Falcons Skate to Overtime Tie with Owls
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Westfield St. (2-3-2, 2-1-1) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
|
Fitchburg St. (4-1-1, 2-1-1) | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
Falcons Skate to Overtime Tie with Owls
Fitchburg, Mass. – The Fitchburg State ice hockey skated to a 4-4 overtime tie with the Owls of Westfield State this evening in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action at the Wallace Civic Center.
The Basics
Score: Fitchburg State 4, Westfield State 4 OT
Records: Fitchburg State (4-1-1, 2-1-1 MASCAC) | Westfield State (2-3-2, 2-1-1 MASCAC)
How It Happened
Westfield State capitalized on the first man-advantage of the game for an early 1-0 lead. Senior Robert Neuwirth (Ziln, Czech Republic) found a streaking Francois-Xavier Gira (St. Lazare, Que.) down the left wing, where the senior wristed the puck top-shelf for his fourth goal of the season.
Westfield doubled the score at 17:14 of the first frame, when sophomore Justin Alves (Woburn, Mass.) intercepted a pass at the blue line and scored his third goal of the season with a shorthanded tally.
Sophomore Ryan Murphy (Wayzata, Minn.) cut the deficit in half for the Falcons at the 12:40 mark of the second period with a power-play goal from the top of the circle. However the Owls answered back less than a minute later with a goal from Daniel Backstrom (Helsinki, Finland) to push the lead back to 3-1.
The Falcons once again responeded. Playing four-on-four, Murphy made a skilled move towards net to beat Westfield's netminder Thierry Messervier (Monteral, Que.) and freshman Geoffrey LaMorre (Hubley, NS) notched his first collegiate goal from the blue-line to knot the score 3-3 heading into intermission.
Westfield pulled ahead 4-3 with a power-play goal from Neuwirth just 34 clicks into the third. The Green and Gold tied the game for the last time at 6:36 with a score from Wyatt Wilmshurst (Massena, NY) off the assist from Hunter Fortin (Westerville, Ohio).
By the Numbers
- Fitchburg State held a 45-33 margin in shots
- Fitchburg State finished 2-for-7 with the man advantage, while Westfield State was 2-for-6 on the power-play
- Junior Brian McGrath (Worcester, Mass.) stopped 29 shots for the Falcons
- Messervier posted 41 saves for the Owls
Up Next
Falcons host Assumption College on Tuesday for a non-conference matchup with the Greyhounds, starting at 7:00 PM. Owls will host the Wildcats from Johnson and Wales University on the same evening starting at 7:35 PM.