Fitchburg State Closes Out UMass Dartmouth, 4-2

Bedard nets two scores in Falcons conference victory

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (February 25, 2014) – Sophomore forward Ryan Bedard (Derby Line, Vt.) registered a pair of goals as the Fitchburg State ice hockey team defeated UMass Dartmouth, 4-2 in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) ice hockey action this evening at Hetland Arena.

In the opening period of play, Fitchburg State took the lead at the 2:49 mark as Bedard collected a rebound of the stick of junior Sean Loebs (Cresskill, N.J.) and slipped the puck inside the near post for his fifth marker of the season for the 1-0 advantage.

The Corsairs answered at the 4:51 mark when senior Dmitry Antipin (Novosibirsk, Russia) took a pair of feeds from sophomores Billy Boudreau (Newburyport, Mass.) and  Mike Wilson (St. John's, Mich.) and blasted a shot into the upper right corner of the net his eighth score of the season to tie the score 1-1.

UMass Dartmouth grabbed the lead midway through the first period as sophomore Matt Hughes (Hingham, Mass.) intercepted a pass off the far boards and wristed a shot into the back of the net for his first goal of season for the 2-1 margin going into the first intermission.

In the middle stanza, the Green and Gold retied the contest (2-2) just 19 seconds into the period when sophomore forward Ryan Connolly (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) collected a loose puck near the red line, raced up the end boards and fired a shot into the lower left corner for his 12th tally on the year.

The Falcons regained the lead at the 12:09 mark as junior Craig Halpin (Irvington, N.Y.) found Bedard on the right point, who then rifled a shot into the upper right corner for his second score of the contest to make the score 3-2 going into the final period of play.

In the final stanza, the visitors iced the game with three seconds remaining in the match when Loebs gathered the puck near center ice and fired a shot into the empty net for his fourth goal of the season, resulting in the 4-2 final

Throughout the contest UMass Dartmouth held a commanding 61-36 advantage in shots, while the Falcons finished 1-for-2 with the man advantage. In net, junior Ryan Wysocki (Grand Rapids, Mich.) posted a season-best 59 saves for the Fitchburg State in the complete game effort, while senior Ben Vandervies (Hanna, Alberta) stopped 32 shots for the Corsairs in the setback

Fitchburg State (11-13-1, 8-9-1 MASCAC) returns to action on Saturday as it visits Framingham State University for a MASCAC quarterfinal round matchup at 7:40 p.m. UMass Dartmouth concluded it 2013-14 season with an overall record of 5-18-2 and a 5-13-0 clip in conference play.