeting between the Falcons and the Owls on the ice with Fitchburg State 27-14-3 all-time when taking on Westfield State
• Fitchburg State held a 46-25 edge in shots
• Westfield State went 0-for-3 with the man advantage
• Freshman Max Macchioni (North Kingstown, R.I.) stopped 21 shots for the Falcons
• Junior Kevin Chandler (Hanover, Mass.) made 18 saves for the Owls
• Freshman Cameron Isabelle (Leominster, Mass.) added one save for the Green and Gold in four minutes relief

Up Next

Falcons return to action on Saturday as they travel to Worcester State to take on the Lancers for a MASCAC matchup, starting at 3:00PM. Owls will host the Corsairs of UMass Dartmouth in conference action at 5:35PM.