Jeremy Young tallied a goal in the Owls comeback attempt.
PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Senior Chad Barthelmess (Norristown, Pa.) scored two goals and assisted on another Saturday evening as Plymouth State University defeated Westfield State University, 6-3, in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) men’s ice hockey action at Hanaway Rink.
Junior Andrew Wigg (Lantz, Nova Scotia) and sophomore Matt Vermillion (South Lynch, Mich.) added a goal and an assist for the Panther offense, which has exploded for 18 goals in the last two games.
PSU improved to 9-7-3 overall and 9-2-1 in the MASCAC, while Westfield State slips to 9-9-0 overall and 6-5-0 in conference play. The league-leading Panthers have a five-point lead over second-place Salem State University.
Sophomore Dan Dupell (Collegeville, Pa.) put the Panthers on the board with a power play goal six minutes into the game, burying a pass from behind the net by Tord Thoresen (Oppegard, Norway). Barthelmess scored the next two goals for PSU as the Panthers opened up a 3-0 margin; he deflected in a shot by Vermillion at 12:13, and tipped in a shot from the point by sophomore Eric Strom (Gothenberg, Sweden) at 17:49.
The Owls got on the scoreboard just before the end of the period as sophomore Jason Leef (Fort Wayne, Ind.) stuffed the puck in near the right post with 1.5 seconds on the clock.
Senior Zach Sarig (Reading, Pa.) fired in a slap shot in the first minute of the second period to push the PSU lead to three goals, and Wigg put home a rebound at 3:07 for his league-leading 14th of the season to make it 5-1.
Westfield, which was out-shot 30-14 in the first two periods, made a comeback attempt midway through the third period with two goals in less than a minute. Freshman Jeremy Young (Lynnfield, Mass.) poked in a puck on a power play at 9:17, and junior Dalton Jay (Hamilton, Ont.) raced up the right side and fired a slap shot for his 11th of the season at 10:02 to cut the margin to 5-3.
That was as close as the Owls would get as Vermillion rounded out the scoring with an empty-netter with 11 seconds to play.
PSU junior Gordon Ceasar (Oak Park, Calif.) made 17 saves to earn the win in goal for PSU while sophomore Jonathan LoParco (Vaughan, Ont.) made 35 saves in the Owls’ net.
Both teams play MASCAC games on Thursday, as PSU visits Salem State for a 7:00 p.m. face-off and Westfield returns home to host Framingham State at 7:35 p.m.
