(Box Score) 

         MARLBORO, Mass. - The Plymouth State University's men's ice hockey team captured the fourth annual Becker College Icebreaker men's hockey tournament Saturday evening, defeating Stonehill College, 5-2, in the championship game at the New England Sports Center Rink.

         Sophomore Bryan Kriner (Newport, RI) followed his three-point performance on Friday night (two goals, one assist) with a goal and an assist in Saturday's championship game, and was named the tournament Most Valuable Player.  Kriner was joined on the All-Tournament team by sophomore Jake Curtin (Concord, N.H.), the top defenseman in the tournament, and junior Andrew Stewart (O'Leary, PEI), who had two goals in Friday's 5-4 opening-round win over Suffolk.

         Plymouth State jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 3:36 into Saturday's title game when freshman Sean Foley (Weymouth, Mass.) scored on a feed from Kriner and senior Chris Chambers (Crofton, Md.). The Panthers doubled their total when junior Sean Buckley (Sagamore, Mass) made a beautiful centering pass to freshman Matt Aponte (Plano TX) for the 2-0 lead.

         The Panthers extended their lead to 3-0 In the second period when Chambers and Foley connected with Kriner on a power play goal.

         Stonehill opened the third period with a power play goal from Patrick Greene (Weymouth, Mass.) at 1:47. The Skyhawks excitement was short lived, as Panther sophomore Brian Johnson (East Bridgewater, Mass) and freshman Tim Visich (Mt. Pleasant, Mich.) assisted freshman Chad Wilhelm (Plymouth, Mich.) for the 4-1 advantage.

         Pete Roundy (Simsbury, Conn) scored to pull Stonehill to within two again, but Chambers scored an empty net goal to secure the victory for the Panthers. Final shots on goal favored Stonehill by a small 35-34 margin.

         Freshman Jack Astedt (Angelholm, Sweden) played well in his collegiate debut, finishing with 33 saves to earn the victory as Plymouth State improves to 2-0 on the year.  Tyler Jackson (Little Silver, NJ) made 29 saves in the loss as Stonehill fell to 1-1-1 on the season.

         The Panthers are idle until Tuesday, Nov. 17, when they officially open the Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference season with a 5:30 p.m. face-off at Worcester State College. 

(Courtesy of Becker Sports Information) 

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