Department of athletics, physical education and recreation
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Second Period Surge Lifts Westfield State Over MIT, 6-4
Feb. 7, 2008
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Westfield State College forward Mike Breault scored twice and added an assist to help the visiting Owls down MIT, 6-4, in men's ice hockey action on Wednesday night at the Johnson Ice Rink. The Engineers used a strong first period to jump out to an early 3-1 advantage, but Westfield State went on to score five consecutive goals and establish a lead that it wouldn't relinquish. MIT fell to 11-3-0 with the loss and concluded its three-game home-stand with a record of 2-1. The Owls improved to .500 with the win, raising their record to 7-7-1. The six goals allowed was by far the most conceded by the Engineers in a single game this season, as strong goaltending and a stingy defense had limited opponents to no more than three goals in any prior contest. Sophomore forward Joseph Fahey put MIT on the board first, scoring at 13:48 of a wild opening period with assists credited to Justin Myers and Eddie Sturm. Westfield State used a power-play to level the score at 1-1 with 8:21 remaining in the period, as Breault notched his first courtesy of assists from Dominic DiCarlo and Mike Lynch. Just over one minute later, the Cardinal and Gray returned the favor, scoring a man-advantage goal of its own to regain the lead - Ryan Ballentine and Kevin Farino providing the assists for Nick LaBounty's team-leading 18th goal of the season. Rookie Cory Phinney extended MIT's lead to 3-1 at 6:21 after finishing with help from Dustin Kendrick and Mike Kozlowski, but Westfield State's Brian Richmond scored to cut the lead to 3-2 just 22 seconds later. Breault and Richie Wright earned the assists on Richmond's goal. The Owls thoroughly controlled the second period, turning a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead in the space of six hectic minutes. Joe Maduri (from John O'Donnell and Chris O'Sullivan), Breault (from Richmond and Wright) and Greg Shields (from Mark Lally and Maduri) all scored between 7:23 and 1:31 of the middle stanza to give the visitors a two-goal lead heading into the final 20 minutes. That two-goal lead became a three-goal lead with 13:04 remaining in regulation, as Mike Smith and Brendan Craig teamed up to feed DiCarlo for Westfield State's fifth consecutive strike. Ballentine gave MIT a glimmer of hope at 10:48 as he cut the deficit to 6-4 with help from LaBounty and Jeremy Myers, but Owls goaltender Liam Whalen shut the door the rest of the way to earn the victory. Graduate student Thomas Hopkins and freshman Stephen Yablonski split time in net for the Engineers, with Hopkins taking the loss after conceding five goals in 40 minutes of action. Yablonski played the final 20 minutes, allowing one goal. Chris Motsis played the opening 30 minutes for Westfield State before being pulled in favor of Whalen, who played out the final 30. Motsis conceded three goals, while Whalen allowed just one. The Engineers will hit the road for their next contest, as they will travel to Endicott College on Saturday, Feb. 9, for a 7:00 p.m. faceoff. Meanwhile, Westfield State will be at home on Saturday afternoon, as it will host WPI at 5:00 p.m. |
