Falcons Finish off Rams, 10-2

Fitchburg, Mass. – The Fitchburg State University men's ice hockey team tallied a season-high ten markers as they skated past the Rams of Framingham State 10-2 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action on Saturday evening at the Wallace Civic Center. The Falcons donned special purple and green jerseys for the night to promote Alzheimer's Awareness in memory of former Falcons' assistant coach Terry McNabb.

The Basics

Score: Fitchburg State University 10, Framingham State University 2
Records: Fitchburg State (13-6-3, 8-4-3 MASCAC) | Framingham State (3-17-2, 2-13 MASCAC)

How It Happened

After spotting the Rams the first goal of the night off, the Falcons reeled off four unanswered goals to hold a 4-1 lead midway through the second period. The Rams took their only lead of the game on Ryan Paul's (Morgan, Vt.) fifth goal of the season. Junior Nick DiNicola (Wolcott, Conn.) evened the game just 46 seconds later when he beat the Rams goaltender right to left to tuck his tenth of the season in the back of the net. Senior Evan Byrnes (New City, NY) notched his second of the season with a power-play tally with nine seconds remaining in the first frame to give the hosts the lead (2-1) for good.

The Falcons made it 3-1 on DiNicola's second of the game then senior Corey Hayashi (Toronto, Ont.) found an unmarked Brandon Ecklund (Fitchburg, Mass.) for a one-timer into the twine for the 4-1 advantage. Framingham got one back off the stick of senior Jake McKinnon (Framingham, Mass.) to stop the scoring streak, with a man-advantage goal with 10:36 to play in the second frame.

The Falcons offense continued flowing as they scored two late in the second to push the lead to 6-2 after two periods. First freshman Sascha Figi (Kloten, Switzerland) potted an unassisted score, then two minutes later on the power-play junior Ricky Kramer (Barnstead, NH) collected his seventh marker of the season.

The Green and Gold added four more goals (Figi, Hayashi and Patrick Germain (Auburn, Mass.) (2)) in the third period for the 10-2 final.

Inside the Numbers

Fitchburg State University controlled a 39-37 margin on the shot chart.

Goaltender Brian McGrath (Worcester, Mass.) posted 31 saves in 51:55 for the win, before giving way to Quinn Wold (Aurora, Colo.) who made four save in relief.  Rams netminder Adam Calabrese (Philadelphia, PA.) had 21 saves in the loss

Germain led all scorers with four points (2 goals, 2 assists), the Falcons had five players with 3 points.

59th meeting between the two schools in ice hockey with the Falcons 47-8-4 all-time when taking on the Rams.

Fitchburg State has won the last nine matchups with Framingham State, including a 6-4 decision earlier this season (1/18/18) at Loring Arena.​

Up Next

The Falcons return to action on Thursday evening when they host Salem State University for a 7 pm MASCAC tilt.