Falcons Skate Past Owls

Fitchburg, Mass. – The Fitchburg State University men's ice hockey team notched a solid 2-1 victory over the Owls of Westfield State University in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action this evening at the Wallace Civic Center.

The Basics

Score: Fitchburg State 2, Westfield State 1
Records: Fitchburg State (13-7-3, 10-3-3 MASCAC) | Westfield State (11-7-5, 9-5-2 MASCAC)

How It Happened

Fitchburg State opened the scoring midway through the first period. After Westfield's senior goaltender Thierry Messervier (Montreal, Que.) made an initial stop from the point from Falcons' freshman Joshua Miller (Saint Augustine, Fla.), freshman Gene Bouthiette (Enfield, Conn.) collected the loose rebound for his fourth goal of the season.

In the second period Westfield would knot the score at 1-1 when senior Robert Neuwirth (Zlin, Czech Republic) notched a short-handed tally off the feed from sophomore Justin Alves (Woburn, Mass.) at the 13:09 mark of the period. Just three minutes later, freshman Anthony Ceolin (Simsbury, Conn.) scored the eventual game-winner with a one-timer from classmate Adam Kusior (Tecumseh, Ont.) from behind the Owls net.

The teams skated to a scoreless third period, as the netminders were the story. Falcons' Brian McGrath (Worcester, Mass.) made 11 saves to secure the victory.

Inside the Numbers

• The Owls held a slight margin (31-29) in shots
• Both teams finished 0-for-4 on the man-advantage.
• McGrath stopped 30 shots en-route to his thirteenth win.
• Messervier finished with 27 saves in the setback.

Up Next

Falcons will honor their senior class on Saturday in a pre-game ceremony when they host the Corsairs of UMass Dartmouth for a MASCAC contest starting at 5 PM Westfield will host the Rams of Framingham State on the same day at 5:35 PM.