Ice Hockey Downed By Plymouth

PLYMOUTH, N.H. – Freshman Myles Abbate (Norwell, Mass.) scored a pair of goals and six different players recorded multi-point games as Plymouth State University defeated Westfield State University, 7-1, in a Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) men's ice hockey game at Hanaway Rink on Saturday night.

Abbate wasted little time setting the tone as he picked up his eighth goal of the year just 1:04 into the first. The Panthers extended the lead to 3-0 by the end of the period, then doubled the advantage to 6-0 to chase Westfield's starting goaltender in the second. The teams traded goals the rest of the way, with PSU picking up two big points to lead both Westfield and Fitchburg State by three points in the league standings.

Plymouth State goes to 7-1-1 in the MASCAC and 7-7-2 overall, while Westfield State falls to 7-4-4 and 5-2-2 in conference action.

Plymouth State got out to a quick start when Abbate flipped in the rebound of a shot from junior JR Barone (West Chester, Pa.) just 1:04 into the game.

The Panthers added a pair of goals just a minute apart later in the period to push the lead to 3-0. Sophomore Grant DeWitt (Bowling Green, Ohio) whipped a wrist shot from the right side at the 13:26 mark, then freshman Marcus Seidl (Stockholm, Sweden) finished on the backdoor after a pretty feed from classmate Leo Stolpe (Stockholm, Sweden) exactly 60 seconds later.

Abbate picked up his second of the night on after 3:20 in the second period, with Barone and senior Victor Bergstrom (Angelholm, Sweden) recording the assists, then freshman Jacob Laurin (Stockholm, Sweden) made it 5-0 at 8:57 of the period when he buried a feed from Stolpe on the nearside.

Junior Brett Backman (Cos Cob, Conn.) chased Westfield starting goaltender Thierry Messervier (Montreal, Quebec) 15:21 into the second when he received a feed from DeWitt in the slot and fired it to the nearside post.

The Owls got on the board with one minute remaining in the period on a goal from sophomore Jake Ratcliffe (Auckland, New Zealand) and the score would remain the same until late in the third.

Sophomore Mike McPherson (Somerville, Mass.) capped the scoring when he fired a shot from the nearside after a perfect feed down low from Backman with 3:05 left to play.

Up next, the Owls travel to face Anna Maria this Tuesday, puck drop scheduled for 6:40 p.m.

Story Courtesy of Chris Kilmer, Plymouth State Sports Information