Department of athletics, physical education and recreation
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MIT Overcomes Westfield State, 4-2, to Book Spot in NECHA Final
March 2, 2008
NASHUA, N.H. - Juniors Ryan Ballentine and Nick LaBounty each had a goal and two assists to lead MIT's men's ice hockey team past Westfield State College, 4-2, in a NorthEast Collegiate Hockey Association (NECHA) Conference A Semifinal at the Conway Arena in Nashua, N.H., on Saturday night. With the win, the Engineers advanced to their second consecutive Conference A Final, where they will meet the University of Connecticut at 2:50 p.m. this afternoon. MIT (14-4-1), which had lost once and tied once in two previous meetings with Westfield State this season, solved the Owls (9-8-2) when it mattered most. Freshman defenseman Nick Sisler picked the perfect time to notch just his second intercollegiate goal, opening the scoring less than three minutes into the contest with help from LaBounty. From that point on, the Engineers never relinquished the lead, extending their advantage to 2-0 at 9:04 of the first period when sophomore Dustin Kendrick found the back of the net for the fifth time this campaign. Assists were credited to Ballentine and Eddie Sturm. Westfield State sliced its deficit in half with a goal at the 5:01 mark of the first, with Mike Moriarty and Brian Richmond providing the assists for Adam VanBuskirk's tally. However, LaBounty fed Ballentine for his 13th goal of the season just over 30 seconds later, as the Cardinal and Gray's lead expanded back to two at 3-1. The Owls fought back once more before the end of the period, finishing off a wild five-goal first stanza with a power-play marker with just 21 ticks left on the clock. Mike Breault, with an assist from John O'Donnell, scored to cut the Engineers' lead to 3-2 after 20 minutes of action. The contest settled down a bit as it entered the middle frame, with the score remaining the same until the 9:16 mark. With Westfield State on the power-play and desperately searching for an equalizer, Ballentine sprung LaBounty for a shorthanded chance, and the Moose Lake, Minn., native made no mistake, scoring his team-leading 23rd goal of the season to give the Engineers some insurance. With a two-goal lead intact and behind some strong goaltending from freshman Stephen Yablonski, the Cardinal and Gray shut down the Owls for the remainder of the second and the entirety of the third to secure the 4-2 triumph. Yablonski, who has taken over the reins as the number one choice between the pipes for MIT, earned his second consecutive playoff victory. Chris Motsis took the loss in net for Westfield State. The Engineers will be making their second consecutive trip to the Conference A Final, as they met Bryant University in the title game last season. Tech will be aiming to avoid the same fate that it met in that contest, however, as it fell to Bryant, 6-2. MIT and UConn last met on Feb. 1, 2007, when the Huskies received an overtime goal from Steve Unker en route to a 2-1 victory. |
