Plymouth State Upends Fitchburg State, 4-1

Fish registers first collegiate tally for Falcons

FITCHBURG, Mass. (January 16, 2014) – The Fitchburg State ice hockey was in action this evening, dropping a 4-1 decision to Plymouth State University in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action at the Wallace Civic Center.

In the opening period of play, Plymouth State grabbed the lead at the 8:19 mark when sophomore forward Andrew Wigg (Lantz, N.S.) received the draw from senior Phil Arnone (Litchfield, N.H.) and fired a shot into the upper left corner for his fifth tally of the season for the 1-0 lead going into the first intermission.

In the second frame, the Panthers nearly doubled their lead with about five minutes remaining in the stanza as freshman forward Mike Economos (Crystal Lake, Ill.) intercepted a pass and skated in alone on Falcon goaltender Ryan Wysocki (Grand Rapids, Mich.) but Wysocki made an outstanding save to his left.

Fitchburg State's best scoring opportunity came minutes later when freshman Jon Johannesson (Red Lake, Ont.) and sophomore defenseman Mike Morrison (Scarborough, Maine) each fired shots on net that Plymouth State net-minder Gordon Ceasar (Oak Park, Calif.) turned aside to preserve the 1-0 advantage after two periods of play.

In the final period, the Falcons knotted the score (1-1) at the 3:21 mark as freshman forward Mike Fish (Salisbury, Mass.) collected a rebound off the stick of junior Craig Halpin (Irvington, N.Y.) and slide the puck inside the far post for his first collegiate score.

Plymouth State regain the lead for good midway through the frame when sophomore Colt Smelstor (Fairfax, Vt.) gathered the puck off the end boards and fired a shot into the back of the net for his third goal on the season on assists from freshman Ty Griffith (Rocklin, Calif.) and classmate Erik Strom (Gothenburg, Sweden) for the 2-1 margin.

The visitors secured the victory at the 18:15 mark as sophomore Zach Fox (Sandown, N.H.) collected a loose puck at center ice and blasted shot into the upper right side of the net for his fourth goal of the season to make the score 3-1, before Economos capped the game's scoring with an empty netter with 13 seconds remaining the game, resulting in the 4-1 final.

Throughout the match, Plymouth State held a 36-30 advantage in shots, while the Falcons finished 0-for-6 with the man advantage. Between the pipes, Wysocki stopped 32 shots for Fitchburg State in the setback, while Ceasar made 29 saves for the Panthers in the complete game effort.

Fitchburg State (6-8-0, 3-4-0 MASCAC) returns to action on Saturday as it visits the Lancers of Worcester State University at 4:45 p.m. Plymouth State (6-9-0, 4-4-0 MASCAC) will host the Corsairs of UMass Dartmouth on Saturday at 6 p.m.