FRAMINGHAM – The Westfield State University ice hockey team tallied a pair of third period goals to defeat the Framingham State University Rams 5-3 in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) ice hockey contest at Loring Arena late Tuesday.
The Owls improve to 9-6 on the year and 5-4 in the conference, while the Rams are now 2-12 overall and 0-9 in the MASCAC.
The Rams staked themselves a 2-0 lead in the game’s first six minutes. Sophomore Ryan McDonald (Anchorage, AK) tallied his 10th of the season off assists from sophomore Brendan McCarron (Millbury, Mass.) and junior Daniel Miressi (Monroe, Conn.) at 4:09 and junior Jay Nicholls (Middleton, Mass.) notched his fifth of the season at 5:55. Junior Roy Monson (Stoneham, Mass.) and senior Eric Walsh (Haverhill, Mass.) assisted on the marker.
The Owls answered with three straight goals to close the period and take a 3-2 advantage at the first intermission.
Nic Vidoni (Stittsville, ON) scored a power play goal at 15:45 off feeds from Billy Miller (Morgan Hill, CA) and Vince Perreault (Braeside, ON). Junior Taylor Murphy (Toronto, ON) added his fourth of the year at 18:08 and TJ Powers (East Greenwich, RI) added a goal at 19:20 in the first.
The Rams tied the score midway through the second on McDonald’s second of the game. His line mates Miressi and McCarron once again picked up the assists.
It would take the Owls just over six minutes into the third to score the game winner as P.J. McCadden (Mount Sinai, NY) scored off helpers from Steve Evans (Kingston, ON) and Mike Puddifant (Salmon Arm, BC). Perreault added an insurance marker for the Owls at 8:15 to reach the final margin.
The Owls held a slim 36-31 edge in shots for the game and went 1-of-4 on the power play, while the Rams did not score in their three chances with the man advantage.
Sophomore Ian Perrier (Whitehorse, YT) picked up the victory in net for the Owls making 28 saves including 15 in the final period, while junior Nick Cafrelli (San Jose, CA) was tagged with the loss despite making 31 stops.
The Rams return to action on Thursday, Jan. 17, at Worcester State at 5:30 p.m., while the Owls travel to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth also on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.
WOMEN’S SOCCER RECEIVES GOLD TEAM ETHICS AWARD: The Westfield State University women’s soccer team was one of 17 intercollegiate teams to receive the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Gold Team Ethics Award for completing the entire 2012 season without receiving either a yellow or red card.
In all, 96 teams received either the Gold, Silver or Bronze version of the Team Ethics Award, which recognizes teams that exhibit fair play, sporting behavior and adherence to the laws of the game, as reflected by the number of yellow caution cards or red ejection cards they are shown by referees throughout the season.
A total of 59 teams claimed the Silver Award, which is given to teams that accumulate no red cards and a maximum of five yellow cards, while the Bronze Award went to 20 teams, which is presented to teams that receive no reds and a maximum of 10 yellows.
The Owls also excelled on the playing field with a brilliant 18-1-1 record and their fourth MASCAC championship and fourth NCAA Tournament beth in the past five years.
“We are extremely proud of the outstanding women’s soccer program that coach Todd Ditmar has established at Westfield State University,” said Westfield athletics director Richard Lenfest. “In addition, our women’s soccer players are model student-athletes as the team finished the 2012 fall semester with an aggregate 3.28 grade point average.”
