PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Senior
Ted Austin (Sylvania, Ohio) scored his first goal of the season to snap a 4-4 tie midway through the third period as Plymouth State University outlasted Fitchburg State University, 7-4, in a back-and-forth Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) men's ice hockey game at Hanaway Rink on Thursday evening.
Plymouth State took an early lead less than five minutes into the contest, but the Falcons pulled even late in the frame and the game went into the first intermission deadlocked at 1-1. The teams traded body blows throughout the middle stanza. Fitchburg went up 2-1, but back-to-back PSU goals gave the home team a 3-2 edge. The Falcons scored a pair of goals just 83 seconds apart to reclaim the lead, but Plymouth State netted the equalizer with a power play tally with 5:45 remaining in the period to retie the game.
Austin whipped a wrist shot off a faceoff win to give the Panthers the lead for good at the 8:22 mark of the third, and the hosts added a pair of insurance tallies to stay unbeaten in conference play.
Plymouth State wins its sixth straight game to improve to 10-3-1 (7-0-0 MASCAC), while Fitchburg State moves to 5-5-2 and 3-2-2 in conference play.
The Basics:
- Plymouth State 7, Fitchburg State 4
- Plymouth State (10-3-1, 7-0-0 MASCAC)
- Fitchburg State (5-5-2, 3-2-2 MASCAC)
How it Happened:
- The Panthers drew first blood at the 4:32 mark of the opening period when sophomore Connor Tait (Boyds, Md.) knocked in the rebound of Austin's shot for the quick lead.
- Fitchburg State pulled even with 3:08 left in the period on a rebound goal to knot the game at 1-1 heading into the first intermission.
- The Falcons went in front with a power play goal off a deflection 3:01 into the second period to pull ahead.
- PSU came right, though, as sophomore Dante Moretti (Powell, Ohio) stuffed in a shot at the far post 1:28 later to retie the game.
- The Panthers leapfrogged back in front just 36 seconds later when freshman Rider McCallum (Langley, British Columbia) fired a wrist shot from the left faceoff dot to the back of the net for the 3-2 advantage.
- Fitchburg State pulled even with another power play strike at the midpoint of the frame, then went back in front at the 11:16 mark for a 4-3 lead.
- Once again, the Panthers battled back when graduate student Colin Stevens (Concord, N.H.) blasted a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle through the Falcons' netminder to square the game at 4-4 with 5:45 left in the second.
- The score would remain deadlocked into the third period, when Austin collected the puck along the boards off an offensive zone faceoff win, skated into the middle and lashed a shot to the top left corner to give PSU the lead for good with 11:38 left on the clock.
- Tait added his second of the evening to give the Panthers some breathing room six minutes later. Freshman Will Redick (Collingwood, Ontario) took the puck in the neutral zone and skated past a pair of defenders before slipping a feed to Tait alone on the weakside for the 6-4 lead with 5:24 to go.
- Sophomore Anton Jellvik (Taby, Sweden) capped the scoring with a long empty net goal with just over a minute remaining. Jellvik battled for the puck in the defensive zone and launched a turnaround shot from the PSU goal line the length of the ice to account for the final score.
By the Numbers:
- Tait notched his second straight two-goal game, while Austin, McCallum and Jellvik all finished with a goal and an assist.
- Senior Myles Abbate (Norwell, Mass.) had three assists on the night and now leads the team with 12 on the season, while freshman Payton Schaly (Orillia, Ontario) tallied a pair of helpers.
- Redick, senior Jacob Laurin (Stockholm, Sweden) and junior Carson Lanceleve (Stewiacke, Nova Scotia) also recorded assists for the Panthers.
- Lanceleve continued his season-long points binge, as the transfer has notched a point in 12-of-14 games on the season.
- Senior Brendahn Brawley (Morton, Pa.) stopped 30 shots to pick up the win.
- Plymouth State outshot the Falcons by a 44-34 margin and won 43-of-74 faceoffs. Junior Jeromey Rancourt (Lewiston, Maine) won 13-of-18 in the faceoff circle.
- Fitchburg State finished 2-of-5 on the power play, while the Panthers converted on 1-of-3 opportunities.
- PSU has won three straight against the Falcons.
Up Next:
- Plymouth State hosts Westfield State in another MASCAC battle on Saturday (Jan. 7) at 6:00 p.m.
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