Falcons Edge Lancers, 4-3 On Senior Day

Four different player collects goal for Green and Gold in key MASCAC victory

Fitchburg, Mass. – The Fitchburg State University ice hockey team defeated the Lancers of Worcester State University, 4-3 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action this evening at the Wallace Civic Center.

The Basics

Score: Fitchburg State 4, Worcester State 3
Records: Fitchburg State (16-6-3, 11-4-3 MASCAC)| Worcester State (13-10-2, 8-8-2 MASCAC)

How It Happened

Fitchburg State opened the scoring just 46 seconds into the first period as sophomore forward Christopher Vicario (Cranston, R.I.) took a feed from junior Nick DiNicola (Wolcott, Conn.) and found the back of the net for his 11th tally on the season for the 1-0 margin.

In the second stanza, the Falcons doubled their lead (2-0) at the 2:53 mark when sophomore Kyle Hillick (Byfield, Mass.) connected on a power-play score off assists from DiNicola and junior Ricky Kramer (Barnstead, N.H.) for his fourth goal on the season.

The Green and Gold extended their advantage minutes later as freshman Sascha Figi (Kloten, Switzerland) one-timed a shot inside the near post off a pass from DiNicola  and Vicario for his team-leading 18th score on the year to make the score 3-0

Worcester State cut the lead to 3-2, late in the frame when freshman Jake Karelas (Melrose, Mass.) received a pass from seniors Mike Palmer (Grafton, Mass.) and Mike Moran (Milford, Mass.) for his fifth goal on the season with six minutes left in the second period before freshman CJ Buckingham (Pembroke, Mass.) connected on his second tally of the year.

In the final period of play, the Lancers knotted the score (3-3) roughly three and half minutes into stanza as junior Cody Weaver (West Greenwich, R.I.) struck for his fourth goal of the 2017-18 campaign.

Fitchburg State regained the lead at the 13:49 mark when junior Brandon Ecklund (Fitchburg, Mass.) collected a loose puck of the shot of junior Patrick Germain (Auburn, Mass.) and deposited a shot into the lower left corner for his fourth tally on the year, resulting in the 4-3 final.

Inside the Numbers

61st meeting between the two schools in ice hockey with the Falcons 41-16-4 all-time when taking on the Lancers.

Fitchburg State is unbeaten in the last four contests against Worcester State (3-0-1), including a 4-4 overtime draw (1/27/18) in the last meeting at the Wallace Civic Center.

Lancers finished with a 51-26 advantage in shots.

Fitchburg State finished 2-for-3 on the power-play, while Worcester State went 0-for-3 with the man advantage.

Junior Kirby Saari (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) finished with 48 saves for the Falcons in the complete game effort.

Freshman Aaron Cakkab (South Lyons, Mich.) stopped 22 shots for the Lancer 59:10 minutes of action.

Prior to the contest, the Fitchburg State ice hockey team honored three seniors playing in their final home regular season contest with the seniors being #5 Evan Byrnes (New City, N.J.), #22 James Gordon (Hingham, Mass.) and #27 Corey Hayashi (Toronto, Ont.).

Up Next

Falcons have clinched the second seed in the 2017-18 MASCAC ice hockey post-season tournament and will host the winner of the 3/6 MASCAC quarterfinal round contest next Tuesday for a contest starting at 7:00 P.M. Lancers conclude their 2017-18 regular season as well and awaits its seeding into the MASCAC ice hockey post-season tournament.