Jonathan LoParco had 26 saves in a period and half of play. (Riley O’Brien photo)
WESTFIELD – Plymouth State secured its grip on first place in the MASCAC ice hockey standings by rallying from an early 1-0 deficit to post a 5-2 win over Westfield State at Amelia Park on Saturday evening.
Westfield jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when a shot from junior forward Dalton Jay took an odd bounce and slid in behind a Panthers netminder Gordon Caesar.
Plymouth responded with four straight goals.
The first two Plymouth goals came off Owls miscues in the defensive zone. Ryan Callahan scored after an Owls giveaway in their defensive zone, and Riley Flanagan tallied just three minutes later after another breakdown. A snappy wrister from Mike Economos with 3:05 left in the first gave Plymouth a 3-1 lead after the first period.
Callahan added his second of the night at the 11:23 mark of the second period to boost the Panthers lead to 4-1.
Westfield cut the lead back to 4-2 with a power play tally from Maxime Richard, but Plymouth responded just 27 seconds later with a back breaking goal from Ian McGilvery at 9:59 of the second to cap the scoring.
Caesar had a big third period, stonewalling the Owls at every turn. He stopped 26 shots without allowing a goal in the third, en route to a 66 save performance for the evening. Plymouth managed 57 shots on the Owls, who split time between Ian Perrier and Jonathan LoParco in goal. Both made 26 saves.
Westfield, which could have taken over first place in the league table with a win, falls to 7-3, 4-2 in the MASCAC. The Owls will be back in action on Wednesday night, hosting Stonehill a college in a non conference matchup.
Plymouth improves to 5-2-1 , 5-0-1 in the MASCAC.
