Ice Hockey Soars Past Ravens In Non-Conference Action

Macchioni nets first collegiate hattrick for the Green & Gold

Fitchburg, MA - The Fitchburg State ice hockey team earned a 5-2 victory over the Ravens of Franklin Pierce University this evening in non-conference action from the Wallace Civic Center.

The Basics

Score: Fitchburg State 5, Franklin Pierce 2

Records: Fitchburg State (9-5-0, 4-1-0 MASCAC) I Franklin Pierce (7-9-0, 5-3-0 NE10)

How It Happened

Fitchburg State opened the scoring at the 12:51 mark of the first period as sophomore Marcus Macchioni (North Kingstown, RI) gathered a feed from junior Hunter Dunn (Douglas, MA) and deposited a shot into the left side of the net for his third goal on the season for the 1-0 edge.

Franklin Pierce knotted the score at 1-1 four minutes later as junior Todd Branish (Castle Pines, CO) received a pass from junior John Sterling (Centreville, VA) and freshman Cade Miner (Lee, NH) and fired a shot into the back of the net for his third marker of the 2025-26 campaign.

In the middle frame, the Falcons regained the lead 2-1 at the 17:18 mark of the frame with freshman Tye Battipaglia (Cheshire, CT) redirecting a shot into the left side of the net for his 14th marker of the season. The Green and Gold pushed the advantage to 3-1 one minute later when Macchioni collected his second score of the contest with assists from Dunn and junior Jackson Collins (Wake Forest, NC).

Fitchburg State extended the margin four minutes into the third period when newcomer Aleksei Filimonov (Saint Petersburg, Russia) settled a feed from sophomore Jeremiah Snyder (Dubuque, IA) and Halbig and put a shot into the back of  the net for his eight tally of the season to make score 4-1.

The Ravens cut into the deficit with just under four minutes remaining in the contest as senior Austin Pick (Troutdale, OR) gathered a pass from sophomore Mario Paganini (Harrison, NY) and put shot inside the far post for his 15th tally of the year to make the score 4-2

The Green and Gold secured the victory at the 18:19 mark with Macchioni completing the hat trick as newcomer John Mantone (Nashua, NH) and freshman Andrey Bondarev (Stockholm, Sweden) picking up assists, resulting in the 5-2 final.

By the Numbers

• Fitchburg State went 2-for-3 with the man advantage
• The Falcons held a 34-18 advantage in shots
• Senior Max Macchioni (North Kingstown, RI) stopped 16 shots for the Falcons
• Sophomore Jeff Reda (Larchmont, NY) turned aside 25 shots for the Ravens

Up Next

Falcons return to action on Thursday as they host the Pilgrims of New England College for a non-conference tilt, starting at 6:30PM..

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