Falcons Nipped By Panthers, 5-4

Harty and Halbig net first collegiate tallies for Green and Gold

Plymouth, N.H. – The Fitchburg State ice hockey team suffered a tough 5-4 setback to conference rival Plymouth State University this evening in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) action from the Hanaway Rink.

The Basics

Score: Fitchburg State 4, Plymouth State 5
Records: Fitchburg State (4-1-0, 3-1-0 MASCAC) | Plymouth State (5-1-1, 2-0-1 MASCAC)

How It Happened

Plymouth State opened the scoring 2:44 into the first period as senior Mike McPherson (Somerville, Mass.) received a feed from sophomore Colin Tracy (Bow, N.H.) and junior Ted Austin (Sylvania, Ohio) and deposited the puck into the back of the net with the man advantage for his second goal on the season for the 1-0 lead.

Fitchburg State quickly knotted the score a minute and half later when junior Hunter Fortin (Westerville, Ohio) buried a shot inside the far post for his team-leading fifth tally on the year to make the score 1-1.

In the second period of play, the Panthers regained the lead at the 3:34 mark of the second with graduate student JR Barone (West Chester, Penn.) netting his first tally of the 2021-22 campaign for the 2-1 edge.

Following Barone's second marker of the contest, the Falcons cut the lead to 3-2 at the 17:52 mark with freshman Toivo Kramer (New York, N.Y.) slipping a shot into the right side of the net for his third goal on the season off assists from classmates Thomas Harty (Billerica, Mass.) and Zackery Diamont (Billerica, Mass.).

 Plymouth State would extend its margin with just 56 seconds remaining in the middle frame though when graduate student Peter Laviolette (Longboat Key, Fla.) connecting on his fourth score of the year off assists from senior Colin Stevens (Concord, N.H.) and to make the score 4-2.

Trailing 5-2 in the third period, the Green and Gold answered (5-3) with seven and half minutes remaining in regulation as Harty settled a feed from Diamont and senior Brian Glover (Baldwinville, Mass.) wristed a shot past Panther keeper Kalle Andersson (Taby, Sweden) for his first collegiate goal.

Fitchburg State continued to battle, trimming the lead to one at the 15:19 mark when newcomer Christian Halbig (Queenstown, Md.) blasted a shot for the right circle into the upper right corner for his first collegiate goal with an assist from Harty, but that's as close as the Falcons would get as Plymouth State held on for the 5-4 victory.

By the Numbers

• 66th matchup between the two teams with the Falcons 28-30-8 all-time vs. the Panthers
• Fitchburg State finished with a 47-28 margin in shots
• Fitchburg State went 2-for-5 with the man advantage
• Harty and Halbig netted their first collegiate goals for the Green and Gold
• Senior Brian McGrath (Worcester, Mass.) made 42 saves for the Falcons
• Andersson stopped 24 shots for the Panthers

Up Next

Falcons return to action on Saturday as they take on Albertus Magnus in opening round action of the 2021-22 PAL Cup Tournament at Southern New Hampshire University, starting at 4:50 PM.