Dalton Jay tallied the Owls first goal on Saturday. (WSU File Photo)
PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Plymouth State University jumped out to a 4-0 lead Saturday evening and held off a Westfield State University comeback for a 4-2 victory in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference men’s ice hockey game at Hanaway Rink.
Plymouth State extended its winning streak to seven games, improving to 8-1 overall, and maintained its perfect conference record at 6-0-0. Westfield State dropped to 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the MASCAC.
Senior goalie Gordon Ceasar (Oak Park, Calif.) remained undefeated on the season (7-0-0), making 23 saves. Junior Jonathan LoParco (Vaughan, Ont.) made 24 saves but fell to 7-2-0 with the loss.
The visiting Owls had the upper hand in the first period, out-shooting PSU 13-6, but couldn’t get one past Ceasar. The Panthers bounced back and took the lead in the second period with a pair of goals. Junior Erik Strom (Gothenburg, Sweden) opened the scoring midway through the period, converting a feed from junior Michael Economos (Crystal Lake, Ill.) in the slot with a shot that went inside the left post passed a screened LoParco. Junior Dan Dupell (Collegeville, Pa.) doubled the score with his fifth of the season with two minutes to go to make it 2-0 at the end of the period.
Senior Andrew Wigg (Lantz, N.S.) extended the margin to 3-0 six minutes into the third period, snapping a shot through LoParco’s pads from the right circle, and Economos made it 4-0 with a power play goal with 11 minutes to play, taking a cross-ice pass from freshman Colby Lanceleve (Stewiacke, N.S.) and rifling one past LoParco from the left circle.
Westfield finally broke through against Ceasar with two goals in the final 10 minutes. Ceasar stopped sophomore Roman Pfennings (Grefrath, Germany) on a shot but senior Dalton Jay (Hamilton, Ont.) knocked home the rebound for his seventh of the year at 10:31, and freshman Mason Wade (Bellingham, Wash.) tacked on his first of the year with 3:44 remaining.
PSU is back on the ice Thursday at Hanaway Rink with a non-conference game vs. Nichols College (6:00 p.m.) Westfield plays a non-conference game Wednesday at Becker College (7:30 p.m.). – Courtesy of Westfield State Sports
