Panthers rally from three-goal deficit to earn draw

            FITCHBURG, Mass. – The Plymouth State University and Fitchburg State University men's ice hockey teams skated to a 3-3 overtime draw Thursday evening in Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletics Conference (MASCAC) action at the Wallace Civic Center.

            The Panthers rallied from a 3-0 deficit late in the second period, scoring the tying goal with 6:47 remaining in the third period.  The outcome puts PSU at 1-2-1 overall and 1-0-1 in the MASCAC while Fitchburg State is now 0-2-2 and 0-0-1.

            Fitchburg State opened the scoring at the 14:33 mark of the first period as senior Kevin Holmes redirected a shot in front of the net off a shot from classmate Craig Halpin for the 1-0 margin. The Falcons quickly doubled their advantage 1:20 later when junior Max Lorenzen blasted a shot from the top of the point into the lower right corner of the net for his first tally on the season to make the score 2-0 after 20 minutes of play.

            The Green and Gold upped their lead eight minutes into the middle stanza as junior Ryan Connolly took a pair of feeds from Halpin and senior Sean Loebs and deposited the puck inside the near post for the 3-0 lead.

            Plymouth State broke its scoring silence at the 17:11 mark when senior Mike Freitag (Westmont, Ill.) collected a pass from junior Andrew Wigg (Lantz, N.S.) and slipped the puck into the back of the net to cut the deficit to 3-1. Freitag connected on his second score of contest roughly a minute and half later on assists from Wigg and senior Zach Sarig (Reading, Pa.) to make the score 3-2 going into the final frame.

            The Panthers knotted the score (3-3) with just over six minutes remaining as junior Josh Woody (Sunderland, Md.) tipped home a shot by sophomore Tord Thoresen (Oppegard, Norway) inside the right post to force the overtime period.

            Plymouth State held a 45-30 advantage in shots, while the Falcons finished 1-for-3 on the power play. In net, senior Ryan Wysocki stopped 42 shots for Fitchburg State in the in the draw, while junior Gordon Ceasar (Oak Park, Calif.) made 16 saves for the Panthers in 46 minutes of work.

            Fitchburg State returns to action on Saturday as it visits the Lancers of Worcester State University at 7 p.m. Plymouth State will host UMass Dartmouth on Saturday for a contest starting at 6 p.m.  

 (Courtesy of Fitchburg State Sports Information) 

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