UMass Dartmouth Surges Past Fitchburg State, 7-4

Connolly nets two goals for Falcons in conference setback

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (February 14, 2013) – Freshman Ryan Connolly (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./New York Applecore) registered three points on two goals and one assist as the Fitchburg State ice hockey team fell to UMass Dartmouth, 7-4 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action this evening at the Hetland Memorial Ice Arena.

Fitchburg State took the lead just 1:05 into the opening stanza as Connolly found the back of the net for his 14th goal of the year. The freshman forward received a feed from classmate John Celli (Leominster, Mass./Valley Jr. Warriors) and fired a wrist shot into upper right corner for the 1-0 margin.

UMass Dartmouth tied the score (1-1) at the 9:23 mark when senior Phil Bronner (Wilbraham, Mass./Springfield Jr. Falcons) knocked home his team-leading 12th score of the season, using an assist from classmate Dave McDonald (Wakefield, Mass./Valley Jr. Warriors) going into the first intermission.

In the second period, the Falcons regained the lead at the 7:16 mark as sophomore Sean Loebs (Cresskill, N.J./Connecticut Jr. Wolfpack) redirected a shot off the stick of senior Brett Provost (Ludlow, Mass./Connecticut Jr. Wolfpack) for his fourth goal of the season to take a 2-1 lead.

The Green and Gold upped its lead (3-1) roughly two minutes later when Connolly struck for his second tally of the contest. Celli and sophomore defenseman Derek Giansanti (Newington, Conn./Connecticut Jr. Wolfpack) assisted on the play.

The Corsairs cut the lead to one at the 15:20 mark as freshman Swann Boisvert (Blainville, QC/Pembroke Lumber Kings) connected on a power-play score off assists from sophomore Dmitry Antipin (Novesibirsk, Russia/Cape Cod Cubs) and junior Greg Giratos (Tyngsboro, Mass./Bishop Guertin). The hosts knotted the score (3-3) two and half minutes later on Boisvert's second marker of the game heading into the final period of play.

In the final frame, UMass Dartmouth grabbed its first lead of the night just 13 seconds into the period as McDonald blasted a shot into the net for his 11th goal on the season off a feed from senior Zach Hepler (Sarver, Penn./Dixie Beehives) for the 4-3 advantage. The Corsairs secured their ninth victory of season as Boisvert completed the hat trick with just over 12 minutes remaining to take a 5-3 lead.

Throughout the match, UMass Dartmouth held a 49-35 advantage in shots, while the Falcons finished 1-for-3 on the power-play. In net, junior Randy Wolcott (East Haven, Conn./Wisconsin-Stevens Point) and sophomore Dan Finn (Fitchburg, Mass./Fitchburg) combined to make 42 saves for Fitchburg State in the setback, while senior Ryan Williams (Milton, ON/Huntsville Otters) stopped 31 shots for the Corsairs in the complete game effort..

Fitchburg State (9-12-2, 8-7-1 MASCAC) returns to action on Saturday as it hosts the Owls of Westfield State for a contest starting at 4 p.m. UMass Dartmouth (9-7-6, 8-3-5 MASCAC) will host the Panthers of Plymouth State University on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.