Department of athletics, physical education and recreation
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Men's Ice Hockey Skates to 4-4 Tie with Westfield State
Feb. 17, 2008
WESTFIELD, Mass. - Junior Ryan Ballentine scored the game-tying goal with just 25 seconds remaining in regulation to help MIT's men's ice hockey team earn a 4-4 tie with Westfield State College on Saturday evening at Amelia Park Ice Arena. The host Owls scored what their fans surely thought would be the game-winner with less than two minutes on the clock, but Ballentine's late heroics stunned the home crowd and allowed the Engineers to escape with a well-deserved point. The tie was MIT's first of the season and moved its record to 12-3-1, while Westfield State now stands at 8-6-2. Just as they did when the two teams met nine days earlier - in a game which the Owls won, 6-4 - the Engineers jumped out to an early lead. Junior Nick LaBounty scored his team-leading 20th goal of the season a mere 50 seconds into the contest to put the visitors up, 1-0, with the lone assist going to Ballentine. The Cardinal and Gray then made it 2-0 just over three minutes later, as Dustin Kendrick and Brad Holschuh provided the assists for rookie Cory Phinney's seventh tally of the season. The score remained the same into the middle stanza, when Westfield State began putting its stamp on the game. Brian Richmond cut the deficit in half with a goal at 14:11 courtesy of a feed from Adam VanBuskirk, before Dominic DiCarlo took advantage of a power-play to level the score at 2-2 with help from Michael Smith and Matt Lynch at 11:36. The Owls then took their first lead of the game early in the third period thanks to another man-advantage tally, this time from VanBuskirk. He was assisted by Michael Breault and Michael Moriarty. The Engineers hit back at 10:03 through freshman Riley Brandt, whose second career goal knotted the score at 3-3. Joseph Fahey and Kevin Farino were credited with the assists on Brandt's game-tying strike. That set the stage for the dramatic last two minutes, with VanBuskirk (from Breault and DiCarlo) scoring his team's third power-play goal at 1:55 to seemingly win the game for the Owls, before Ballentine (from LaBounty and Farino) snatched a point for the Engineers. Goaltender Thomas Hopkins stood tall for MIT in overtime, while Westfield State's Luke Harris also shut the door to leave the teams even at 4-4 after 65 minutes. The Engineers will return home for their final game of the regular season on Wednesday, Feb. 20, when they will host Boston College at 7:00 p.m. in the Johnson Ice Rink. Meanwhile, the Owls will close out their regular season schedule on Friday, Feb. 22, when they will welcome the University of Vermont at 3:00 p.m. |
